There are going to be some issues at the college level with young student-athletes who want to trash talk and take things too far. Thursday night saw Vanderbilt player Wade Baldwin IV decide to clap in the face of a Tennessee player after the Commodores won 73-65. After Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings found out about it though, he pulled Baldwin out of the handshake line and began to berate him in front of the cameras.
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Stallings used many profanities along the way trying to get his point across to Baldwin, who Stallings says has “got some things to learn, some growing up to do.” Stallings probably went too far and did apologize during his postgame press conference but Baldwin did need to be told off for what he did in the front of an opposing player.
There is a point where sportsmanship is the biggest thing in the sport and handshakes after the game are part of that. Stallings probably should have waited until he got to the locker room and then told Baldwin what he was thinking but the ESPN cameras caught it along with everyone in the arena. There are lessons to be learned. Hopefully Stallings and Baldwin learned theirs.
