Posted on 12/02/2010 12:26:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind
We’re getting some e-mail about this story, which means that there’s a conversation to be had about it — but what exactly is that conversation? Referees are inconsistent in calling penalties? People have grown tired of end-zone celebrations? Location, location, location? CNN covers the firestorm, or at least candleflame, that erupted after a yellow hankie got thrown at the end of a touchdown run in Washington:
And they call the NFL the No Fun League! If that’s an excessive celebration, how did Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco ever get out of high school? As Kiran Chetry points out, the entire demonstration lasted perhaps two seconds and didn’t involve the usual gyrations and pantomime seen at the college or professional level. In fact, that point to the sky gesture has become so routine that in any other game it would hardly be noticed.
Rules are rules, though, and the point in tying the rule to the ball seems intended to limit the more ludicrous celebrations seen in other venues. The player takes the lesson that one can thank the Lord from the sidelines (or at least without the ball) with good grace. The penalty doesn’t appear to be a punishment for religious speech, and neither the league nor the school has given any indication that they’re hostile to sharing the glory with God on a football field. The real message is that location matters. Still, I’d rather see this any day than the whooping and stomping that follows routine tackles and gains in the NFL.
Glad to see the kid will continue to “give thanks to God” in future games on the sideline where it’s not against the rule requiring him to “immediately give the ball back to the referee and continue play.”
He was penalized for excessive celebration - unsportsmanlike conduct. That’s being clamped down on this year.
I like touchdown makers to calmly hand the ball back to the officials. Just a personal druther.
I guess there’s bigger things to worry about... but I would say the ref has a stick up his butt and it’s causing him a lot of pain... so he’s looking for regulatory relief where he can find it.
How boring. In hockey goal celebrations are a hallowed tradition.
One wonders what the reaction from the left would be if an athlete knelt and bowed toward Mecca after a score.
If he had whipped out a prayer rug and faced the East and bowed down 5 times they would have rewarded him.
Bow to Mecca after a touchdown? 15 yards!!!! Assessed on kickoff.
I would have thought it meant “We’re Number One” ... I’ve always seen players pointing up after they make a great play.
Actually I agree with sacking the kid with a penalty. I would not call it “excessive celebration” but it is tacky and is really unsportsmanlike conduct. When I was in school we were told by the coaches that the time for celebration was after the clock ran out and we were ahead. If any of us danced in the end zone or tried in any way to show up the other team, we would be spending the rest of the game on the sidelines. We were told that immediately after you scored a touchdown you were the hand the ball to the ref and get ready for the next play. And we did.
Without knowing how the referees in the league have handled other moments of excitement after a touchdown, then it’s hard to evaluate this.
I saw the replay on TV, and the kid scored the touchdown, dropped to one knee by himself, and by himself pointed his finger to heaven.
I seriously doubt that touchdowns throughout the season were not met by joy, backslapping, and hugs. Those things are extremely common, and they are not called excessive celebration.
So, if this league’s referees have consistently flagged ANY expression of joy or excitement in ANY form throughout the year, then they were right to penalize this kid.
If they haven’t, then they were wrong to single out this kid.
If they’ve been inconsistent, then they were wrong to penalize this kid.
While I agree with you, there is a huge “but you forget, this is about Jesus” contingency out there.
I still think it is really tacky. I think it is pretty tasteless to do the kneeling and the genuflecting and pointing to heaven when you score a touchdown because it actually draws all the attention to yourself as if God is rewarding you for your goodness by parting the seas of opposing players and leading you into the promised land of gridiron victory.
In football the touchdown is the culmination of the efforts of 11 players working as a unit to achieve a goal and while a player should be thankful to God that he didn't have his legs or neck broken by the opposing team, I think it is pretty tacky to publicly attribute the results of a single play to the works of the almighty and to publicly bow in prayer and thanksgiving that you were victorious over the other team, (a team that is just as likely to have Jesus loving Christians as yours).
I think that school football should teach not only the importance of competition, but also the importance of good sportsmanship. I think overt public religious expressions of thanksgiving in the end zone is a poor reflection on the school, the student doing it and God.
Hugging the other players and pointing to them and showing your gratitude for the other players who blocked the opposition and opened the holes for you is a legitimate expression of sportsmanship, although that can be carried away, but kneeling and bowing and pointing to heaven is the functional equivalent of kicking your opponent in the teeth and saying "God is rewarding us because we are good and punishing you guys because you are not". In that sense it is a poor witness for Christ.
There’s nothing you write in post #13 that I disagree with.
My only point has to do with how the refs have handled the rule the rest of the year. If they’ve not enforced it or selectively enforced it, then they are wrong to enforce it in this instance.
In reference to your post, the initial drop to the knee I had no problem with. Even the initial point to the sky was with a bent elbow, iirc.
After that, when the kid straightened his arm, he also jabbed his finger a few times. Even in the video, I thought at that point he was drawing attention to himself.
That is a separate point from how the refs handled this situation throughout the year.
Its not tacky at all. If it wasnt for God he wouldnt have been blessed with the ability and talent to have made that touchdown. I dont think God would disagree, do you? You think God is going to penalize him too for it? It has nothing to do with unsportsman like conduct towards the other team. Its more personal. I could understand if he’s taunting or dancing or doing backflips in the end zone after every touchdown, then I could understand the arguement, but he didnt. He did not use the kneeling and thanking God moment as weapon or threat towards the team. If you listened to what the player had to say about it, he seemed pretty content of what he believes in and was positive about it, not negative.
. Football is not an individual sport, it is a team sport, and given the talents, skills and hard work of the other 10 players on the field, a cripple could drive a wheelchair across the goal line. It is tacky to draw the attention to youself after scoring a touchdown. And to do it with a public display of your religious beliefs is pharisaical, and I believe our Lord is not pleased by this look-at-how-holy-I-am approach to what was a team effort of which you are only 1/11 of the reason why you are happy. If any of the guys on my football team in high school had ever done something like that during a game, I'm sure that would have been the last time they touched the football that night.
The fact is that when you give a public showing of thanks to God when you score a touchdown, you are basically saying to the other team that God is on your team's side and not theirs.
A true Christian would be ready to praise God not only when they score a touchdown, but when the other team scores one against them.
What would you think of a quarterback who bowed down on his knees and publicly thanked God every time he threw an interception?
If he is going to publicly thank God when he throws a touchdown pass, shouldn't he likewise be publicly thanking God that God gave the other player the talent to pick off his passes?
If you find that guy, please don't tell Mike Brown.
He'll be in a Bengals uniform next week playing for Cincinnati and MB.
:>)
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