The NFL is the undisputed king of the American sports landscape. College football moves bowl games off of January 1 because they’re afraid that the NFL will destroy their ratings. The NHL moved their signature, regular season event to January 2nd for the very same reason. Major League Baseball thanks their lucky stars that they don’t have to compete with the NFL for most of the year and the NBA, well, they just lockout their players until most of the NFL regular season is over.
But every once in a while, we’re reminded that the NFL isn’t perfect. There’s no way the No Fun League would have been able to handle Jack Johnson “Tebowing” after a goal. That would have been an automatic 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and maybe even a fine (considering the player who he was emulating). Make no mistake about it—Johnson wasn’t paying homage to a religious figure, he was having a little fun with a guy who is dominating the sports leadings these days.
Here’s what Johnson told the LA media after the game:
“The background behind it was that I’ve got some buddies that flew in from Michigan,” Johnson said.
“And we were watching the [football] game last night and after the game they said, ‘If you score, would you Tebow for us?’ I said, ‘Sure deal.’ Then I ended up scoring and I thought, ‘I’ve got to pay up.’” (LA Times)
To his coach’s credit, old-skool Darryl Sutter had no problem with the burst of personality: “If we could all play like Tebow in a big game, we wouldn’t have lost a game yet.” And boom goes the dynamite.
It’s nice to be able to follow a sport that hasn’t sucked all of the fun out of its sport. Watching Johnson show a little personality is exactly what the sport needs a little more of today. Scoring goals is fun—enjoy it. If you’re a New York Rangers forward, act like you’re shooting a shotgun after a goal. If you’re a rookie in Winnipeg on your way to scoring 76 goals in your first season, throw up your glove and shoot it down. If you score your 50th goal, then you should feel free to drop it like it’s hot. If you’re Tiger Williams, then you most certainly do whatever this is.
You get the idea. Have fun with it—after all, it’s only a game.
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
