In today’s world of sports and entertainment, the art of celebrations after scoring or winning has become too popular. Celebrating by a fist pump or simple gesture is one thing and acceptable, but the need to do crazy dances after every play is ridiculous.
It seems like every time I watch a football game, after every catch of over 10 yards, the wide receivers do some kind of taunt. After every touchdown, the player almost always spends at least 10 seconds dancing or some kind of elaborate touchdown celebration.
Excessive celebrations are already flagged in the NFL, but I think as a general rule, celebrations that go above a simple gesture should be banned.
Every celebration is different for the most part, but most of them include doing something that could possibly result in a player getting injured. For instance, Colts running back Nyheim Hines will occasionally do a flip as his touchdown celebration. Although I can’t speak for others, I can say that I have gotten hurt on multiple occasions doing flips.
In the case of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, he did get injured. During a game he decided to front flip into the endzone with no one near him. He later ended up missing three practices that week due to an injury he suffered while celebrating.
Some people still might say that celebrations are worth it, but why would anyone risk their million dollar contracts just for the cheap entertainment of fans?
I understand that a lot of sports fans love to see these celebrations as it brings them excitement, and there are some that I enjoy too. However, I would much rather see someone do something incredible and then just walk away like they have been there before.
Not showing emotion after every score makes it seem like it is just something they do often, and for most NFL players, it is something they have done often.
As an athlete, I can confidently say that my focus was solely on winning and nothing else during competition. I would even go so far as to stay away from people just to allow myself to focus more on what was ahead.
This is why I do not understand the need for athletes to celebrate. NFL players are getting paid millions and millions of dollars to do one thing the majority of the time, and that is to win.
The last thing I would say for this is that celebrating can also be extremely disrespectful. For example, former Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate’s celebration in a game against the Rams.
In this case, Tate went up for a pass which was contested by the Rams cornerback. Tate ended up coming down with the ball and continuing on for a touchdown after a fantastic catch.
While this just seems like a normal highlight play, he got flagged for an excessive celebration due to the gestures he made towards another Rams player while going in for the touchdown.
What was already an incredible play was then turned into something negative due to the taunting.
I think the game of football, and all sports in general, would be much cleaner and more enjoyable if the celebrations were cut back.