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September 5, 2007
While sitting in the press box Saturday evening, once he hit about the five-yard line, you could tell Raimond Pendleton was up to something.He took two elongated strides, much like an approach on a long jump, and then dove head-first into the end zone, making himself parallel with the ground.It made for a great [Nick Krug photo in the Journal-World][1] and an even better [clip on YouTube][2] (Viewer discretion is advised before watching this, as rough language is present).Some eyes in the press box went straight to the ref standing at the pylon, watching him casually ease the flag from his belt in one motion and flip it in the air. Some eyes watched coach Mark Mangino go into a dead sprint from about midfield to roughly the 20-yard line sideline to greet his sophomore returnman.But here's my question: Why was a flag thrown for diving into the end zone?In my mind, the NCAA needs to redefine excessive celebration. Heck, flagging it was even added into [EA Sports' NCAA 08][3]. What fun is celebrating if you can't even do it in video games?The thing is, we all know where the end zone dive stemmed from - [Reggie Bush][4].Bush used to do it all the time at USC (for example, there's [this clip][5], and then check the 2:17 mark in [this clip][6]) and did plenty of other borderline celebrations, such as hopping over the goal line. He then furthered it in the NFL, making his flips even more unnecessary (check the 2:14 mark in [this clip][7] from last year's NFC Championship Game). But guess what? It was never flagged.Not to accuse anyone, but this looks from afar like preferential treatment. If it wasn't flagged from the first time Bush unnecessarily did it, it shouldn't be flagged at all.And with a player as high-profile as Bush, especially in this day and age with the highlights being shown 54,387 times a day on 8,390 different networks, kids see it. And then [they start mimicking it][8]. Heck, they can learn to do it by tapping a button on their XBOX controllers once a ballcarrier gets close enough to the goal line.But let's be honest - diving into the end zone is almost completely harmless (well, the only person it can harm is the diver, should they land awkwardly). It's not as if Pendleton crossed the goal line, went to the nearest Central Michigan player he could spot and flipped the ball at his facemask. Some may consider diving into the end zone taunting, but I don't. Now what Bush did in the NFC title game was an example of it being used as a taunt, as he slowed down, turned around, pointed at Brian Urlacher and then put on his aerial display. But Pendleton did nothing of the sort.The only thing Pendleton did was learn to never do it again.In my eyes, he was entertaining an enthused opening day crowd. And football is about entertainment. If it wasn't, what would its relevance be to outsiders?Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Mangino for tearing Pendleton's door down after earning the flag. That was the right thing to do, and the best way to teach a player to avoid a silly penalty in the future. All I'm saying is the penalty shouldn't have been there in the first place.Discuss amongst yourselves.KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene can be reached at rgreene@ljworld.com, or by phone at (785) 832-6357. [1]: http://www2.kusports.com/photos/galleries/2007/sep/01/ku_vs_central_michigan/35283/ [2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmAYpAzNB34 [3]: http://www.easports.com/ncaa08/ [4]: http://www.nfl.com/players/reggiebush/profile?id=BUS294963 [5]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWiBhDLhMWg [6]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYAJibUhU8E [7]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt0VWbGue0A&NR=1 [8]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quNi52xwpoo
Comments
justanotherfan (anonymous) says...
Here's the problem I have with the diving in the endzone penalty - it makes one form of expression illegal, while not penalizing another. Had Pendelton run into the endzone and pointed skyward, no one would have said anything. Had he crossed the goalline and pumped his fist, no flag. Had he crossed the line and jumped into the air and pumped his fist, no flag. Had he crossed the line, dropped the ball, jumped up and high fived a teammate, no flag. Had he crossed the line, jumped into the air, pumped his fist, then jumped again to high five a teammate, no flag. One official tried to explain it to me as being a penalty for "drawing attention to oneself." In that case, breaking the return in the first place is a penalty. And that's why I hate the penalty.
September 5, 2007 at 1:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dagger108 (anonymous) says...
Isn't the penalty called "excessive celebration"? That leads to the question what is excessive and what is normal?
The stadium is filled with people jumping up and down, yelling and clapping, ... , athletes and spectators. It happens in football, basketball, baseball, ... It would be really abnormal for any of those other athletes and spectators to dive on the ground.
About the only sport where an athlete celebrates by going to the ground to celebrate a victory is a distance runner, but that is usually a matter of exhaustion and not celebration.
That being said, I think the rule is a bit silly. I also recognize that it probably has more to do with keeping the celebration from escalating into signing footballs, goofy dances, jumping into the stands, ...
September 5, 2007 at 2:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Nutflush21 (anonymous) says...
Diving into the endzone is a form of showboating (ie excessive celebration) plain and simple. That is why it is against the rules. Obviously not all forms of expression are deemed as excessive and what is and what isn't is open to the refs interpretation (much like damn near every other reffing decision).
Justanotherfan- A reasonable person would not perceive ANY of your examples as forms of showboating, While a reasonable person would likely perceive diving into the endzone as showboating.
September 5, 2007 at 4:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldalum (anonymous) says...
Is it possible that the refs make their judgement based on how things are in the game at the moment and not just on the type of celebration that takes place? We already had a big lead, and maybe his dive into the end zone was perceived as rubbing it in. I always thought the purpose of the rule was to help avoid fighting and hard feelings between the teams. If the game had been closer, or if we were behind or tied, the penalty might not have been called at all.
September 5, 2007 at 4:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
N2sports (anonymous) says...
