Excessive Celebration Penalties in the SEC: An Issue of Race?
by Mike Coker
By now you have all seen or heard the talk. A.J. Green, with 69 seconds left to play in the Georgia-LSU game, makes a spectacular touchdown catch over LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson to give the Bulldogs a 1 point lead in the game.
Sanford Stadium erupts. The crowd and the Georgia sideline are in frenzy. The team comes over and congratulates A.J. for what might be the most spectacular catch of the season. Everyone seems to be celebrating except A.J. Green, for whom these spectacular catches have become somewhat routine.
Then it happened.
Back judge Michael Watson immediately throws a flag for excessive celebration on A.J. Green. A 15-yard penalty that many Georgia fans, players and coaches believe cost them the game (it didn’t, but we will hold that conversation for another day).
But perhaps just as shocking is what happened immediately after the game. CBS Sports anchor Tim Brando on the SEC Post-Game show dared to infer what many of us were already thinking: Did A.J. Green get flagged because he was black?
Brando commented
“The rule absolutely has to be abolished. Not changed. Just get rid of it...
. . .There are more of these called in the Southeastern Conference than any other league in America, and I am going to tell you because it is up to the discretion and judgment of the official that I think now that the politics of the community...of the area are going to be called into question. You don’t want this to happen. . . it is not going to bode well for the Southeastern Conference.
. . .They don't want us to go more in-depth on why the SEC is throwing more. I am telling you, it is a conversation, I don’t want to have it, my friend Spencer [an African American] does not want to have it, and I am telling you, watch out, because people are going to take a closer look at this and it is not going to bode well for the league.
(Thanks to UGASports.com for the transcript.)
We have all seen Florida’s Tim Tebow score a touchdown and run around the field like some kind of caged animal just released. After scoring a touchdown, this SEC poster-boy points to the crowd, does the gator chomp, runs like a banshee to the 50 yard line yelling like a lion that just awoke from a 10 year hibernation.
And yet, in the SEC that is not “drawing attention to yourself” to invoke a penalty?
I know what you are thinking, Tebow is just the SEC angel and the Conference would never do anything to tarnish his precious record, but chew on this food for thought:
When LSU scored their first touchdown, the LSU offensive linemen (who are predominantly white) were pointing up to the UGA student section and jumping around to celebrate the touchdown. The same officials: No flag.
I am with Brando regarding his opinion that this rule needs to be abolished. Is race a factor? Even subconsciously? I don’t know, but white players seem to consistently get away with more than the African-American players when it comes to celebrating a touchdown in the SEC. As Brando said, it is a conversation that no one wants to have, but it time?
Something I have never considered, but if we are going to bring this up then in my opinion the theory is extremely blown up with last years Washington game when a Caucasian quarterback gets a 15 yard penalty. I understand what you are thinking but I believe that many people look into these things a lot more than really should.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that race plays some part. Listen to older, white men comment on when a black NFL receiver celebrates a touchdown. In general, you'll here much more criticism and "diva" comments than you will if, say, Wes Welker celebrates after a score. Is that racism? People hear the word and cringe because of this country's history with race. With all the progress we have made (and there has been substantial progress), we don't want to admit to ourselves that we still have problems with, as Mike calls it, "subconscious racism."
ReplyDeleteThe rule needs to be done away with, period. As long as you're not doing a dance on the logo or something, it's fair game. We all spiked the ball as kids, so let them spike it. As to the race issue, I dont know. Sometimes I think people do it subconsciously, and I mean all of us, but at the same time, a lot of these situations are being read into way too much.
ReplyDelete