Honestly, this is like dealing with first-grade recess ? Come on, now, children ? let’s play nice.Really. It’s sunk down to this level. Ever since the beginning of the school year, we’ve seen a plethora of games where either the postgame handshake has been eliminated altogether, or there have been unfortunate incidents stemming from this oh-so-obvious attempt by the MIAA to reinforce the notion that sportsmanship trumps all.It has to stop. And stop now. Otherwise, there might as well not even be a postgame handshake – which, come to think of it, might not be such a bad idea if it’s going to serve as an opportunity for kids to take cheap shots or adults to transfer their frustrations onto the rest of us.I don’t advocate eliminating this simple exercise. But I am in favor of making penalties for those who violate it so severe that it might deter one or two hotheads from ruining everything.What happened with the St. Mary’s hockey team after the handshake fracas is a good start. Five of the players deemed most responsible for escalating the incident were ejected – and suspended – and the Spartans had to forfeit their next game. In addition, there’s a very good chance they won’t be taking part in the MIAA tournament even if their record qualifies them.The English-Winthrop situation is a little more difficult to assess because players didn’t start this. It was basically a free-for-all, and sometimes it’s tough to get to the root of what causes those melees. It all depends on what you saw, when you saw it, who you talked to, and what side they were on. They disintegrate into “he said/she said” situations.But clearly something needs to be done ? and this is one of those times where the brush has to be pretty broad. You simply cannot have this.If any of the coaches or assistants on either team are judged to have been a catalyst to spark this melee, then they should be either suspended or simply fired outright. There are, of course, degrees of culpability in these things, but generally, I’d say, coaches have no business instigating postgame melees.And if one does happen to break out, the only thing a coach (or athletic director, or principal, or any other responsible adult) should be doing is trying to get their own people under control so that an entire army of police don’t have to be called to the gym (like they have nothing better to do, either).That doesn’t mean mouthing off to their counterparts from the other school. At a point like that, they should be working in concert with each other to put a lid on what has the potential to be a very serious situation.The most responsible guy in the entire English gym Tuesday night was coach Buzzy Barton, who set records for getting his players out of the gym and downstairs to the locker room. It would have been nice had a few other adults exercised the same judgment.The problem I have with doing to English and Winthrop what was done with St. Mary’s and Arlington Catholic is that kids didn’t cause this. Adults did. It was a tough, tense, hard-fought, physical game and tempers certainly flared during it (and anyone who seriously thinks that’s not going to happen doesn’t understand competitive sports). But as far as they were concerned, when it was over, it was over.It’s just too bad the adults – and please understand I use the term loosely in this situation – couldn’t have acted the same way.Steve Krause is sports editor of The Item.