Touchdown celebration...

[ChicoStater]

...Chad Johnson and his request to the league on paper...or Joe Horn attempting to save time by making post-game phone calls to friends and family during the game...in the end zone?

Or, should both get a huge portion of their salaries taken away and have to attend several meetings of thier local Egoholics Anonymous chapter?

[pagan696]

i still prefer the Sharpie.

[sc49erfan15]

i still prefer the Sharpie.

Me too.  

Seriously though, I thought the cell phone thing was very original...that was great!

[NJTank]

Im divided on these celebrations weather they are good or bad. I can understand that it embarasses the other team, but they are fun and creative at times, and when ppl are talking about them I dont think it brings shame to the league.  

Any way the Joe Horn celebration does rank up with the sharpie in terms or creativity.

correct me if I'm wrong wasn't on the horn a slang in the 40s for using the phone.

[Phil]

In the end, the performance speaks for itself and a real professional knows that it really does take 11 guys to score a TD. Give me the quiet guys who respect the game any day of the week............Marvin Harrison, Barry Sanders...Sweetness.

Exactly... handing the ball to the ref may not be exciting and might not get you 10 seconds on SportsCentre/SportsCenter, but it's classy and you'll have the respect of the oldtimer demographic, that's for sure.

Also, there's nothing wrong with celebrations like the Lambeau Leap, Randy Moss' leap into the arms of a Winnipegger (yeah... that huge painted-face Viking fan? He's from my town), the Mile High Salute of old, or dunking the football... even having a dance as is the trend among CFL receivers... once it crosses the line between celebrating with the fans and the teammates and becomes an attempt to get 10 seconds of fame for yourself... that's when it become distasteful IMO.

[pagan696]

once it crosses the line between celebrating with the fans and the teammates and becomes an attempt to get 10 seconds of fame for yourself... that's when it become distasteful

exactly

[habsfannova]

Barry always had my respect for just handing the ref the ball.

[JQK]

No class. Joe Horn just showed himself to be.... dumb. He's just Dumb. I didn't see the Chad Johnson thing, so i can't comment on it, but that Cell Phone deal takes the place of the Sharpie as the worst ego-trip celebration ever...

[jkrdevil]

To me if a player wants to show up an opponet he should just hand the bal to the ref. By celebrating your saying to the opponet that it was something special by beating them. But if you just hand the ball off to the ref it says it's nothing special and that you expect to beat them again.

Sterling, I agree 100% with you. I feel the nfl should adopt a rule that if a player pulls a stunt like these, it's an unsportsman like conduct penalty. 15 yards and the score is doesn't count. That would end this.

Like I said I player should just hand the ball to the ref like Barry Sanders, becuase that sends the opponent a bigger message.

[NJTank]

The score should still count kicking off from the 15 is what the punnishmet should be that would set up some good field posssition.

As for cracking down teh NFL shoudl do something, but they cant get carried away when its naturall exuburance like the innteracting with the crowd or jumping on team mates the NCAA looks like a bunch of stuck up snobs when they flag things like this.  

THere has to be a balancing act and I think the NFL handles it well for the most part.

[Fusebazell]

Joe Horn is my hero.  Funniest thing I have ever seen an athlete do and since it was against my best friends team it made it all the better.  It may not get to the old timers but thats all kids at school were talking about today.

[yh]

For me, watching the Sharpie incident or the cell phone call are like watching the skier in the opening montage of Wide World of Sports - its wrong to be amused by what you are witnessing but entertaining nonetheless.  The only endzone celebration I truly feel is okay is the Lambeau Leap because that's more about the fans than the individual player.  It's a great metaphor for the relationship that Green Bay has with its team.

[sc49erfan15]

I think it's hilarious. A celebration in the endzone, to me, isn't disrespectful to the team you just scored on. And I played on many losing teams, getting scored on many times. Heck, whenever we scored the whole team celebrated. The only thing I could see as disrespectful is spiking the ball right at an opponent or talking smack to an opponent, that kind of thing. The Sharpie and cell phone ...individuality and flair. I like it.

[Fusebazell]

The league will fine you for trying to be individual.  You can't wear one sleeve, a college hat, have anything other then a reebok symbol showing.  Individuality in TD celebrations shows us more about who they are then the jersey they wear.

[dwertman]

Hey if i just torched someone for 4 TDs Id prolly call my momma on my cell to  

[Fusebazell]

Hey if i just torched someone for 4 TDs Id prolly call my momma on my cell to

Horn did it after his second TD.

