reasons why celebrating is bad

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are people that believe that the game should be played according to the rules with no embellishment or extra-curricular activity. The celebrations distract from the actual game of football and in a way can be disrespectful to the integrity to the game. The celebrations focus on a single player's accomplishments and not what the game is supposed to be about, the team. The big egos of the league, the players that have the biggest problem with getting along with their teammates and creating good chemistry, also happen to be the repeat celebrators. Not only do they draw away attention from the respect of playing the game and the team spirit and coordination , they also set a bad example for the younger fans that are watching them. The kids that want to be professional football players when they grow up are seeing the big players dance around, and putting themselves ahead of the welfare of the team by drawing 15 yard personal foul penalties. By teaching the future professionals this, in time the whole league could be filled with self-centered egomaniacs. If the league focuses too much on celebrations it could not only decrease the value of the NFL now, but affect it for years to come.

reasons why celebrating is legit

It is true that football is a game, but it is also true that the NFL is an entertainment based league. In order for people to watch it, the games have to be fun to watch and one of the main contributing factors of the entertainment is seeing outlandish celebrations. On top of that we can all agree that football is an emotional sport. With all the high stakes, hard hitting and humongous intensity it is filled with anger, excitement and joy. When a player achieves his goal then there has to be away to express it, heir-go celebrating. Besides the fun and expressing aspect of it, there has also been studies done that can be linked to celebrating benefiting the team and the player's performance. There was a Harvard study done, where they looked at the happiness of 5,000 people and they found that when one person is happy it can trigger a chain reaction among their friends and family, causing them to be happy. Now, if you apply this same idea to the excitement and adrenaline of scoring a touchdown or making a big play, you see how it would have a positive effect on a team. If a player trots into the end zone and does a celebration then it is possible that this could enhance the emotion of their team mates and help them perform better.

What's up, Holmes?

Super Bowl XLIII. Less than one minute remaining in the game. Ben Roethlisberger throws a 6 yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes to seal their 27-23 victory. Now, I don't know about you but if I just caught a super bowl winning touchdown I might be just a little bit excited.  After the play had ended he threw the ball up in the air, LeBron James style....and was then fined 10,000 dollars.  To my understanding the point of the celebration rule, and rules in general, are to keep the players safe. The league says that the rule is there because they don't want to cause a disagreement between players or get the other team riled up, which might cause a fight  or get players injured, but what's the point of penalizing someone when they do it after the play is over. On top of that, they need to bring it outside the confines of the game and penalize the players wallet? That doesn't make a lick o' sense. The rule isn't consistent and has too many flaws for it to be beneficial to the game. If they're going to continue with it, the league needs to take a good look at the pros and cons and finer details of the rule.

We don't need no penalization...

HEY. refs, leave them players alone.
I just really want to emphasize that there's no need for this flippin' rule. Let me ask you a question, what is the point of rules? to keep people safe and keep everything fair, right? well what does this rule keep from happening? fun.....excitement....spirit....it just doesn't contribute to making the game better so what's the point. It's not hurting anyone, and it's just in good fun. So I think the league needs to stop trippin' and sucking the fun out of everything. That's right commissioner....fun sucker.

Fairness of severness of celebration penalization

Yes, the title does rhyme. And I just wanted to bring this to attention, if a safety goes helmet to helmet on a defenseless wide receiver, knocking him out and sidelining him with a concussion, how many yards is his team penalized? 15 yards. If a player slam dunks a football on the uprights how many yards is he penalized? 15 yards. Notice a problem? With all penalization, the punishment should match the crime. If bruising a players brain results in 15 yards, should a break dance after a TD result in the same thing? If they are going to have such a rule in the game then they need to get rid of the flaws that are present. It needs to have a more clear cut definition and a much more just punishment.

No Fun League (NFL) going too far with celebration restrictions

Now I know this is a bit of a stretch but according to the rule it is legit, the rule says that if a player goes to the ground while celebrating it is a penalty. The problem with this is that it is not consistently enforced and honestly don't make much sense. When a players makes a play and goes down on one knee to thank God is that a penalty? Technically yes, but it's not called. But if a team organizes a high five in the endzone? bang, 15 yards. What's the matter with a player dropping to the ground, when it's perfectly fine for them to jump into the stands or dougie in the endzone. I'm not a fan of restricting celebrations in the first place, but if it is going to be done at least make it reasonable.

