Washington player penalized for pointing to heavens after TD

[joeknows]

Well, it finally happened: Penalties for excessive celebration have officially jumped the shark. If the NFL is the No Fun League, it's still a celebratory paradise compared to the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association.

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<clik here for the rest of the article>

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Washington-player-penalized-for-pointing-to-heav?urn=highschool-290886

i cannot believe they penalized this kid for this. im not even christian and this offends me that they penalized this young man!

[AsburySkinsFan]

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

I can't even imagine what they would have done had he given someone a high five!! Oh noes!!!!

[GhostofSparta]

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb

I can't even imagine what they would have done had he given someone a high five!! Oh noes!!!!

15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, kicked out of the game, and a 2 game suspension. Don't even ask about another teammate giving him a celebration hug, those repercussions will give you nightmares

[joeknows]

see this story is what really makes me mad!

as i said in the op... im not christian. but i respect everyones right to be who and what they want to be!

that kid did nothing wrong... whether it be BECAUSE he made a religious gesture ..... or because of EXCESSIVE celebration!

if it WAS because of the religious thing ... i say screw'em. give it up to your god and dont let anyone shake your faith! if it was because of excessive celebration... well i throw the BS flag at that one!

i say quit ruining kids good times because of stupid crap like this. we play school football and sports for fun! i wish people wouldnt ruin that with their ridiculous sensitivities.

[Hubbs]

I'm not Christian either, but you don't have to be to think that this is bat**** retarded.

[Teller]

I'm happy to see the reactions in this thread; and I agree with them.

[Corcaigh]

For some time kids in high school sports have been penalized for any form of celebration, including a chest bump with a team mate off the field in the team's sideline area.

[Ellis]

This is so wrong.

I can't believe they would do this to the kid even after he had a whole season of doing this after each td.

[rocazares]

What's wrong with people????

Minute after minute this kind of behavior is ruining the fun and the liberty of expression.

He just point to the sky!!!!!!!

F!!!!!

[Destino]

Apparently you aren't supposed to be happy when you do something good on the field and they better not catch you smiling after you lose either (see Cardinals). They are trying to turn football into a cubicle farm.

[Corcaigh]

High school sports are full of ridiculous rules. In girls field hockey, wearing glitter on your face is prohibited and a player wearing any is ineligible to play.

Yeah ... like I'm going to enforce that.

[frostyj]

When you point to the sky, you are essentially pointing to all people in Heaven... so, that would be excessive. Too many people!!

BS move buy the Ref. I would have filed a complaint he accosted me with the flag.

[Hitman21ST]

Even worse explanation by the head of the Washington high school athletic association:

"The point is to make sure the game goes on, that something that happens after a score or after a spectacular play or whatever doesn't slow down play itself,"

So unless the scorer, immediately upon crossing the goal line, sprints over to the referee and hands him the ball, it could be excessive celebration.

[Symbol]

I don't know the rules for the area that this happened, but I know when I was coaching, the rule for my district was that there were to be NO celebrations. If a score happens, they hand the ball to the ref or lay it on the ground where they scored and walk to the sidelines to prepare for the kickoff. So this sounds to me that it has nothing to do with religion as much as a rule that I'm guessing is similar across the board for high school football.

Remember, as much as people dog these decisions, the kids are suppose to be learning sportsmanship. No pointing up at the heavens is not taunting to me either, but if you make an exception for one type of celebration then where does it end? The rules become more lax as you get elevated, if he's lucky enough to make it to college, he can point up, I would assume.

[Reic]

Even worse explanation by the head of the Washington high school athletic association:

So unless the scorer, immediately upon crossing the goal line, sprints over to the referee and hands him the ball, it could be excessive celebration.

Im not sure how that would slow down the game.. the 40 second clock still runs and you still have to line up for the field goal. That will take the same amount of time regardless.

[Bang]

Remember, as much as people dog these decisions, the kids are suppose to be learning sportsmanship. No pointing up at the heavens is not taunting to me either, but if you make an exception for one type of celebration then where does it end? .

At the intersection of Common and Sense.

We're allowed to think, as much as we'd like to believe otherwise.

We don't need every rule spelled out to the Nth degree to achieve what we're looking for.

Unfortunately, since we've decided to let the lunatics run the asylum we have disallowed thought, and now expect that everything that is not 100% spelled out in concrete is open to the worst possible interpretation that there is, which we'll be powerless to stop because we failed to specifiy every possible contingency with a rule.

We've paralyzed our brains, and so a harmless gesture towards the heavens is equal to sticking your finger in someone's face and screaming your superiority.

It's insanity.

~Bang

[Mickalino]

So.....now showing complete humility and graciousness is considered excessive celebration ?

oooookay, then....I guess everything else a player does after a TD is excessive, according to that principle.

[China]

:point2sky

[Bibby]

The rules become more lax as you get elevated, if he's lucky enough to make it to college, he can point up, I would assume.

Thats crazy.. These are just high school kids out there. Most of them will stop playing organized football like that at the high school level. The rules need to be revisited and allow these kids to be able to celebrate TDs (in good taste) since its probably not often that individual scores.

[bishtw]

:point2sky

:ols:

[NavyDave]

High school sports are full of ridiculous rules. In girls field hockey, wearing glitter on your face is prohibited and a player wearing any is ineligible to play.

Yeah ... like I'm going to enforce that.

You're joking, right??

[Burgold]

Can't say anything that hasn't been said. This is silliness. Personally, I like the celebrations (for touchdowns). I like the group stuff and the choreography. Heck, I like singing "HTTR" after a touchdown and that's an excessive celebration by the fans that takes way more than 2-3 seconds. I agree that taunting can be a problem, but the fun bunch or even most of the Ocho Cinco stuff was just fun silliness.

If pointing to the heavens is a reverential thanks then that's an even bigger reason to allow it. It's not mocking, condescending, or wasting time. It's a quick gesture of respect. And as a non-Christian, I have never been offended by it. I don't think many have.

[KDawg]

We tell our kids no celebrations for this very reason.

Seriously.

I'd love to let our kids have some fun (some being the operative word, there is such a thing as going too far), but I know that the penalty, if we get a ref on a power trip, is too great. If our kids celebrate in a game, even if they're not caught, we give them some form of punishment. Not because I want to, but because the rules that were put in place dictate that we do.

There really isn't much fun in the game anymore. I tell the kids this too. I'd love to let them have fun when they score, or hand the ball to a lineman to spike. But we can't. So respect that, because we're looking out for the players.

It's a shame.

They understand where we're coming from, though. We have a great group of kids.

[Kosher Ham]

So this is a rule based on delay of game more than anything KDawg ?

Sad that the kids aren't allowed to (or hell the Pro's) allowed to have a little celebration after a score.

However I would disagree about the game not being fun anymore.

[scruffylookin]

I thought at first when I read the thread that he may have been excessive and it became a more "look at me" moment and that was why he was flagged but then I looked at the video and I can't believe he was flagged for that. Drop to a knee and did a quick (and I mean quick) point up and then got up. The only excuse, and I know it's flimsy, would be if the refs warned everybody at the start of the game that they were going to flag anyone for any celebration whatsoever. But still it is a very lame excuse.