Today, the NFL is cracking down on celebrations like never before. Whether you love them or hate them, player celebration is just one part of the game and always has been. Sure, we all love the fancy Barry-Sanders-style throwing the ball to the ref, but sometimes watching a good old Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson doing their crazy antics is great entertainment and can make football fun. watch.
With the NFL’s greedy tentacles stretching out every crevice of American society to attract more and more casual fans, you’d think the NFL would want to enhance entertainment value, rather than reduce it. But unfortunately, referees are now inclined to throw flags for just about any celebration, especially one done with teammates. Just the other day, TO was singled out for throwing a celebration where he intended to start a career at the Olympics, no doubt imitating popular track star Usain Bolt. He was later fined 15 yards for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” I ask you, what is “unsportsmanlike” about that? It’s not that he’s making fun of the other team, which he did (ironically against Dallas when he was with San Francisco) by standing over the Dallas star in midfield and spreading his arms wide.
In my opinion, that is what should be marked, not the celebrations that are done with humor and to excite people. I’m telling you this, when Chad Johnson was pulling all sorts of things out of his bag of tricks, people honestly craved to watch Bengals games just to see what he would do next. It’s things like that that make the game fun for everyone, including those who aren’t as big of a fan as the rest of us.