Column: Who says you have to be friendly in the face of defeat?

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You say LeBron James disrespected the Orlando Magic when he failed to shake hands with Dwight Howard or any Magic players following the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 6 season-ending loss in the Eastern Conference Finals. So.

I’ve never understood this perfunctory gesture, especially at the pro level. Now, when I coached youth baseball and basketball, we all lined up postgame to either congratulate the other team or ourselves.

But these were kids. It apparently was a feel-good gesture.

When did this tradition begin? During my high school days in the late ’60s, our athletic teams did not take part in it. No one did.

In fact, the only sport where this took place on a regular basis was pro ice hockey. And to this day I wonder why “loggers on skates” performed that ritual.

Pro baseball players didn’t do it and don’t do it now (they do line up and high-five or fist-bump their own team). Pro football players have never partaken. OK, boxers hug, but that’s probably only because they are both surprised that they are on their feet.

NBA commissioner David Stern told Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio that he was not pleased that James refused to speak to the media, and did not shake his opponents’ hands.

Stern said he has reached out to James but is reserving judgment about the situation until he speaks with him.

An NBA spokesman said on Monday that James would not be fined for failing to address the media after the Game 6 loss. Cowherd asked Stern why James has not been fined since the league has punished players in the past for violating its media guidelines.

Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry defended James.

“I feel strongly that LeBron would never intentionally disrespect another NBA player,” he said. “It was a situation where he was pretty disappointed. We just loss a tough series. He has always conducted himself in a pretty high level both on the court and off the court.”

If the postgame get-together is part of the NBA players’ collective bargaining agreement, then James should be punished. If not, who cares? Sure, James’ snub wasn’t the most mature or polite thing to do, but raising a big stink over it is ridiculous. And besides, who was supposed to bring the orange slices?

So LeBron, I’m in your corner. C’mon over here and I’ll give you a high-five.

LeBron?

n n n

One of the greatest voices in sports was silenced recently … the voice of Les Keiter.

Keiter, who was born in Seattle, graduated from the University of Washington and for a time called the games for Centralia High School, died at age 89 in Hawaii on April 14.

After a brief stay in Hawaii, Keiter made his way to New York and was behind the mike for many national and international sporting events for radio and television.

He was the voice for the New York Giants baseball and football teams from 1954 until 1962. He announced New York Knicks games from 1955 until 1962, and again in 1968, and was behind the mike for the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City for the Mutual Radio Network.

But boxing is where I heard Les Keiter. Between 1956 and 1985, Keiter called 12 heavyweight title fights, including the trilogy of bouts between Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansson.

On June 26, 1959, from Yankee Stadium, Keiter — along with a young color commentator named Howard Cosell — was ringside for the first of three bouts between Floyd and Ingo.

Johansson stunned Patterson and the boxing world by knocking Patterson down seven times in one round to take the crown.

Keiter’s call of “Patterson doesn’t know where he is” during Johansson’s onslaught is chilling. In one of the most memorable of all boxing rounds, Patterson, obviously on autopilot, just wouldn’t stay down.

Johansson started the carnage with a jab followed by a thundering right cross just 30 seconds into round three. Patterson went down, but got right back up. That’s when Keiter realized Patterson was on a “queer” street.

Thinking he had knocked Ingemar down, Patterson wandered toward a neutral corner. Johansson caught him with a left hook from behind that landed on the back of Patterson’s head, and a right which floored the champ for the second time. Patterson beat the count again, but two more rights put him on his wallet for a third time.

And the beat went on. Referee Ruby Goldstein finally called a halt to the proceedings after Patterson took a seat on the canvas for a seventh time.

On Feb. 25, 1964, Keiter and Cosell teamed up once again for Sonny Liston’s heavyweight title defense against Cassius Clay.

Keiter’s signature line from that bout was “Liston’s face looks like it has been through a meat grinder” following a Clay peppering.

A few years ago, while attempting to get an audio copy of this fight, I wrote to Keiter in Hawaii. He not only made me a copy, but also wrote me a short note to thank me for some kind words I had imparted.

Les Keiter, an incredible voice from a by-gone era, is gone.

John Pisapia is a former sports editor of The Daily News. He can be reached at sports@tdn.com

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