Bob Johnson and Lauren Williams and Isis Simpson-Mersha

Dear Reader,

My transformation from lifelong Wolverines fan to a Spartans fan began two years ago the same way many others make the leap – by paying a child’s tuition to Michigan State University.

It became complete in the last week, when someone firmly from my demographic – MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo – went on a four-minute discourse about a world being changed by the generations that are following.

And while it was in no way a “get off my lawn”-style rant, Izzo’s words pretty much summed up how sports remains one of the truest means of revealing character – of those who play and coach it, and of the culture that molds it.

By now you probably know more about this story than you want to: Michigan men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard turned a postgame handshake line at Wisconsin into a melee after he took exception to Wisconsin coach Greg Gard’s late-game tactics.

Words were exchanged, punches were thrown and Howard was suspended and fined for being most flagrant in the embarrassing incident.

The supposed provocation was ridiculous: That Gard violated some kind of “unwritten code” when he called a timeout with 15 seconds left and leading by 15 points. Never mind that Howard has done the same when leading by a lot late in games. Or that Howard had dialed up full-court pressure on Wisconsin’s second-teamers, who were in the game to effectively run out the clock.

The jawing and the fist-throwing violated what is an actual written code: That of ethical conduct governing NCAA athletes and coaches, which exists “to promote civility in society, student-athletes, coaches, and all others associated with these athletics programs and events.”

The post-game fracas was just the beginning of the theater of absurd. Howard not only did not apologize or express remorse, he doubled down with this justification: “I was raised by my grandmother and also by Chicago, because … I grew up on the South Side. When guys charge you it's time to defend yourself ... and especially when a grown man charges you.”

I’d like to pause here and note: IT’S A GAME, NOT A STREET FIGHT.

And finally, the most absurd twist of this sorry saga and the one that leads us back to Tom Izzo:
The chattering class of sports talk immediately weighed in with its solution – end the tradition of postgame handshakes. You know, the most visible vestige of sportsmanship during an entire college basketball game.

"I don't like the handshake line," said former NBA star Patrick Ewing, now the head coach at Georgetown. "You're just getting through a heated battle, a heated game and anything can happen to make things worse.”

Again: IT’S A GAME, NOT BATTLE. Hockey, the sport that most resembles full-on combat, ends each of its playoff series with a handshake line. Something worse doesn’t just “happen” – people who lack perspective and self-control make it happen.

And that’s where the sage old Izzo, 28 years into his head-coaching gig at MSU, cuts through the fog of nonsense. He wasn’t party to the UM-Wisconsin lunacy, but he was asked about it at a separate press conference.

Everyone knows Izzo is as passionate a coach as anyone who ever stalked a sideline and can be tough on players and refs. But he knows what parts are elements of competition, between the lines, and what parts are character development outside of them.

“Not shaking hands, that’s typical of our country right now,” Izzo said. “Instead of solving the problem, let’s make an excuse and … let’s eliminate it so that we don’t have those problems,” Izzo said. “That to me would be the biggest farce, joke, ridiculous nature of anything I've ever heard of.”

Perhaps Izzo is raging against the dying of a quaint light – that of amateur sport for the sake of competition and individual betterment. If so, I totally get it.

In the past two years, NCAA rules evolved to allow athletes to transfer one time and play immediately without the consent of coaches or schools. Then it began allowing athletes to profit directly off their name, image and likeness. Ohio State had a quarterback last fall who made $1 million in endorsement deals, didn’t throw a pass all season and then transferred to Texas.

In effect, athletes have become potential professionals and free agents to boot. Maybe that makes notions of sportsmanship, integrity and the “love of the game” archaic. Maybe people like me and Tom Izzo just weren’t made for these times.

“We’ve already taught these poor 18-year-olds that you’re told to go to class and if you don’t like it you can leave,” Izzo said, exasperation in his voice. “We’ve already told these kids if you’re not happy you can do something else. … To tell them to not man up and walk down a line to someone who's kicked your butt and have enough class to shake their hand is utterly ridiculous.

“We’re already teaching these kids nothing, and then we’re gonna do something like that? If that’s what we’ve come to … that is asinine.”

Preach, Tom. And FYI – “The Izzone” has one more fan in it.

John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.