Football is brutal and that's the way we like it. Don't make it a Gentlemen sport. It's not what we want. Don't penalies a player for running 70 yds. for a TD, who turns and taunts the opposing player who can't run as fast, like Bush did. Hell, it's out right funny to finally see these players whom, all their lives where told, by their Dads, who coach them through pee-wee on up, that they were good at football, get burnt on the field. What Raimond did was not bad at all. That ref needs to go and call a tennis match.
September 5, 2007 at 10:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JBurtin (anonymous) says...
I don't care what the penalty is, as long as it's consistent. From what I hear about these Reggie Bush dives, it appears that it is not consistent.
Then again, when one of our basketball players breaks away from the pack and decides to do an unecessarily difficult dunk (perhaps a 360), they don't go calling a technical for it. It's not that big a deal and it's fun for the fans to watch.
Diving is nothing more than a player showing his excitement for making a good play. As long as he doesn't turn around and taunt the other players, I think it should be allowed.
September 6, 2007 at 3:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JBurtin (anonymous) says...
The YouTube video is pretty funny. I always wondered how nasty the coach got with his players when they did something stupid, now I know.
Good job by Mangino to get this point across to him the first time. Whether you agree that it should be a penalty or not, the fact remains that Pendleton did something unecessary that drew a penalty for his team, while drawing attention away from all of the blockers that made his return possible. Even if it hadn't been called as a penalty, it would still not be the type of attitude that you would like to instill in your players.
What really makes it bad is the fact that it ensured that our team was going to have to cover the ensuing kickoff as there was no way it was going to be a touchback. Since many injuries happen during special teams play, and since Mangino likes to play his starters on special teams to give us an edge, his showboating put our starters at a higher risk of injury.
In the end, it is no big deal and I must say that Pendleton is one of my favorite young Jayhawks. He's learned his lesson and next time will likely go and congratuate some teamate that he saw throw a particularly key block for him.
P.S. Raimond Pendleton, if you happen to read this, off the record, the penguin dive was pretty sweet, I just wish it were allowed.
September 6, 2007 at 4:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justanotherfan (anonymous) says...
Just to clarify, I'm not saying Mangino was wrong for ripping Pendleton a new one after getting the penalty. Penalties hurt the team, so Mangino had every right to jump his case. It's just that I dislike this particular penalty because, as has been pointed out by others, it is so arbitrarily enforced. For example, had this game been nationally televised, there may not have been a penalty for the dive. Had Pendleton been a big name like McFadden from Arkansas or the kid from Cal (DeSean something or other) he may not have drawn a flag. But in a non-televised game as a redshirt sophomore, he gets the flag. Too bad, too, because I would be pretty pumped if the first time I had touched the ball in college I went the distance. Keep running 'em back Raimond!
September 6, 2007 at 9:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
shelleysue (anonymous) says...
This penalty ranks up there with asking teachers not to use red pens when grading papers because all the red "bad" marks might damage a kid's self esteem. I for one LOVE (please take note Mangino and all the powers that be) that our kids are that excited. I thought it was great! That IS sports - feeling good, having fun, celebrating. We got the same penalty at the bowl game when Keith dove into the end zone. It was a great play - he deserved the right to celebrate. Just ast Pendleton did (it's OK Raimond. One guy didn't like it, but 40,000 or so of us LOVED it!) It shouldn't be looked upon as taunting the opposing team. It should be looked at for what it is - celebrating a great play. There definitely shouldn't be anything wrong with that and the fact that players are actually penalized for it is a ridiculous shame. All the players are adults - I think they can take it. With that said - thanks boys for making KU football FUN! All I think about every day is that I'm one day closer to the next game!! I'm so confident that great things are in store for this team, I'm already looking into hotel rooms near the most likely bowl games. Rock Chalk!!
September 6, 2007 at 9:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dagger108 (anonymous) says...
Excessive celebration can be a problem because there are plenty of opponents that don't receive it well (to say it diplomatically). There have been plenty of situations when people have retaliated and the situation gets violent. Not sport violent, which is a reasonable part of football, but hoodlum violent, which has nothing to do with football (what were the florida teams last year?).
I can see plenty of people saying suck it up. Be a man and take your beating. Whatever. I'm also guessing that those would be the same people taking cheap shot retaliations when they were the loser being taunted, and at some point everyone that competes for any length of time loses.
Personally, I didn't think the dive was that big of a deal. Actually thought it was some what lame as celebrations go. Do a flip or something to make it worthwhile. That being said, I have no problem with the penalty or officials calling it if it helps to keep football players playing football.
As a side note, I love the little known fact that Reggie was shut down after his little showboat taunt in the NFC Championship game. Welcome to the big leagues Bubba. You aren't in D-1 anymore.
September 6, 2007 at 2:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
shelleysue (anonymous) says...
I was just talking to a KSU fan who also called it showboating. I told him that the end zone dive was no different than a basketball player dunking the ball on a break away when his team is up by 20 points late in the 2nd half when he could have scored on a layup. He responded that it wasn't at all the same because a dunk is legal. I tried arguing that a dunk under those circumstances is just as much an instance of "showboating" as a dive into the end zone. In fact the dive I would consider more of a celebration than showboating. He insisted that they were totally different. K-State fans - there's just no reasoning with them.
September 6, 2007 at 2:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
phoenixjayhawk (Rodney Stice) says...
Just remember that officials are consistantly inconsistant. Rock chalk Jayhawk
September 6, 2007 at 4:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )