Unnecessary Celebration
Timothy Tin-Wai Chan
Kenneth Gant the rookie cornerback picked up his first (I think?) NFL
interception. He had a little celebration in the end zoe. The referee
beside him promptly threw a flag and called a 5-yard penalty against the
Cowboys for "Unnecessary Celebration". Also, such a penalty was also called
today on Tampa Bay when they had an excellent touchdown. My question is:
why are referees allowed to give such a silly penalty? It looks as if to
me it is an "Unnecessary Penalty".
--
"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the
Lord our God." (Psalm 20:7)
--- . ____
-- Timothy Chan (gid...@cs.utexas.edu) / / / / /
King Ables
> why are referees allowed to give such a silly penalty?
'Cause it's the rules.
A few years ago, people were celebrating in... shall we say...
with more enthusiasm than necessary. It was taking up a lot of
time what with dancing and piling on and things in the end zone.
So the bright boys that make the rules decided to make it a
penalty whenever this happened. I think the point was to keep
these 5 minute parties from happening in the end zone.
Now if you do much more than spike the ball, you get a flag.
Personally, I thought the double "pass out" that the Bucs did today
was pretty amusing. And it didn't last long.
Most people I've ever heard have an opinion on this think it's
about the dumbest rule in the NFL (and that's saying quite a bit!).
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King Ables Micro Electronics and Computer Technology Corp.
ab...@mcc.com 3500 W. Balcones Center Drive
+1 512 338 3749 Austin, TX 78759
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Cowboys in the playoffs? Naw. But 8-8 would be that *hell* outta 1-15.
Christopher Kramar
>I was watching the jubiliant Cowboys wreck the Phoenix Cardinals, when
>Kenneth Gant the rookie cornerback picked up his first (I think?) NFL
>interception. He had a little celebration in the end zoe. The referee
>beside him promptly threw a flag and called a 5-yard penalty against the
>Cowboys for "Unnecessary Celebration". Also, such a penalty was also called
>today on Tampa Bay when they had an excellent touchdown. My question is:
>why are referees allowed to give such a silly penalty? It looks as if to
>me it is an "Unnecessary Penalty".
>
I think they should let the referee decide if the celebration was
waranted (if the play was deserving of a celebration) and throw a
flag accordingly. E.g., if Houston is blowing someone out, any
celebration in the endzone would be flagged and if New England
was being smashed, any celebration would obviously be
meaningless. This way, we would not miss all the great
dances in the endzone. Is this not why we watch football; for
the cheerleaders, the dances in the endzone and the sack
celebrations?
The symbol :-) applies to all of the above.
Chris Kramar
Zippy
King Ables writes:
> > My question is:
> > why are referees allowed to give such a silly penalty?
> 'Cause it's the rules.
> A few years ago, people were celebrating in... shall we say...
> with more enthusiasm than necessary. It was taking up a lot of
> time what with dancing and piling on and things in the end zone.
> So the bright boys that make the rules decided to make it a
> penalty whenever this happened. I think the point was to keep
> these 5 minute parties from happening in the end zone.
It was actually the result of many complaints from Tom Landry aimed
at the Redskins.
If memory serves me, about eight years ago, the Redskins used to have
a cute nickname for their wide receivers. I think it was the "fun bunch",
or some other stupid name. Anyhow, whenever any of them would score a TD,
they would all gather around in the endzone, join hands, play ring-around-
the-rosie, jump up and high-five each other.
The celebrations were even rowdier when they played Dallas, and got on
Landry's nerves so badly that he isssued an edict banning ANY COWBOY from
celebrating a score. I remember a game where Butch Johnson made a
spectacular grab for six points, and was just about to jump up and spike
the ball. The network cut to a shot of Landry, with half the veins popping
out of his head, screaming downfield. I don't think Butch could hear him,
but coincidently, he cut his move short and simply dropped the ball.
Tom lobbied and whined heavily for the League to abolish such celebrations.
After a couple or three years of bitching, he got his way.
> Now if you do much more than spike the ball, you get a flag.
> Personally, I thought the double "pass out" that the Bucs did today
> was pretty amusing. And it didn't last long.
I'm waiting to see one of those dorks give himself a concussion from one
of those falls.
It reminds me of an incident involving a Dolphin receiver, Duriel Harris
I think (Aaron would know.). The guy had just caught a TD pass, and
proceeded to perform a back-flip. He landed flat-footed, and broke a
couple of ankle bones.
> Most people I've ever heard have an opinion on this think it's
> about the dumbest rule in the NFL (and that's saying quite a bit!).
The dumbest rule is the much famous:
"Personal foul - offense; personal foul - defense; Penalties offset."
IMHO, they should eject any player who draws a personal foul for at least
one play.
Zippy
Keith Hamilton
>
>If memory serves me, about eight years ago, the Redskins used to have
>a cute nickname for their wide receivers. I think it was the "fun bunch",
>or some other stupid name. Anyhow, whenever any of them would score a TD,
>they would all gather around in the endzone, join hands, play ring-around-
>the-rosie, jump up and high-five each other.
>
>The celebrations were even rowdier when they played Dallas, and got on
>Landry's nerves so badly that he isssued an edict banning ANY COWBOY from
>celebrating a score. I remember a game where Butch Johnson made a
>spectacular grab for six points, and was just about to jump up and spike
>the ball. The network cut to a shot of Landry, with half the veins popping
>out of his head, screaming downfield. I don't think Butch could hear him,
>but coincidently, he cut his move short and simply dropped the ball.
>
I think Mark Gastineau's sack dance precipitated some of the rule changes, too.
Opposing teams, especially offensive linemen, hated it (and him) for it.
Keith
Bill Beaulac
>The dumbest rule is the much famous:
> "Personal foul - offense; personal foul - defense; Penalties offset."
>IMHO, they should eject any player who draws a personal foul for at least
>one play.
^^^^^^^^
I agree, except maybe they should be ejected for the remainder
of that possesion.
-bill
Dennis Richards Montgomery
>
>> 'Cause it's the rules.
>> A few years ago, people were celebrating in... shall we say...
>> with more enthusiasm than necessary. It was taking up a lot of
>> time what with dancing and piling on and things in the end zone.
>> So the bright boys that make the rules decided to make it a
>> penalty whenever this happened. I think the point was to keep
>> these 5 minute parties from happening in the end zone.
>It was actually the result of many complaints from Tom Landry aimed
>at the Redskins.
>After a couple or three years of bitching, he got his way.
I thought Mark Gastineau's "sack dance" broght the rule for over-celebration.
As for the 'end-zone celebration' penalty...a Washington-Dallas game at
Irving triggered the rule. Redskins had just scored and got in their circle
in the end zone to celebrate when one of the proud Dallas DB's (Everson Walls
I think) broke into the middle of the circle and refused to get out of the
way. His quote after the game was something like, "I couldn't stand to
watch them do their celebration in Cowboy Stadium"...
Dennis
Timothy B. Reynolds
The event that caused the rule was the Dallas washington game in Irving.
The Readskins 'fun bunch' tried to have their dance in the cowboys end-zone
and Dennis Thurman and the rest of the Dallas secondary charged into the pack
of redskin players and disrupted the party. If I remember corectly Thurman
was quoted after the game saying "there not dancing in our house"
The crowd was as close to riot condition as I have ever seen in the NFL.
tim
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Timothy B. Reynolds : VAX Systems Manager
Howard Hughes Medical Institute : Structural Biology Laboratory
Baylor College of Medicine : Houston, Texas
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Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, not HHMI's or Baylor College of Medicine
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Quote: I used to hate obnoxious people, but now Im their leader...
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