From the classic ball spikes to the salsa dance to twerking, the arsenal of touchdown celebrations practiced by the NFL athletes is highly creative. Though, in this era of touchdown ceremonies, there is a growing war on whether or not they are appropriate. The players should not be prohibited from these silly moments because they deserve the reward from scoring, and in addition the players are being unequally and too severely disciplined, even though the league’s administrators believe it is are detrimental to the character and integrity of the NFL. Firstly, the prime reason a player would throw a party after scoring, is because it is an immense accomplishment for their team in a game. For example, on two separate accounts, both wide receiver
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These players have both received little to no repercussions for celebrating, even with Newton’s famous “Dab”, but the message is clear: there should be some consideration for the success of the players. On paper it seems as though there is a margin for such, but in practice there have been $400,000 more in unsportsmanlike fines for unsportsmanlike conduct from the 2015 to 2016 season. With the influx of repercussions, players’ creativity and exuberance is being suppressed. Furthermore, the NFL has been seemingly attacking touchdown celebrations at random, and with little guidance from their definition of non-permissible dances. An article by CBS sports covering the difference of repercussions of dirty plays compared to touchdown celebrations reported, “Fletcher Cox has been fined each of the last two weeks for illegal hits on quarterbacks. Those two fines totaled $18,320, with the cost of a late hit being $9,115. Redskins tight end Vernon Davis celebrated after scoring a touchdown against the Eagles on Sunday … by shooting a jump shot. He was flagged because his celebration violated NFL rules. And he was fined $12,000 for the celebration.” The first key flaw in the NFL rulebook that this example illustrates is that celebrating after a
These players have both received little to no repercussions for celebrating, even with Newton’s famous “Dab”, but the message is clear: there should be some consideration for the success of the players. On paper it seems as though there is a margin for such, but in practice there have been $400,000 more in unsportsmanlike fines for unsportsmanlike conduct from the 2015 to 2016 season. With the influx of repercussions, players’ creativity and exuberance is being suppressed. Furthermore, the NFL has been seemingly attacking touchdown celebrations at random, and with little guidance from their definition of non-permissible dances. An article by CBS sports covering the difference of repercussions of dirty plays compared to touchdown celebrations reported, “Fletcher Cox has been fined each of the last two weeks for illegal hits on quarterbacks. Those two fines totaled $18,320, with the cost of a late hit being $9,115. Redskins tight end Vernon Davis celebrated after scoring a touchdown against the Eagles on Sunday … by shooting a jump shot. He was flagged because his celebration violated NFL rules. And he was fined $12,000 for the celebration.” The first key flaw in the NFL rulebook that this example illustrates is that celebrating after a