Individual Celebrations Have Taken Over Team Sports
Posted
Jerad Shaw-
Note – Call To The Pen is a column that appears each Monday.
Celebrations in sports have come full circle. From pounding your chest, to the now infamous bat flip, the show of individual embellishment after a performance is getting out of hand. Society and major sports media have laid the groundwork to glorify these individual acts of showmanship. In what started as an issue in professional sports, it has filtered down the ranks ... so much so that even my 4 year old son isn’t immune to catching the celebration fever. Whether it be flexing, or putting up the three goggles after hitting a shot from 21 feet, the madness has to stop. Growing up, we were always told to act like we have been there before. Regardless of the situation, humility and sportsmanship were the laws of the land when it came to behavior in between the lines. Hit a shot, go play defense. Hit a home run, run the bases like Pete Rose. A 2-yard carry, get back in the huddle. That’s now been replaced by a flamboyant first-down celebration, midway through the second quarter nonetheless. The NFL has continued to try and stem the tide of touchdown celebrations, but have fallen short at policing the meaningless actions of players throughout the middle of games. Deion Sanders started a movement that now includes defensive linemen who make a tackle after a 5-yard offensive gain. That would be like me celebrating for showing up to work on time. It’s your job. Early in the 2014 baseball season, a new craze has hit America’s past time. Thanks to an up-and-coming star playing for the L.A. Dodgers (Yasiel Puig), the bat flip has taken the country by storm. Puig has turned quality at-bats into a circus with his antics, and it’s starting to wear teams thin. In a sport that prides itself with unwritten rules of conduct, Puig has thrown away that book. A search of bat flips online will show not only Puig, but other major leaguers showing up opposing pitches. Only second to hockey, baseball was once a sport that prided itself on how players were able to police this behavior. It’s now impossible to properly handle players like Puig and continue a regulation baseball game. While Puig’s career looks to be a bright one in the making, his behavior is casting a shadow over his on-field performances. Over the last three seasons, college basketball players have taken on a new celebration, and it’s arguably the most ridiculous one in all of sports. If you have watched Indiana University basketball, you have surely seen Will Sheehey apply what is referred to as the Three Goggles. Forget the missed layups, and terrible defensive performances he put together. Given the opportunity to direct the focus on himself, Sheehey was never been one to shy away from the spotlight. Between the goggles and flexing, it’s not hard to see why Sheehey never achieved his full potential in his cream and crimson uniform. Sportsmanship is slowly dwindling from all levels of sports. At some point in the last decade, the focus of doing your job quietly and gaining respect from that has changed. At the top level of sports it’s now necessary to market yourself as an individual ... ahead of team success. It’s turning these sports into a lesser form of the WWE. Now, with the glorification of individual celebration, there is no end in sight with this unfortunate trend.
