MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > "Taunting"? WTF!

"Taunting"? WTF!

posted 3 years ago by BullSchmidt (3189)
9 replies | jump to latest

Some of you already know how apathetic I am about the NFL. I haven't watched a game with any real interest in years, and I couldn't name many of the current teams.

Today I was at a friend's house. He had an NFL game playing on the tube. I, of course, was far too polite to ask him to change the channel to something worthwhile. So I sat and watched the game with him, pretending to be interested, when I saw something that surprised me.

"Taunting" now gets a penalty in the NFL. Taunting?! Hell, back when I was a kid, when football players were (mostly) honorable men instead of felonious snowflakes, taunting was mandatory. Some of the insults that were hurled across the line of scrimmage would have given the most vulgar stevedore a cerebral hemorrhage.

What is the world coming to?

[–] samoanjoes (56638) 3 years ago

Watch the NHL. You can call the referee a piece of shit and he will do nothing about it.

[–] GlenEllyn (21526) 3 years ago

I believe the penalty came about because too many players went too far with their taunting. Same thing with celebrating in the end zone after a TD - too many players went too far with it, often delaying the game.

I always thought the coolest thing after scoring a TD would be to just drop the ball as if to say, "This was not a big deal - I do this a lot."

[–] 102000 (6246) 3 years ago

Welcome to the kinder, more gentle, PC correct NFL.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

Taunting has been a penalty for years in the NFL, but the Refs have been told to emphasize the enforcement this year.
Back in the day they never called that though. It's part of the chickification of our society.

🤨

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

these rules have been around for years.

[–] Thaisticks (3020) 3 years ago

Geez, is there nothing you guys can't look at with a political eye?

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

I think it came from a few performers who went into dance routines when they did something big, the NFL authorities didn't want every damn player on the field to come up with a signature dance move, because signature dance moves don't fit their idea of manliness. So they called it "taunting", and started penalizing it.

It's all very silly, but then, all sports are pretty silly when you come down to it. Bunch of grown men trying to move a ball back and forth.

[–] Redsfan001 (6144) 3 years ago

Sports are a competitive and mostly safe outlet for man's tendency to wage war.

Sports also a fufill the need for comradeship, shared goals and sacrifice that work and family sometimes cannot provide.

[–] Otter (24464) 3 years ago

Oh, I can see why people consider sports to be fun! I had some periods of being a mild-moderate sports fan when I was younger, before I got fed up with the whole business.

It's just that some people take sports far too seriously, and not just fans, but weirdos who think the whole world wants to hear every little detail of their kid's career in Little League or the school soccer team.