Facts about the 'social network' effect of emotion

  So I did some more research on the chain reaction of happiness. I found that when an individual becomes happy it increases a friend’s chances of happiness, a friend of that friend experiences a nearly 10 percent chance of increased happiness, and a friend of that friend has a 5.6 percent increased chance. Apparently the effect can last up to a year, so it would definitely last through a football game. I'm just saying that maybe by penalizing celebrations, you are penalizing happiness and that could have a negative effect on their performance.

Flip, Flop, Flippy to the Floppy

I know, I know I'm not sticking to my side and converting over to pro-celebration, but after reading a couple blogs about the psychological benefits of releasing emotions through celebrating I have changed my mind. The main reason for my switcharoo is because of a Harvard study that was done for over 20 years. It looked at the happiness of 5,000 people and they found that when one person is happy it can trigger a chain reaction among their friends and family, causing them to be happy. Now, if you apply this same idea to the excitement and pumped-ness of scoring a touchdown or making a big play, you can see how it would have a positive effect on a team. If a player trots into the end zone and does a little jig then it is possible that this could enhance the emotion of their team mates and help them perform better.

Switchin' it up

Now I know in the last couple posts I was all against the crazy celly's (and I still don't like them) but now I'm going to try and argue why they are good for the game and stuff.  Ok so here we go......

HEY THERE! so what's up with all the crack downs on celebrations, it seems like whenever an athlete gets work done they can't have any fun without having their celebration called inappropriate or fined. The NFL already penalizes a player for being to enthusiastic in their dances or even leaving their feet. But what's the big deal? Can't athletes just have some fun and be proud of their accomplishments? One of the best things about sports is the thrill of competition. When you win, it makes you feel great and sometimes you do goofy things. Why try to stop that natural emotion that makes sport so fun to play and so entertaining to watch? You don't need to answer all of these questions, I don't want you to think too hard, but it's a valid point. Sports competitions aren't all about winning and losing. They're also about having fun and celebrating your achievements. 

Ok, so I'm glad that's over, now I can go back to being my no fun, celebration-hating self.  But I want you to think about what I just said. Go ahead...ponder. 

Okay so I'll admit this one's funny...but listen to what the reporter says before the dance to understand how much he does this sort of thing

Chad Johnso-oops I mean Ochocinco

Chad Ochocinco is as bad as it gets. Yes, he is good, one might even say very good but unfortunately he knows this and isn't afraid to let other people know it. His ego is somewhere between the size of a large medicine ball and one of Saturn's moons, with the attitude comparable to that of a whiny Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. He has done more exuberant celebrations than anyone I can think of and it has a negative effect on his team. With his 'the world revolves around me' attitude and demand for attention he not only disregards the notion of sportsmanship and camaraderie, he stomps it into a self-centered mound of oatmeal. When he gets the ball you can see him prancing around gloating and rubbing it in opposing players faces, and when Chad doesn't get the ball he is not a happy camper and turns on his own team. Although his dances and celebrations may be entertaining, the encouragement of those types of personalities will only fuel other players to forget the true meaning of being on a team.

Mad Celebrations

Ello Guvna' celebrations are a part of the game and always have been, throughout the years more measures have been taken in order to cleanse the game of such acts.  For example, you can not leave your feet or use any sort of prop while gettin' jiggy wit it, or it is a  15 yard penalty. As you can probably infer, the players don't like this rule, but is it really such a bad idea? The excessive celebrations don't really add anything to the game and might even distract the players and fans from the actual playing of the game of football. Wouldn't we rather have the players focusing on catching a touchdown pass or trucking a safety into a permanent state of vegetation, than hiding a pen in the endzone or corrupting the minds of young children with promiscuous dance moves. The game has started to put too much focus on the celebrations  and these rules help to bring it back to the way it was before the big egos of the NFL.

