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Football is a game of emotion and NFL players can be an emotional bunch. Games can change on a dime as this past Super Bowl showed us. It's not unusual to see a player get excited after making a good play or scoring a touchdown but unlike the way things were in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, these showings of emotion have gone from the typical spiking of the football to theatrical and often rehearsed near Broadway numbers, some doing no more than drawing attention to a particular player. Once upon a time, the only player who might do a "dance" would be the player who scored a touchdown. Billy "White Shoes" Johnson was known for his funky chicken dance and Drew Pearson used his duel 6 shooter celebration. Some teams did a group celebration. The Redskins' "Fun Bunch" comes to mind who's antics actually led to the banning of endzone celebrations. Then came Icky Woods who might be the first player to have a TD celebration with an actual name, however the "Icky Shuffle" ended up being relegated to the sideline.
Now, those celebrations at least were based on actually putting points on the board but in recent times(and I can't seem to pinpoint it's origins because I remember ridiculous celebrations in the late 80's/early 90's), simply making a tackle or breaking up a pass or rushing for a 15 yard gain warrants celebrations like a player just won the lottery. Now it's chest thumping, jumping up and down and waving one's arms, and trash talking seems to happen nearly every play. IMO, this is garbage and bush league and has no place in sports and I'll tell you why. Because it's now going on in high school and youth leagues.
Let me tell you what I mean. This past Thanksgiving, I watched my Alma Mater take part in one of the oldest continuous high school rivalries in the country, dating back to the 1800's. This is a rivalry that is mostly friendly but has on occasion gotten rather heated but I don't ever recall in my 40+ years in watching this yearly tradition leading to what happened last Thursday morning. While I was watching the game, players on both teams were doing what they watch NFL players do on a weekly basis. I saw the same chest thumping, jumping and waving one's arms, and trash talking I see every Sunday afternoon and it was disheartening. After this was going on all game long, the inevitable happened. With my school up having just scored the TD that put the game out of reach with time winding down, after making a tackle on the wrong sideline, the player from my school who made the tackle jumped up and you can see him jaw jacking which lead to the inevitable pushing and shoving until it turned into an all out brawl which got so bad that the police complete with the K9 ended up having to come onto the field to restore order so the rest of the game could be played.
Now, as I said, I've been following this rivalry pretty much my entire life and was a part of it my 4 years in high school and this never happened no matter how heated the rivalry was in any sport. Personally, I was embarrassed for both schools but the sad thing is, you could see it coming. As we all know, kids emulate what they see on TV so when they see their favorite players jaw jacking and such on TV, they do the same and IMO, as I said before, I don't believe this crap has any place in sports. IMO if you want to rub someone nose in it, do so on the scoreboard. This is another aspect of Larry Fitzgerald that I love so much. He gets emotional, yes, but he never thumps his chest and when he scores, he flips the ball to the official and celebrates with his teammates. And he says he learned this from Barry Sanders, another player who exuded class.
Now, I'm betting most of you are going to poo poo this and consider me old fashioned but I don't care. An endzone celebration is one thing but doing the Electric Slide on the freaking field after an interception, is that really necessary? I know I can't be alone in this.
Now, those celebrations at least were based on actually putting points on the board but in recent times(and I can't seem to pinpoint it's origins because I remember ridiculous celebrations in the late 80's/early 90's), simply making a tackle or breaking up a pass or rushing for a 15 yard gain warrants celebrations like a player just won the lottery. Now it's chest thumping, jumping up and down and waving one's arms, and trash talking seems to happen nearly every play. IMO, this is garbage and bush league and has no place in sports and I'll tell you why. Because it's now going on in high school and youth leagues.
Let me tell you what I mean. This past Thanksgiving, I watched my Alma Mater take part in one of the oldest continuous high school rivalries in the country, dating back to the 1800's. This is a rivalry that is mostly friendly but has on occasion gotten rather heated but I don't ever recall in my 40+ years in watching this yearly tradition leading to what happened last Thursday morning. While I was watching the game, players on both teams were doing what they watch NFL players do on a weekly basis. I saw the same chest thumping, jumping and waving one's arms, and trash talking I see every Sunday afternoon and it was disheartening. After this was going on all game long, the inevitable happened. With my school up having just scored the TD that put the game out of reach with time winding down, after making a tackle on the wrong sideline, the player from my school who made the tackle jumped up and you can see him jaw jacking which lead to the inevitable pushing and shoving until it turned into an all out brawl which got so bad that the police complete with the K9 ended up having to come onto the field to restore order so the rest of the game could be played.
Now, as I said, I've been following this rivalry pretty much my entire life and was a part of it my 4 years in high school and this never happened no matter how heated the rivalry was in any sport. Personally, I was embarrassed for both schools but the sad thing is, you could see it coming. As we all know, kids emulate what they see on TV so when they see their favorite players jaw jacking and such on TV, they do the same and IMO, as I said before, I don't believe this crap has any place in sports. IMO if you want to rub someone nose in it, do so on the scoreboard. This is another aspect of Larry Fitzgerald that I love so much. He gets emotional, yes, but he never thumps his chest and when he scores, he flips the ball to the official and celebrates with his teammates. And he says he learned this from Barry Sanders, another player who exuded class.
Now, I'm betting most of you are going to poo poo this and consider me old fashioned but I don't care. An endzone celebration is one thing but doing the Electric Slide on the freaking field after an interception, is that really necessary? I know I can't be alone in this.
