It seems like the only people in favor of excessive celebration penalties in the NFL are the people that work in the league office.
Players hate them. Fans can't stand them, obviously. Everyone and their mother points out the hypocrisy involved in their enforcement.
It turns out, even the refs charged with assessing those penalties don't like doing it. Scott Green, head of the NFL Referees Association, said on Sirius XM NFL Radio (via The Sporting News):
"Nothing is worse than someone going 80 yards for a touchdown and then we're trying to figure out does that warrant a flag for what he's doing in the end zone. We don't really enjoy that. If we could get to a point where it would simply be fines by the league, that would be great. The issue we'll still have is that guys can get pretty creative out there. The question of whether it's a foul or not a foul, hopefully we'll get closer to more of a black-and-white situation."
Of course, because this is the NFL, they are reportedly preparing to do exactly the opposite. Players are role models, commissioner Goodell says, so celebrations have to be penalized in the moment. For some reason.
At least the guidelines on what constitutes "excessive" are reportedly due to be loosened a bit:
No final decisions were made, but momentum has grown toward a framework that would allow harmless and spontaneous celebrations. The league will continue to outlaw what it considers excessive, prolonged or vulgar demonstrations. But there is now a league-wide expectation that lighter guidelines will be adopted at some point this offseason...
One would think there wouldn't need to be so much consternation over players celebrating accomplishments like touchdowns, sacks, first downs, interceptions, and the like, but alas. This is where we are. It'd good to know that even the guys throwing the flags think this is all a little ridiculous.