DRaFtiN' PlAAyyaAz iN FntsY FtBaLl

Hello children, today I am going to take you on a journey to a very special place (btw if a middle-aged mustached man ever says this to you, run.) Way back before it was halfway through the fantasy football season and we were all giddy with excitement for the upcoming draft. So with eyes bulging and legs crossed to keep from peeing yourself you gingerly click, Launch Draft. It begins. It takes you to a data base -like thing with all the players in the NFL in it. You and all of the other players in your league sit on their butt-cheeks in front of their computers and get to choose any player they want when it is their turn to pick. After everyone has gone and picked enough players to fill out their team the draft ends. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! woah calm down there's no need to get excited. Even after the draft you can propose trades with the other teams in your league, and up until a pre-scheduled trade deadline can switch your players with yer budz. So zwooooommmm rackaaaakaa tillypoo, we're back in normal time now. So chill.

Fantasy Football Round Dos

Due to popular demand I have returned to further explain the world of fantasy football. There are many ways to participate in fantasy football. There are some people who make their own leagues and point systems and go through a bunch of steps and thought processes in order to win for prize money but unlike those people I like to think that I have a life (and no income), so I use the online version. There are a couple of websites that offer fantasy football. Están nfl.com, yahoo.com and some others, all with their own point systems, but I use espn.com. Within espn.com there are a few different types of leagues or you can customize your own rules. You have the option of joining a public league, where you are randomly matched up with people you don't know, or ganging up with your buddies and rashin' on each other.  The standard rule system is that each player you have is awarded points for the amount of touchdowns and yards they have in their game. The two positions that don't follow this system are kickers and defenses. For kickers each kick they make gives them points, the farther the kick the more points. The defenses are given points for limiting the number of touchdowns the other team gets and different types of plays they do. For example, interceptions, fumbles, sacks, etcetera. After everyone has played the total points are added up and the team with the most wins that weeks matchup. Keep it fricky fricky fresh, the end.

Fantasy Football

Here's the deal: fantasy football, if you don't like it change your mind. The whole basic concept of the fantasized football league is this; you pick the dopest players you can get in a simulated draft to "create" a team inside of a league with other teams. So, basically your team consists of a bunch of duplicates that represent the real players in the league. Each week the real life players play their games and in the fantasy league are awarded points depending on how well they do. Now, if God hated you and had cursed you with being in my league, where you are doomed to lose every confrontation with my team you would see that I am 3-2 (the two losses were a fluke and they cheated of course) with a recent win being a blowout by 75 points. I know, I gotz maDd SteEZZzz yo. The fantasy season has 14 games and then playoffs and then the championship. Since my team reps it mad hard I will obviously win that and will keep you up to date on my march to domination

Patriots vs. Dolphins

Patrick Chung. The end.
What just happened? If you saw the game last night then you know. The patriots defense performance against the Miami Dolphins was more significant than just allowing the Patriots to apply pown-age to their players, staff, trainers and team name. It shot down any remaining doubt that the Pats D couldn't perform. Everyone thought that they would be strong offensively but equivalent to a crew of crippled girl scouts on defense. BOOM ROASTED. Now, I know that we can't expect 2 blocked kicks and an interception (all by Patrick Chung) that would all turn into scores every game, but it still says something about their ability. I am literally still in shock from some of the plays, the offense didn't have to do anything. I think it's pretty obvious thats something is askew when Randy Moss doesn't have a catch the whole game and we still manage to rack up 41 points. Overall, I think that this means that we're going to do better than everyone thought now that the defense has proven to be less frail and hopeless than previously thought. I mean the defensive army was able to hold the powerful Miami offense to 14 points, making the score 41-14.   <-- Check it, palindrome biyotch.

