Celebrate Good Times?

by Ian Tasso

Photos by AP News.

To celebrate, or not to celebrate. That is the question.

But, before you tackle that, it’s important to remember what football really is, boiled down to its core.

It’s a game.

It’s a game that’s played by children, high-school kids, college kids, and a handful adults. But at its core, it’s exactly that – a game.

No aspect of the game is ruined by post-touchdown celebrations. Why? Because it’s a game. It’s all about having fun.

And that’s why people love guys like Chad Ocho-Cinco – because they have fun with it. Don’t believe me? The man has over 800,000 followers on Twitter.

That’s more than Steven Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald Kevin Garnett AND Chris Paul combined. With about 300,000 to spare.

Is it because he’s a better athlete than those guys? Could certainly be argued. But one thing is for sure - it’s because he’s entertaining.

It’s because he’s fun. It’s because he has fun playing the GAME that he plays.

Nobody gets hurt when he uses an end zone pylon to putt a football after scoring a touchdown. Nobody gets offended. But you can be damn sure people tune in when 85 says he’s going to wear a sombrero after he scores a TD on Sunday.

And isn’t that what the NFL’s all about? In a world full of PacMans, Vicks and Plaxico Burresses, guys like Ocho are the least of the NFL’s worries.

Soccer athletes rip off their shirts when they score. Hockey players pile on top of each other on the ice.

I mean, come on now. These guys put weeks of practice – years of training – into playing football. And why? To win. To score.

Teams prepare all week to stop them. All offseason trying to defend against them. And when they succeed – something that happens maybe 10 times a year for the best football athletes. Damnit, let the men enjoy themselves.

Let them enjoy the game they play. The game they love. Because the fans -- They love it too.

And that is the most important part.

I get it – they’re distracting. They evoke costly penalties. But it’s all part of the game. Just because you make a rule against holding doesn’t mean the guys aren’t going to hold. Go ahead – outlaw celebrating entirely.

They’ll still do it: flags or no flags. There will be balls spiked. There will be chests bumped. And there will be number one’s in the air.

There can be limits – thirty, forty seconds maybe. There can be guidelines – don’t taunt individuals, don’t break anything, no from-home props.

But what’s going on right now, you can’t completely cut that out.

Because sports are all about memories.

And the greatest memories of all are synonymous with their celebrations.

The mob on the ice after the miracle of 1980. The Tiger fist pump. Kissing the ground at the Brick-Yard. The Gatorade dump. Even Drew Brees after the Super Bowl with his one-year old son.

You can’t take that away. You can’t take away Ruth calling his own shot. You can’t take away the Band on the field. You just can’t

Celebrating is just as woven into the fabric of the game as four balls, three strikes and nine innings.

And that’s just the way it has to be. That’s the way it will always be.