Return of the NO FUN LEAGUE?

Red Hawk

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The NFL discovered last season that fines did not necessarily stop its millionaire players from flamboyant celebrations.




So the league is planning to make any such demonstration an automatic 15-yard penalty.

The new penalty policy has been recommended unanimously by the league's competition committee and is likely to receive approval from the owners when they begin their annual spring meeting Sunday in Palm Beach, Fla.

"Don't call us the no fun league," Atlanta general manager Rich McKay, co-chairman of the league's competition committee, said Wednesday during a conference call.

"This has nothing to do with the Lambeau leap, the spike, the sack dance or throwing the ball over the goal post. But the demonstrations are becoming more sophisticated and more pre-planned than they've ever been. That's why we focused on a penalty instead of just a fine."

As it has been for nearly 20 years, the longest discussions at the meetings will be over instant replay. The committee has recommended that it be installed permanently for the first time -- it has been put in from year-to-year until 2001, when it was extended to three years.

But the most interesting sign of the times is that the NFL now considers penalties more effective than fines in curbing demonstrations. There were 46 fines for demonstrations last season compared to 18 in 2002, indicating to McKay and the committee that fines were not a deterrent.

The new penalties would be added to those for taunting.

After Terrell Owens celebrated a score by pulling a pen from his sock and signing a football in 2002, commissioner Paul Tagliabue made it clear such future demonstrations would be penalized. And the officials did call a penalty last season when Joe Horn made a call on a cell phone after scoring a touchdown.

But the recommendation would add the demonstration penalty to the rule book. McKay said it was prompted in part by letters from the NCAA and national high school associations worried that the conduct of NFL players set bad examples.

As for replay, it was first instituted in 1986, voted out in 1992, then brought back in 1999 in its current form -- with the coaches' challenge system.

The new proposal would make it permanent -- instead of needing 24 of the 32 teams to approve it each year, it would require 24 votes to vote it out. The competition committee also is recommending that any coach who gets two successful challenges in a game get one more.

"We think it's ready to go in permanently," McKay said of replay. "We've been voting on it for 20 years now. This way we won't have to vote on it anymore."

Among the other items to be discussed at the meetings will be expanding the playoffs to 14 teams and allowing both teams to get a possession in overtime.

The committee voted against both -- McKay noted that the number of overtime games decided on the first possession had declined from 36 percent in 2002 to 23 percent in 2004. He also noted that adding two more teams to the playoffs would give the No. 1 team an unfair advantage by getting the only bye.

"We feel like the current system has worked extremely well," McKay said.

The committee also decided not to expand the rule that limits assistant coaches on playoff teams to interview for head coaching jobs during bye weeks. It did recommend, however, that the same rule apply to top executives, who in the past could change jobs at any time.
 

Cardinals.Ken

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Throwing a flag for a TD celebration like TO and the pen, or Joe Horn and the cell phone, would work for me...but only if the 15 yards is marked from the original line of scrimmage negating the touchdown.
 

RugbyMuffin

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Agreed!

This is a game. ANd not only that these are NFL players. They have paid their dues, and worked hard to get where they are today.

As much as I personally don't like "The Sharpie", or "The Cell Phone" I also think it is good for football. A little razzle dazzle after an exciting play is cool in my opinion. Plus it shows the players are fired up.

I remember my highschool coach saying,"Your not in the NFL no celebrating."

Well now you get to the NFL and you can't even celebrate after you make it. If I wanted to fall asleep while watching sports I would watch baseball. The NFL is too cut throat and emotional to start throwing MORE flags than they already do.

Furthermore, most make the point that the celebrations take away from the game. Well thanks to the new rules they finally do. Games can now be make or brake based on your TD celebration of choice.

This is more of the conservative bull-pucky that is slowly suffocating personal rights, individualism, and civil rights.

Yet, another anchor tied to the NFL, pretty soon the sport will be so "controlled" that the whole thing will go bottom up.

:mad:
 
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