Editorial: It's
time for the NCAA to trash the “excessive celebration” rule.
There is a thief loose in the US.
No, it isn't Tatum Bell taking Rudi Johnson's bags. The thief carries a whistle and wears
stripes.
By Bill Smith
The University of Washington has been struggling for
years. Herm Willingham, having been car
jacked out of a job at Notre Dame, has been trying desperately to turn the
program around. But, his job is on the
line at UW. His one sterling asset on
offense, quarterback Jake Locker, who had carried the team on his back the
whole game scored a TD with 2 seconds left against the heavily favored
BYU. BYU owns the longest winning streak
in the nation for 1A teams. That made
the score BYU 28 UW 27.
What
transpired next was a totally spontaneous and understandable explosion of
school spirit by those on the field?
Locker's team mates knew exactly who it was that had carried the team
and hugged him and each other for less than 5 seconds. That is when the theft occurred.
The referee
threw a flag against this emotional catharsis.
“Personal Fowl for excessive celebration—15 yard penalty.” The “offended” BYU Cougars chose to take the
penalty on the extra point try. The kick
was low and it was blocked. The refs
stole a chance for a win or at the very least overtime away from a team, a
coach, and a state that so desperately needed it.
Who knows
what would have happened if the penalty had not set the ball at the 18 yard
line making the kick 37 yards. Would
have the beleaguered coach gone for 2 and the win? Or would he have followed the traditional
rule and play for overtime at home? Who knows? The point is that the Huskies should have had
that chance.
In a
comment after the game the referee said that the celebration was the throwing
of the ball in the air. “It's not a
judgment call. It is a rule that must be
enforced.”
I'm sorry
to get political but this is political correctness take to the extreme. Evidently there is an article in our
Constitution that guarantees freedom from being insulted. I must admit even in reviewing my
Constitutional law course at OSU, I still have not found it.
My Dad is a
very bright guy. One of his favorite
sayings is “It's no sin to be ignorant.
It is however a sin to be arrogant about your ignorance.” The rule is just one more case of the NCAA
being arrogant about their ignorance.
The game is
played by 18-22 year old boys. For a
vast majority of them, this will be their final level to play a game they have
loved and been involved in since they were 8 years old. There was no taunting of BYU. There was no intent to insult anyone. It was a group of exhausted young men expressing
a depth of appreciation for each other and for the game they play that
civilians may never understand. And all
of that effort sacrifice and mutual determination was taken away in a single
bad application of a worse rule.
What
should be done? Drop the rule all
together. Make taunting an opponent or
official a penalty. But either define
this in a way that takes the judgment in the call. The NCAA eliminated the 5 yard penalty for
incidental contact with a face mask because the officials found it too hard to
decide what was flagrant and what was not.
Do the same with this.
Bill Smith is a
former coach of several semi-pro teams and has scouted talent. He is a senior writer for http://BrutusReport.com. He has
also published several novels on http://ebooks-library.com/index.cfm and edits http://fryingpanpolitics.blog.com