There are penalties and there are penalties. In football, they've been trying to cut down on excessive celebrations for years. It makes sense: it is unsportsmanlike for over-the-top celebrations, such as running around for minutes or making crude gestures to your opponents. But I must emphasize "excessive" and "over-the-top."
A simple kneel down or a simple thumbs-up should not warrant a penalty flag. Something else that certainly does not deserve the yellow flag: pointing to God after a touchdown.
In every sport this is done. A player hits a game winning three-pointer, he points to God. Someone smacks a tie-breaking home run, a nod to the heavens is almost expected. Such celebration is standard, including football.
However, apparently they are cracking down on such things in Tumwater (Washington), as a High Schooler was penalized for thanking God for a score:
This is awful. The ref said that it was "unsportsmanlike conduct." I say that's bull.
Apparently, mocking players who thank a higher power is in style now, however:
This politically correct crap has to stop. You may disagree with athletes thanking a higher power, but you should not openly mock or penalize it.
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If you took the effort to post this, why do you not let us know who to contact? In fact, you didn't even give the name of the offending ref' nor the coach. Elaborate, please.
ReplyDeleteI agree that High School ref was out of line for penalizing a player for his gesture. It was not at all unsportsmanlike. I disagree with your interpretation of the mascot video. I think that the mascot was respecting the praying player. It kind of looks like he is praying with him. He stayed kneeling until the player was finished and made no rude gestures toward him and stayed reverent afterward. If he were trying to mock him, he would probably have been dancing around, pointing at him and such.
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