Sheldon Brown destroys Reggie Bush

History of Football

Ok, so I'm wicked sorry that I'm not writing about something new or current but I missed all the games this weekend b/c I had the BHS game to go to, Warriors football wha-whaaat! Also as I'm sure most of you know I had to get this blog in by the end of today, and the patriots game being tomorrow I have basically nothing to talk about. So I'm going to just go over the olden days of football.  Lets go way back yonder to a time in yee ol' Great Britain. Here my children, there was a mystical game called rugby.  Rugby is a violent game usually played by extremely large humans with little interest in self-preservation, and typically hygiene. That is unless there are any rugby players reading this, in which case I love rugby and please don't shatter every bone in my body.  So, from there it started being played in America when European settlers moved on over across the pond. It started to become popular in the midwest (it just so happens that this is when Brett Favre started playing in Mississippi Popwarner football) and spread throughout the country. Then in 1879 a man by the name of Walter Camp made the first set of rules for football. For the rest of his life he helped evolve the sport away from rugby into the American football that we all know today. I know, I know it was really boring but it had to be done. Shhhhhhh calm down I'll post a video of someone getting hit really hard to create equilibrium between the boring and awesome. You're gonna make it.

Concussions in that game called football

So you all know how football works. A guy gets the ball, another big guy tackles him and then an even bigger guy jumps on top. And like all things that involves 400 pound sandwiches, people get hurt. From twisting an ankle to breaking a hip (and everyone it's all down hill from there) the football gods have seen it all. But recently the mac daddy of all injures has been the Concussion. Yes, I will capitalize Concussion b/c it demands respect and I know I'm not messing with something that makes bruises on my brain. Anyway, Concussions have always been a part of football but some new studies have been done by NFL concerning Concussions and their effects on the brain. They found that they can cause dementia, Alzheimer's, permanent brain damage along with a whole bunch of other crippling fun stuff. So to stop athletes from becoming mentally-disabled confused old men the league has made some new rules to protect them along with prolonging the recovery process before they can come back from a Concussion.    
Also, as I'm probably sure you've already heard, I did lose my fantasy football game. So there goes my hopes of being 3-0, THANKS JOON LEE. I lost by 2 points b/c my kicker got blocked by Julius Peppers, defensive end for the Chicago Bears, like WHAT? When does that even happen. So yeah, Joon and Julius I hate both of you. >:(           angry face.

Are you Faulk-ing kidding me?

WHATTA BUMMERRRR! Yezzir, 'tis true Mr. Clutch, Kevin Faulk has suffered an ACL injury in Sunday's game.  Although, it hasn't been verified by the Patriots staff it is likely that his bum knee will take this 33 year old running back out of service for the rest of the season. This is muy bad because he was the go to guy. Need a first down? Yo kevin, get in dis game! With the Pats run game the way it is already (poopy is the only word I can describe it as) this is a big blow to the the team. The other guys are going to need to step it up in order for the Patriots to keep on rolling. Now to stray away from season ending injuries and torn up leg tendons, I have a brief announcement. Although, the JV football team suffered a tough loss yesterday there was one bright spot when Myles LaFrance got his first career touchdown followed by an extra point. So, needless to say he is a complete beast and be steady reppin' Brookline Football. Thank Ya'll for reading.

Football

Ok, so I know that my topic is pretty lame-o but I found it difficult to think of one so I decided to just go with something that I enjoy, which is sports. To narrow the topic down from just writing about the sport of football in general I am going to talk about some of this weeks games, including the wonderful Brookline v. Braintree game that took place on Sunday. To start it off, the Pats played the Jets at 4 yesterday and to quote the great Tom Brady 'We just sucked.' It started off pretty good with Randy Moss' absolutely sexy catch to go ahead before the half, 14-10. Then came the second half where the Patriots seemed to completely shutdown and and did not score for the rest of the game while Mark Sanchez, who usually has the arm of a 12 year-old girl, went big with a total of 3 touchdown passes. I mean what the eff, even with Darrelle Revis out with a hamstring injury we still couldn't get any thing done. Anyway, there's nothing they can do about it now and they have to get ready for the Buffalo Bills next week. Now, on a happier note I'm gonna talk about the BHS game...wait nope. So it may not have been a blow out win, or even a close game but I'm gonna talk about it anyway, so ha. At Parson's field at North Eastern on Sunday, we hosted the Braintree in what promised to be a close matchup. But avast, even though we scored first and were tied at the half, Braintree slowly crept ahead until it was 27-7. Soooooo, we may be 0-2 but that best be changin' soon so make sure to go to the games and support your team! :) but seriously, do it. For real. Or else Rambo will eat your first born child. Thank you for your time.