Did anyone watch the raiders game? im not a raiders fan, chargers all the way but this cought my attention! Hes a corner back and intercepted the ball, he was so happy that went in his knees and put his arms up in the air. All the sudden the reff throws a flag for that shit... unbelievable! check out the full article! http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/sh...-thinks-he-was-flagged-because?urn=nfl,194364
He got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for excessive celebration. It happens.. Had nothing to do with Religion. Its a stupid rule if you ask me, but its one that has been around for a while now, and gets thrown quite a bit when people go overboard on the celebratory end of the spectrum. In the end, its a judgment call on the refs side. Most do not do it very often because its a given you will have some type of celebration after scoring. Its the excessive nature which typically delays the game that makes a ref prone to throwing it, and why the rule exists.
You can celebrate, you're just not supposed to do any excessive celebration. For instance, the Lambo Leap, ok... The whole team doing a shuffle and chicken dance for 5 minutes after the play, NO.
One thing about the NFL is that they follow through on the player penalties. Contrast this with the recent Adebayor debacle in the Premier League.
I think the rule says you can't go to the ground to celebrate. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but even as a Raiders fan, I can say that there should be a rule against celebrating when you're behind by 13 points and your team hasn't scored a touchdown in weeks!
Well the No Fun League is notorious for cutting down on how much the paid athletes act like children. It was not an affront to his religion, he was merely being reminded that in a sport you're supposed to act like you've scored a point before with class and humility as it is a TEAM effort. The only showboating I ever did (which in hindsight was probably also the most insulting) would be to run to my goalie and give him a piggyback around the field, shine the cleats of my fellow attackmen, or get the midfielders to act as a throne...I included my team in the celebration because I have such good sportsmanship...
The fact is that no matter if he was truthfully thanking God or not, the rule is that your not allowed to go to your knees during a celebration. He could have easily got to one knee and put his arms in the air. The rule is pretty rediculous about celebrations but as of right now that's how it is. If the refs could read the cornerbacks mind about what he was actually doing then they obviously wouldn't have thrown the flag. The referrees don't know if he is just being cocky or praising God or anything and that is why the penalty flag was thrown. The rule should be changed, it's just not how it is right now.
How do you know it was because of religion. He could of been worshipping himself and it is called excess celebration