Sep 08 2008
NCAA, going at the “Student-Athlete” again…
If you haven’t seen the end of the BYU vs. Washington game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q96NNj0xpE
Washington had an amazing 2-minute drive to score what should have been a game tying touchdown. But the Washington player who scored celebrated by throwing the ball over his head. No one from BYU even thought about it or felt like it was taunting. But incredibly the referees threw a flag for excessive celebrating. So instead of being able to kick a normal PAT to tie the game they got penalized 15 yards and the kick was blocked.
If u watch the replay of the so-called “excessive” celebration you see the Washington player just reacted. This wasn’t a planned or orchestrated celebration. He just threw the ball over his head in excitement. He didn’t throw the ball near an opponent or gesture towards an opponent. The call made by the referee CAN’T be made at that time of the game. This call affected the outcome of the game and took the game out of the hands of the players. That call should never be made, but definitely not when the game is on the line. People are saying that the refs have to make the call because it is in the rule book. I say that is garbage. A lot of calls are subjective. You could call holding on every play of the game, but you don’t make the call unless an advantage is gained. The refs always have discretion on whether to make a call or not. Yes it is the rule, but a lot of rules are open to interpretation.
This was the most outrageous call of the NCAA new celebration rule, but I also saw a call where a QB threw a touchdown and ran down and celebrated with the receiver he threw the pass to. This was flagged for the celebration rule. All we hear about on ESPN and other football networks is about how coaches are great at firing up their players. Or they replay some of the great speeches given to inspire the team. Every Saturday ESPN has a segment where Lou Holtz supposedly gives a “pep talk” to teams that are playing that day. So the coaches are credited with building up the emotional energy of their players. And players are required to play with energy and emotion. So they come running out the tunnel fired up and the fans are screaming and yelling, and they’re supposed to score a touchdown and show no emotion. The player is supposed to play with emotion all the way down field, but as soon as they cross the goal line cut the emotion off immediately. How is it possible to build up emotion to a boiling point and then cut it off like a faucet.
And what is the point of this rule? A player taunting another player I understand throwing a flag, because you don’t want that to lead to a confrontation. But basic non-orchestrated in the moment celebrations is what the game of football is about.
