The No Fun League

Is anyone else as annoyed as I am about the rules against touchdown celebrations? As a fan of a team whose defense gives up a lot of touchdowns, I personally don't mind if the opposing team is celebrating scoring. Hell, if it's a funny celebration, it may even cheer me up a little.

The reason I'm writing this is to ask others' opinions on the rule. What inspired me to write it is the "Cupid Shuffle" that Ronnie Brown, Vernon Carey, and Ikechuku Ndukwe of the Miami Dolphins broke in to last week after Ronnie Brown scored.

You can watch the video of the dance here: Week 5 Official Review - NFL.com (fast forward to about 5:30)

You can read the blog entry where I read about this story here: Roger Goodell is not amused by the Cupid Shuffle

Apparently the three of them were fined $10,000 for doing the dance. Ronnie Brown admitted the dance was rehearsed, but I don't see why that should matter.

The bottom line is, for us fans (the only source of revenue for the league), watching football is entertainment; we watch it to be entertained. The celebrations are entertaining.

The league wants to promote professionalism, but its a sport. Sports are supposed to be fun. Let the players have fun. Its 3 hours of their lives where they can act like a bunch of children, and its 3 hours of our lives where we can enjoy watching them do so.

People complain that the celebrations show up the other team. If you don't want to be shown up, don't let them score. If you let them score, you deserve it. That sounds fair enough to me.

[edit on 10/12/08 by NovusOrdoMundi]