TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR : Ban Shook Things Up for League

Marmonte League principals earned international infamy by voting in March to ban postgame handshakes at sporting events. The action was taken to prevent scuffles that had erupted during handshakes, but it was widely interpreted as a strike against sportsmanship and was rescinded less than a month later.

After the ban was reported in The Times, the story was picked up by the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, CNN and the BBC, to name a few. Westlake High baseball Coach Rich Herrera said he heard from a friend the ban was reported on television in Australia.

“We don’t think that we did anything wrong,” Agoura High Principal Jim Christianson said the day the ban was rescinded. “We still think there is a better way. But this has caused more furor than anything that should be causing furor.”

Camarillo Principal Terry Tackett, a former baseball coach, engineered the ban, suggesting pregame handshakes instead. After several fights in the league during basketball season, Tackett persuaded his fellow principals to vote unanimously in favor of the landmark move that encompassed all sports for boys and girls.

But after criticism from all corners--coaches, athletes, parents and sociologists--and intense publicity, the league backed down.

The action seems to have made its point, though. One athletic director said this month that postgame flare-ups have been dramatically reduced since the controversy.