Abolish TD Celebrations!

[ThomasTomasz]

Imagine you are the sports reporter for the local town paper, and covering the Under 14 football team. Today, they play a clearly inferior team, in terms of talent and depth.

After creating a comfortable lead, the quarterback hooks up with his best friend, playing wide receiver, for a 60 yard TD pass. They both proceed to meet at about the 30 yard line, and do a terrible imitation of Chad Johnson’s river dance.

How despicable. Kids who are barely in their teen years stomping on the morale of a lesser team.


Rest of Article:
I look forward to hearing your comments and your opinions, members of PSH......

[DWalker24]

I wouldn't feel that way about the children...I'd let them dance, why not have a litte fun, all these rules are really starting to suck...

[ThomasTomasz]

I wouldn't feel that way about the children...I'd let them dance, why not have a litte fun, all these rules are really starting to suck...

I disagree. I go to football games to watch football, not see the game be a sideshow to Owens and Johnson. I want the future of the game to have integrity, and the way things are going, integrity is flying out the window.

[jc09pats]

good article and good reasoning. the trickle down effect is a good point-i know i didnt think about it during the original process of when the NFL abolished celebrations. celebrations are fun and all, and they can be aswell at lesser level-but sometimes it does get to become a bit much. if you imagine being the kids of the lesser team-how would you feel after getting beaten, then seeing that? a 60 yard pass (especially at lesser than teen years) is a nice play and does deserve some nice job efforts, but theres always a line.

[l.a. no-teamers]

well, I disagree with your assertion that the NCAA has become more lenient with their excessive celebration rules. THey are still extremely strict. I watched a lot of USC games last year and granted they score a lot of TDs, I think they had it called on them close to 10 times.

As for the subject of the children, I would wholeheartedly agree with you that there is no place for huge celebrations in pee-wee and prep football. However, on the professional level, I'm a bit on the fence. While one part of me says its disrespectful and downright pointless, the other part says it brings an extra entertainment value and frankly, these NFL guys are professionals and they are adults, if they want to act stupid, then let them do it. I understand children mimicking them but in terms of rules, men should be treated like men and children should be treated like children. We try to teach these kids good sportsmanship when they are young; how much of it do they apply as adults is up to them.

i dont like it though when it is meant to show up the opposing team or crowd, ie TO in Dallas a few years ago when he ran to midfield to celebrate.

Like I said, I'm on the fence a bit but this is an interesting debate nonetheless. Good article!

[CatClaw]

Good article Thomas...What children learn early in life does stick with them. I have no problems with TD celebration on any level...now excessive is a different story. Good sportmanship and sore winners are tricky lessons to learn and even harder to teach. Even the players who do it right...Rudi, Emmit, Barry...they get overlooked for what they do every day with the Steve Smiths and the Chad Johnsons getting all the coverage.....but that's the thing isn't it. The media wants to get ratings...does replaying Rudi tossing the ball to the ref a 100 times get ratings....no. Chad Jonson putting with a pylon? sure. The new rules in the NFL this year will change things a lot...but of course this remains to be seen.

My biggest pet peeve is when this whole protect the children thing goes awry....games with no score keeping, trying to protect kids egos from losing...all this nonsense that has no realitivity to the real world. It's ludicrous...teaching them not to be competitive.....doesn't work too much in capitalism :D

[BigBenCan7]

I understand children mimicking them but in terms of rules, men should be treated like men and children should be treated like children.

When grown men act like children, they should be treated as such.

[The Gopher]

This was going to be a point-counterpoint article...but because of school conflicts..i just don't have the time to make an article... but i will say this.


The NFL is quickly on it's way to becoming the No Fun League. Celebrations after TD's are entertaining... it's no secret that they are played all the time on ESPN, and get a chuckle out of everyone. (well maybe not everyone...) As long as the celebration is not very long... i have no problem with it, the creativity of these players is showcased for a few seconds. Does that celebration really harm anyone? Is the game's purity really ruined by an end zone dance? The NFL has no responsiblity to the kids. If the parents cannot instill a sense of responsibility in their children, and if the coaches and Referees cannot control celebrations at the pop warner level, then they have no business coaching or reffing... I know if I did something stupid on the hockey rink after a goal, i would hear about it all the way home from the rink... and my coach probably would have sat me. The responsibility of the parents has been shifted to society. TV networks can't say **** because parents are too lazy to keep an eye on what their children watch, and are even too lazy to take advantage of technology that already will stop children from seeing things like that on TV. The NFL has no business stopping celebrations for the "children's sake" I don't buy that arguement for one second.

