Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSchonbrun: Post-celebration flags taking NCAA rule to the extreme
By Zach Schonbrun
Posted: 9/16/08, 12:42 AM EST Section: Sports
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It wasn't quite a Heisman pose that Stephfon Green struck in the end zone in the third quarter of Saturday's Penn State-Syracuse football game. And there was no Sharpie hidden in the sock of Washington's Jake Locker as he crossed the goal line in the final seconds of a game vs. Brigham Young two weeks ago.
Yet whistles blew and flags flew on each occasion, both the same call for the same reason. Praising Almighty for a gift-wrapped TD jaunt? Better watch your gestures. Pumped up by a last second red zone rumble? No ball flips over eye level, thank you.
Forget that Pop Warner rules shouldn't apply to a game played by men? Well, you must be the NCAA. Here a referee's happy trigger finger is the league's way of ensuring players curb their enthusiasm.
Unsportsmanlike conduct - college football's way of policing personality - has become a buzzword over the season's first three weeks. After Locker's excessive celebration penalty on Sept. 6 ended up costing Washington the game, it stirred a national debate about whether the NCAA has gone too far.
Rule 9-2-2-c in the NCAA's extensive football rulebook has written clearly as an unsportsmanlike act: "throwing the ball high in the air" - right next to spiking or spinning the ball. It's taunting they're trying to prevent. But it's excitement they're managing to curtail.
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