The No Fun League

One huge concern and question I have is...has the NFL taken the fun out of the game of football?I believe the league has, and now is just punishing and fining players because they can in regards of touchdown celebrations. I will side with the NFL just briefly. I agree that when Joe horn pulled out a cell phone out of the goal post and acted like he was having a conversation that he should be fined. My reasoning for this is simply because he used another prop that isn't in the field of play and went out of his way before the game to put the phone in the goal post padding. I also agree that if players celebrate vulgarly or their acts are innapropiate for public then they should be fined. When players are just having good clean fun and being themselves after scoring a touchdown and the celebration is innocent they shouldn't be fined. The players already cannot simply spike a football after a big play unless it is a touchdown so now when they do score a touchdown the league is going to watch closely at every move they make so they can evaluate if the celebration deserves a fine or not. I think this is totally unfair to the professional football players and the fans. Today's sports is not just a sport it is a form of entertainment for all people. What the NFL fails to realize that by putting so many rules and restrictions on the players' celebrations the fans who either go to the games or view them on television are also getting punished in a way because they can't see the amusing or big end zone dances, and for some fans that's what they look forward to. When the Bengals opened up against the Ravens earlier this season all everyone talked about was what Chad johnson promised when he scored his first touchdown. The Monday Night Football ABC commentators discussed it multiple times before Chad finally did reach the endzone. It had pleny of media coverage a couple of days before the game even started and many football fans were wanting to watch this celebration. The celebration was a little disappinting and dragged out to the viewers because Chad had to run over to the sidelines just so he wouldn't get fined. To me this is ridiculous.



Terrell Owens was recently fined by the NFL for his endzone dance that mocked the latest controversy concerning the Patriots. Owens was fined $7,500 for his celebration. According to the Associated Press, Owens is very frustrated with the interpretations and understanding of the League's rules. He stated that he is not sure of what he can or cannot do after scoring a touchdown. He was asked if he would take his acts to the sidelines after scoring six and he said he guesses so, but then stated that next the NFL will put in a rule against that as well.The fact of the matter is players like T.O. cannot fully be thier amusing and entertaining selves on the football field because of little things like this. What does the NFL get out of fining a player worth millions a couple thousand dollars. The answer is nothing. To me incidents like this just show me how power hungry the NFL is. Due to the No Fun League cracking down so much lately on small things such as endzone celebrations the league may not be as entertaing and fun to watch as it used to be. The NFL is slowly taking out all of the fun in pro football. The NFL should and do have bigger things to worry about then clean amusing endzone celebrations.

Homophobia in Sports Continued

Whether we want to admit it or not we know that a person's sexuality can have huge effect on not only their daily lives but in their sports' careers. I have seen and heard of all the negatives that have and can come from coaches or players coming out of the closet, but lets now focus on the posotives that can result from a player or coach openly admitting they are in fact gay. Take Oregon State's softball coach Kirk Walker for example. ESPN.com:NCAA, Graham Hays reported that after being engaged in a gay relationship for ten years, Walker and his partner decided to adopt a child. Walker then felt it was the right time to break the news to his softball team not only about his decision to adopt but that he was also a homosexual. Walker didn't want his players to find out from the internet or by another source so he addressed his team at their first fall meeting in 2005. He felt it was very important that he be the first to tell them. Instead of the team turning against him or judging their coach they embraced and rallied behind him. Walker's players were very happy and excited for their coach that he was going to be a father soon. This was the reaction and support Walker was hoping for. Now it was time for the hard part.Walker stated that a couple of weeks after the fall meeting there was a school alumni game at the university and his player's parents would be in attendance.He admitted he was very nervous of what the parent's responses or reactions would be. To Walker's surprise they were very supportive and congratulated him on becoming a father. Walker's honesty to his team indicates that there must be a tight bond and a great trust Walker has for his players for sharing such a personal decision. This trust and tight bond paid off tremendously. Due to the players taking the news so well and being so supportive of their coach ,the Oregon State softball team went on to making history the next season. They made an appearance in the College Softball World Series in the fall of 2006 for the first time.(http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2915201&type=story ) This is a case where the coach was completely honest with his team and they became supportive of him immediately and the end result was success. There needs to be more cases in athletics like this one to inspire other coaches and players to be honest and not be ashamed of their sexuality. There also needs to be more cases like this one where the athletes/ coaches who do come out aren't rejected or criticized but rather their decision is accepted and they are supported. If more teams had the close player/coach relationship like the O.S.U. softball team maybe they would share similar success and atheltics as a whole would be better off.