[Vikes4life]

Excellent article. I remember back in the Grant era in Minnesota he would fine players for even spiking the ball. All this extended celebration is taking away from the game and can even cause some missed calls from the referees. Case in point.. TOs TD catch against the Vikings on a Monday night a couple years ago. Tice says he wanted to see the replay to challenge but all the jumbo tron kept showing was TO celebration.
As for Curt saying the NFL isn't responsible for the kids. That is so far off base as these so called superstars doing the celebrations are the role models for many a kids and like you said "If you did something like that on the rink you'd have heard about it on the way home", well wouldn't the damage have been done already? With the way todays socity is it's only a matter of time before some kid feels spited by a celebration against him or his team and takes a much more violent action against the kid just trying to have a good time.
As a side note it is getting really boring tuning in NFL Primetime or SportsCenter on a Sunday night to see highlights of the days games and most of what you see is the WRs showing off and doing pranks. (Why is it the WRs are doing the majority of the showboating?)

[The Gopher]

As for Curt saying the NFL isn't responsible for the kids. That is so far off base as these so called superstars doing the celebrations are the role models for many a kids and like you said "If you did something like that on the rink you'd have heard about it on the way home", well wouldn't the damage have been done already? With the way todays socity is it's only a matter of time before some kid feels spited by a celebration against him or his team and takes a much more violent action against the kid just trying to have a good time.

Damage already done? I never did anything like that because I knew what would happen if i did... parents are not taking hte neccesary responsiblity in raising their kids, allowing too much BS to slide. It's not the NFL's duty to shelter these children.



As a side note it is getting really boring tuning in NFL Primetime or SportsCenter on a Sunday night to see highlights of the days games and most of what you see is the WRs showing off and doing pranks. (Why is it the WRs are doing the majority of the showboating?)

WR's are generally more showboatish than other players... they are a different breed and tend to have a swagger... I don't know why they act that way... but i believe that swagger is neccesary to succeed, thinking you can get to any ball, and wanting the ball thrown your way are a very important part of playing the WR position.

Plus, WR's tend to get into the end-zone a lot... giving them more opportunities to be creative.

[chiefzilla]

I disagree entirely.

The NFL is pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

As one defensive back said, if you want to stop TD celebrations, keep them out of the end zone.

The NFL has bigger problems. I'd rather the NFL put their foot down about these idiots that beat their wives and tote guns around then some silly little touchdown dance.

[southraider]

I disagree entirely.

The NFL is pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

As one defensive back said, if you want to stop TD celebrations, keep them out of the end zone.

The NFL has bigger problems. I'd rather the NFL put their foot down about these idiots that beat their wives and tote guns around then some silly little touchdown dance.


Your right. TD celebrations even if they are stupid sometimes are not as big as the NFL acts. How about getting better officiating.

[ThomasTomasz]

I disagree entirely.

The NFL is pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

As one defensive back said, if you want to stop TD celebrations, keep them out of the end zone.

The NFL has bigger problems. I'd rather the NFL put their foot down about these idiots that beat their wives and tote guns around then some silly little touchdown dance.

The law is responsible for that, not the NFL. While we would like the NFL and the teams to step up, we know they aren't. So, the NFL needs to take the steps that they can do, and eliminate these stupid TD celebrations.

[GBneedsDCnOC]

next thing ya know, were gonna be watchin friggin flag football its just getting absolutley rediculous

[ThomasTomasz]

next thing ya know, were gonna be watchin friggin flag football its just getting absolutley rediculous

Football has lasted for close to a century without disrespectful TD celebrations, I'm sure it can thrive if they are cut back out again. These past few years would only be a hiccup in NFL history.

[Eric2407]

This thread really reminded me about something that happened to me and my football team earlier this year so I just can't resist telling the story and this is absolutely true too.

Earlier this year we were playing White Bear Lake Sunrise at home and were trailing late in the first half. We had about eight seconds left in the half and were pretty deep in our own territory. Our coach decided we mine as well to try and get some momentum going into half and called a deep post. I went up to the line, snapped it, dropped back, and let it fly about thirty yards downfield. Josh, my wide receiver, had his guy beat and I hit him on the dead run. The cornerback covering him trying to catch up tripped and feel and to myself I thought "Alright we're back in this." and started jogging to the sideline high fiving some teammate still watching the play going on. When Josh had gotten to about the twenty yard line he raised his hand and did the "We're number one" hand thing thinking he'd easily be able to score. He didn't notice that someone had still been going full bore down the field after him and maybe was only ten yards away. Josh continued to do his taunting until he was tackled from behind about a yard away from the endzone. We were flagged for a fifteen yard penalty for taunting and that being the last play of the half didn't score. We ended up losing the game by a touchdown. Oh boy the practice that next day was not fun at all.

That story is absolutely true. But with this thread I'm fine with touchdown celebrations. I find them pretty funny and unique. The NFL isn't responsible for younger kids mimicking or reacting what they've seen, it's the parents responsibility. They should make it clear to the kids if they do something like that they'll ground them, pull them out of the game, or whatever. Like Curt said NFL is becoming the No Fun League. Keep the celebrations just make sure you score first hahaha.