[Fusebazell]

This is all over ESPN as you can imagine so I was reading an article on it and this is what I they predict touchdown celebrations sometime down the road.

Are you ready for ... a phone call | From Jim Caple

Joe Horn whips up something a little special for Monday Night Football . . .

AL MICHAELS: Brooks throws deep into the end zone, and Horn goes up for it against two defenders ... and Horn comes down with it! Touchdown, New Orleans! What a magnificent catch for Joe Horn.

JOHN MADDEN: Horn has been exploiting the Giants secondary all night, Al. See how he timed his leap perfectly there?

MICHAELS: Wait a minute, it appears that Horn has pulled a cell phone from behind the goal post and is placing a call ...

MADDEN: Well, we've seen that before from Joe Horn, Al. I'm surprised the Giants didn't see it in the game film and draw up a strategy against it.

MICHAELS: Hold on, John. Now riding into the end zone with the Budweiser Clydesdales, the Abercrombie and Fitch Christmas catalogue models and the Five Queer Eye Guys is Ruben Studdard from "American Idol." He's talking into a cell phone, too, and gesturing to Horn. Do you suppose Horn called him in with his cell? I think he did.

MADDEN: Well, now THAT is original. No way the Giants could have seen this coming.

MICHAELS: I can't quite make out what Ruben is singing. It sounds like "Lose Yourself" with sampling from "God Bless America," but I can't be sure due to the noise of the fireworks . . .

MADDEN: They are impressive fireworks, though, Al. Notice the way they spell out "Hi, Mom -- Love Joe" above the 50-yard-line?

MICHAELS: Sorry, John, what was that? I was distracted by the Rockettes kicking along the sideline.

MADDEN: Most players would have been content to just stick with the standard Rockette costumes, but Joe took it to another level by dressing them all as Paul Taglibue. I must say, this is one of the better touchdown celebrations we've seen this year.

MICHAELS: Wow! Was that Billy "White Shoes" Johnson the Circe Du Soleil clowns just shot out of a cannon?

MADDEN: No, I think it was Ickey Woods.

MICHAELS: Whoever, it was spectacular the way the fans in the end-zone seats caught him and passed him through the stadium.

MADDEN: The crossover marketing deal to promote tomorrow's release of "The Cat in the Hat" DVD is another nice touch.

MICHAELS: The fans are going crazy here at the Meadowlands. I can't see clearly through the Macy's Day Parade balloons -- where did he keep those in the first half? -- but Horn now appears to be bringing in some very heavy machinery ...

MADDEN: Is it an airplane, Al? Remember how Randy Moss brought in Air Force One and had Bush sign another tax break for multi-millionaires on the 50-yard-line last month?

MICHAELS: No, I think it's a steam shovel, but I can't tell for sure as long as Aerosmith and U2 are performing but ... yes, it's a steam shovel! He has brought in a steam shovel, and he's using it to dig into the end zone ...

MADDEN: You don't think ...

MICHAELS: Can't be, could it?

MADDEN: And yet ...

MICHAELS: Yes! He's dug up Jimmy Hoffa's body! And he's autographing a football for the former Teamsters boss with his Sharpie!

MADDEN: Al, Joe Horn has been working on this for a long time. ...

[Discrim]

shoot, if i were in the nfl i'd be having some fun with it too.  i wouldn't be callin nobody on a cell phone, but i'd probably be bringin the dirty bird back.  lost in the shuffle was robert ferguson, with donald driver taking his picture after a TD...if you saw the Packers-Bolts game you know what i'm talking about

slightly ot, i was almost thinking it was at Lambeau, the way most of the fans at said game were going 'GO PACK GO' and monday night i was wondering if i was going crazy, but i swear i heard cheering for the eagles in miami...what, was half of philly down there?

[STL FANATIC]

If the NFL didn't hate the Rams (hey, I'm not arguing they throw games (SB XXXVI was completely different), but they do definatley have some issues with the Rams since they moved), we'd still have cool and not show off team celebrations. The Rams had a cool bob and weave dance their first SB year, but the NFL suddenly decided teams would be fined for "organized endzone celebrations"...what bologna...now the Rams are forced to a...butt bounce...

[jkrdevil]

STL, It's not the NFL and the Rams. I watched Sportscenter last night and they had the history of the celebration. The rule against organized end zone celbration goes back to the Redskins and the "fun bunch"

I still say that Barry Sanders sent a bigger message to the opponet by just handing the ball to the ref.