NFL faux pas: highstepping & looking at yourself in the Jumbotron
One thing I've noticed more and more these days in pro football is players looking at themselves in the Jumbotron when streaking towards the end zone with defenders in the dust. Isaac Bruce did it in ther Super Bowl, perhaps only incidentally. The Vikings' Mewelde Moore did it for an extended period of time today as he scampered past the Giants.
I enjoy a good end zone celebration - once a player actually gets there. I've never been a fan of Deion Sander-ish highstepping en route to the Promised Land, but in today's world, dominated by the perpetually recycled SportsCenter highlight and various flavors of Internet syndication, it's more about "look what I did!" and less about helping your team win.
Roger Craig never did this. He high-stepped, but not in a showboating way...he did it to avoid would-be tacklers. Even if the great former 49ers running back had DBs beat by 40 yards, he'd be sprinting like they were right on his tail. That professionalism helped him earn three Super Bowl rings.
In defense of today's players, highsteppers and screenlookers only started with PrimeTime's arrival and the implementation of wide display technology, respectively. And maybe there is an advantage: Bruce in the aforementioned play looked like he may have been using the Georgia Dome's huge screen almost as a de facto rear-view mirror, checking the position and distance of defenders relative to himself.
When I played in middle school I ran like hell as a receiver, and only because I was scared to death of pummeled if I ever got caught.
My point is that we've all got our own motivations. While it's unconscionable that Paul Tagliabue will be able to control to octal behavior of players while on the field of battle, let's hope that players keep their priorities less on their own achievements and more on the good of the team.
I enjoy a good end zone celebration - once a player actually gets there. I've never been a fan of Deion Sander-ish highstepping en route to the Promised Land, but in today's world, dominated by the perpetually recycled SportsCenter highlight and various flavors of Internet syndication, it's more about "look what I did!" and less about helping your team win.
Roger Craig never did this. He high-stepped, but not in a showboating way...he did it to avoid would-be tacklers. Even if the great former 49ers running back had DBs beat by 40 yards, he'd be sprinting like they were right on his tail. That professionalism helped him earn three Super Bowl rings.
In defense of today's players, highsteppers and screenlookers only started with PrimeTime's arrival and the implementation of wide display technology, respectively. And maybe there is an advantage: Bruce in the aforementioned play looked like he may have been using the Georgia Dome's huge screen almost as a de facto rear-view mirror, checking the position and distance of defenders relative to himself.
When I played in middle school I ran like hell as a receiver, and only because I was scared to death of pummeled if I ever got caught.
My point is that we've all got our own motivations. While it's unconscionable that Paul Tagliabue will be able to control to octal behavior of players while on the field of battle, let's hope that players keep their priorities less on their own achievements and more on the good of the team.
posted by Jason Salas @ 3:01 PM
2 Comments:
At November 15, 2005 1:13 AM,
Joel Ross said…
This is exactly why I like LaDanian Tomlinson. He scores and then he hands the ball to the ref. No over the top celebration. He acts like it's just a natural thing that he's in the endzone (which, for him, it is).
I read an analogy somewhere once: When you're working on a software project, and you add a new feature, do you jump up out of your chair and run around, spiking your mouse?
At November 15, 2005 6:59 AM,
Jason Salas said…
Yep...like Vince Lombardi said, "When you get into the end zone, act like you've been there before."
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