thats funny can't say enough good stuff about Coach Saban and the great job he has done with a middle of the road Bama team but that is in the past and we are looking at 2010 onething about our Coach CLM is that he is old school when it comes to moving into the season he is not going to change much once the horses are out of the barn I think this year what we see against the Tar Heels will be very telling :tigereye:cliff
this right here to the billionth degree. actually it makes me more skeptical of coach miles that he waited this long to admit something we all knew since the third or fourth game of the season. remember a long time ago when i said miles' biggest problem was that he was not proactive. well i was burned at the stake for it and ridiculed, but i still stand by it. i'm not bashing him by any means since none of us are perfect, but you'd think that he'd learn that he can't wait until FIVE months after the season to publicly acknowledge a problem that everyone else knew about. maybe coach miles needs a better PR person. i do agree that it was probably learning two positions that kept him off of the field, but that does not warrant sitting the guy for an entire game. but this has been discussed ad nauseam.
Where it belongs, not in the hands of the players where it can get out of control. The officials have to make calls about sportsmanship all the time and this one ain't all that difficult, if you ask me. Everybody knows the difference between excessive celebration and taunting and the NCAA is just making it very clear for everybody that premature celebration constitutes taunting by definition. It's an objective call--any celebration during live play is a penalty and the play ain't over until the goal is scored. Diving into the endzone when you are uncontested would be taunting too, I presume. Celebration after a TD is a more subjective call and it always has been, but they have clarified it greatly in recent years. You can wave, shout and point if looking at your teammates, but not at the crowd or the other team. It's entirely possible to score a touchdown and just walk off the field like a man without doing the pimp strut or moonwalking. The showboating, hot dogging, and overt taunting for the crowd is not part of the game and needs to be eliminated. I'm not talking about the quiet trash-talking banter on the field between players, that has always gone on. I'm talking about mugging for the crowd, striking poses, standing over beaten players, gorilla-walking, cut-throat gestures and such. It takes away from the game and it offers nothing except escalation to cheap shots and fights among players, slowing the game with penalties, and inciting crowds to misbehave.
when this rule first came out, that is pretty much exactly what i said. i also said gumps would love it for that very reason. i dont think taunting or showboating has any place, but this is too subjective and will be too ripe for abuse/misuse by sec officials.
BS. 1) Taunting and excessive celebration are NOT defined by the NCAA, only unsportsmanlike conduct. In fact, the word taunting is used in the definition, making it even more ambiguous. Unsportsmanlike conduct is defined as follows: 2) It is abundantly clear that NOT everyone knows the difference between excessive celebration and taunting, as evidenced by our game with UGA last year. Neither player did anything remotely close to anything in the above definition, yet were still called for it. 3) The new rule change absolutely does not "mak[e] it very clear for everybody that premature celebration constitutes taunting by definition." The wording is as follows: Nowhere does it say anything about celebration or taunting. The only thing made very clear is that a subjective penalty is now given broader jurisdiction, to the point of affecting the outcome of a game more so than any other penalty could previously. What happens when a player points up to the sky after scoring a TD (like what Chuck did against Georgia), only to have a ref halfway down the opposite sideline say he was taunting and hadn't yet crossed the goal line, negating the TD? Clearly, the replay shows that had crossed the goal line and pointed up to the sky. That's not excessive celebration, that's not taunting, but that official has the power to take legitimately earned points off the board. It WILL happen. I just hope it isn't against us.
Ok, apparently there are two reports, and here is the second: As a correction from my previous post, they do use the word "taunt" in the examples, but it still isn't defined. It allows for too much interpretation. Nothing personal Red, I respect you as a poster, I just feel pretty strongly about this. :thumb:
This is not true. NCAA Football Rule 9-2, Article 1 prohibits: "Any delayed, excessive, prolonged or choreographed act by which a player (or players) attempts to focus attention upon himself (or themselves)" "Taunting, baiting or ridiculing an opponent verbally." Poor comparison. Confusion with taunting had nothing to do with that bad call for excessive celebration. Read it again. That is what officials do, you know.
Except that is the definition of unsportsmanlike conduct. It doesn't make a distinction as to the difference between celebration and taunting, only stating that verbally taunting is prohibited. So what, exactly, is verbally taunting? Whatever the referee deems it to be? This is my contention. Don't let the refs decide in the heat of the moment how to define such a broad and far reaching rule. I think it is the perfect comparison. Is is, after all, a supposed violation of the same exact rule. It was a bad call for unsportsmanlike conduct. Only now, a ref with a bad viewing angle can say it happened before he crossed the plane, nullifying the touchdown. The point is, a referee made poor judgment in interpreting a rule, the same, now expanded rule. I found a second source, posted above, and yes, it does mention taunting in the examples. Still, taunting and excessive celebration are not defined, only unsportsmanlike conduct is. That being the case, both taunting and excessive celebration are held to the exact same criteria, as defined in rule 9-2. The only difference is that there are several additional criteria that qualify once the ball is dead. And with too much liberty, already, as far as I am concerned. This, IMO, just makes it worse.
Why would you allow an already suspect crew of officials get to make more judgement calls, and especially ones that take points off the board. They are kids, as long as they don't use the ball as a prop, or spike the ball, who gives a damn. Taunting is part of the game. Whats the damn fun in playing if you can't talk smack and show off a little. How much do you want to bet Patrick Peterson gets a punt return for a touchdown called back because of this crap. Which Alabama team do we play in the state of Alabama this season, Auburn? I'm calling it now, this will happen to Peterson in the Auburn game, and its going to be for the smallest high step.
