Why So Serious? (12-1-11)

Yesterday the National Football League fined Buffalo Bills Wide Receiver Stevie Johnson $10,000 for his excessive celebration in the Bills 28-24 loss to the New Jersey Jets. If you haven’t seen the video of what he did, after scoring a touchdown late in the 2^nd quarter he pretended to pull out a couple of 6-shooters with his hands and did a bang, bang, bang thingy and then pretended to shoot himself in the leg ala Jets receiver Plaxico Burress, who shot himself in the leg at a New York city nightclub in 2008 and is finally back playing football again this year after nearly 2 spent in jail on the related charges. But wait, Stevie wasn’t done, then for his coup de grace he stuck his arms out and pretended he was a “Jet” like several Jets players do after they score touchdowns except Stevie didn’t have a happy landing. He sputtered out and crashed his fictional jet into the turf and was promptly penalized for excessive celebration, costing the Bills 15 yards and less than 2 minutes later Burress himself caught the game tying touchdown for the Jets as the game went into halftime tied instead of with the Bills ahead. Would the Jets have scored without the 15 yard penalty and the disaster of a kick by substitute kicker Dave Raymer that followed? We’ll never know but it certainly couldn’t have helped the Bills cause. That said; I am not one of these “fans” so upset about Stevie’s antics that I want him fined more, suspended or even off the team.    

I thought his biggest "crime" was trying to squeeze in 2 celebrations for 1 touchdown. The unwritten rule goes: 1 touchdown, 1 celebration/dance. As for Stevie’s celebrations, I laughed hysterically. One, he mocked the Jets TD dance and secondly he mocked a guy who brought a loaded gun into a nightclub because he thought he was above the law and shot himself in the leg. When you bring a loaded handgun into a nightclub stuffed into your pants and then accidently shoot yourself in the leg, I think you deserve the ridicule that comes in the aftermath. People were outraged with Burress when this happened. Now, he’s a sympathetic figure? I think people should lighten up a little. Stevie’s only mistake was overdoing it (with 2 dances) and picking up the penalty thus hurting his team.

Now his drop towards the end of the game, that's another story. Between last year’s wide-open drop of a potential game winning touchdown in the overtime of the Pittsburgh game and this, you can’t help but think he’s developing a reputation. People are starting to question whether the kid can come through when it matters most. The fact of the matter is that because of the high profile drops, there’s an issue with his focus. To be a number one receiver for a team, he has to improve his focus out there. That drop was a backbreaker which diminished an otherwise stellar performance. Penalty notwithstanding he was having a great game and instead of celebrating how he roasted the best cornerback in the game for 9 catches, 120+ yards and 2 TDs while leading the Bills to a HUGE win, we are talking about this. He's still very young and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Will the rest of the fanbase forgive him? Some will.

Usually with a tone of contempt you often hear fans say that these guys are getting paid millions to play a kid’s game. That’s true but if we are willing to go that far let’s not be hypocritical. I think these overgrown, overpaid “kids” should be allowed to act like kids and feel that youthful enthusiasm the game generates both now and then. Part of that is acting like a fool when you score or do something large or impressive. Now before you oldschoolers dismiss what I am saying, I don’t condone the over-celebrating of first downs, 4 yard catches or making a basic tackle. That’s different. That’s just doing your job. Celebrations after basic, garden variety moments are the ones that should be penalized. That’s like a father patting himself on the back and feeling proud of himself because he takes care of his kids… Hello! You’re supposed to! But going above and beyond, like making an amazing play, scoring a touchdown or making a tackle, sack or interception that means the game, well I think you should be able to let out your joy and live in the moment. Those moments are few and far between (unless you’re the Packers). Besides, the pressure and scrutiny are intense out there. You gotta release some of it.

Can you imagine the stress and expectations a pro football player has to deal with, especially when they are a good player? Getting ready for a game all week long while you and your team’s every move is put under a microscope. Everywhere you turn someone is talking about what will happen and/or what has. It’s on television, in the paper, on the radio and all over the internet. Slip up and you temporarily become an even bigger celebrity for the wrong reasons. Can you imagine the pressure? Unlike other modern day celebrities who get judged less on their body of work but more on their latest offering, these guys are put under a similar microscope while sacrificing more than just a reputation. They are also putting their bodies on the line. We’re talking about people’s health here. Guys retire due to injury all the time and many ex-players have health problems later in life, some even have brain damage due to the constant collisions they endured for the life of their careers. Can Tom Cruise make a similar claim? Yeah they get millions to play a kid’s game and they get idolized as celebrities but you know what? They SHOULD! Football is HUGE business! Billions of dollars are generated through this “kids game” and even though football is big business, adult business, let us not take out the delightful roots of where it began… in the streets, parks and playgrounds of America. “You run to the Oldsmobile, turn around and I’ll throw it to you. The end zones will be this light post and the big oak.” Many boys played this game this way and when we scored, we danced! We danced like Michael Jackson then MC Hammer and now Chris Brown. We did the Electric Slide, the Tootsie Roll and the Dougie. Like it or not, it’s part of our culture. Now in the NFL or as they frequently get called the “No Fun League” power to the people would mean no limits so I’m not saying to let guys dance the whole game away at will… guys that don’t even get into the game would be dancing on the sidelines. I say let people dance and show the joy and emotion after big, important plays and then regulate the rest so that it’s not overdone. When you score touchdowns, especially dramatic ones I say let these kids be kids. Unfortuntely for Stevie, I'm not in charge of the NFL.

So by the league’s rule do I think he should have been penalized, yes... Fined? no... Criticized? Yes. Do I think he overdid it? Not at all… Stevie is just a big kid out there having fun and scoring a touchdown against the best cornerback in the league is something to be pretty excited about. Unfortunately the rules are what they are with that in mind, here's hoping Stevie learns and grows from this incident and here’s hoping fans lighten up and stop being hypocrites complaining about how the league won’t let the guys have fun out there and then jump all over Stevie for going too far. Why so serious indeed?