Celebration a given right in athletics

Spot of tea, anyone?

How about a nice cucumber sandwich to complete your game-day
experience?

And don’t forget your manners when you cheer for your
team. A good golf-style clap works well.

Most importantly, as a spectator you should never yell or do
anything gauche.

After all, this is football, a gentlemen’s game.

A game that simply would be ruined by the presence of any rude
gestures, swear words, heckling ““ or even celebration.

Or not.

Sure, I’m for sportsmanship in football and any other game
““ like most people are. Keep the bad attitudes and
embarrassing behavior off the field.

But lumping celebration in there as unsportsmanlike makes no
sense.

I’m sure Craig Bragg agrees with me after the Bruins
received a penalty Saturday for what referees at the Arizona State
game considered excessive celebration.

Call me crazy, but good things in life normally call for
celebration.

You get an “A” on the two papers you have due today.
You celebrate.

You find a job. You (and your parents) celebrate.

At one point in Saturday’s game, UCLA looked like it had
everything in place to beat a nationally ranked team.

So, yeah, Bragg and his teammates had cause to celebrate.

And then some overzealous referee probably saw the impromptu
party and got jealous because he couldn’t take part in the
festivities ““ he had to remain impartial, of course.

And the rest is history. The Bruins had to give up precious
yardage because of a lame penalty.

Good thing real life isn’t like that.

Or other sports, for that matter.

Imagine a golfer having to redo a play and start back an extra
100 yards for getting excited after sinking a hole in one.

Or a baseball team getting a run taken away and having to resume
play after a game-winning home run for rushing onto the field to
congratulate the hitter.

The possibilities are endless. Which goes to show just how
exciting sports really are, especially for those in the water, on
the field, course, court or floor.

So why stifle that excitement and keep it from improving the
performance of players?

Actually, I would guess calling a player on unsportsmanlike
conduct does more than that, causing more harm than good by
disrupting athletes’ concentration and affecting their
playing abilities.

And maybe it’s just me, but if I were an athlete who got
penalized for doing a little happy dance after a touchdown, I think
I’d break out the real unsportsmanlike stuff and start saying
a few choice words about the officials’ mothers.

And I’d probably toss in whatever I could to show my
newfound respect for their ever-proven wisdom.

Anyway, now that we know I might have anger-management issues, I
guess the point of all of this is to say that the raw emotion of
victory definitely has a place in athletics.

Players should be able to play off the excitement of a crowd and
bask in the few seconds of glory afforded them after making a great
pass or getting an interception.

Sure, most celebration takes away from the pipe dream of sports
gentility that some people have. But honestly, I’m not sure a
“gentleman’s game” remains gentlemanly when
players’ primary goal is to do whatever it takes to put the
opposite team on the ground while protecting the ball.

So why not face reality and give players a break by letting them
show that they’re having a good time every once in a
while?

I’m guessing a little fun might be just the thing to turn
around the surely depressed Bruins so they can have real cause to
celebrate.

E-mail Looper at [email protected].