New NCAA Football Rules: no taunting no eye black messages
touchdowns nullified for taunting!
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/36562117/ns/sports-college_football/
but running vertically would put you in the endzone, Running horizontally before crossing the goal line would waste time, or stopping before you crossed it, but not running vertically....unless you ran vertically in the opposite direction of the endzone.
Studies have shown that the stickers did literally nothing to keep glare out of players' eyes (whereas the old-school grease had some effect), so maybe it's just as well.
Barry Sanders.
It would be much more fun if, instead of takings TD's away because of taunting, the refs just declined to call any of the personal fouls that are aimed at the aforementioned taunters.
jmblue made a good point that bares repeating.
The definition of taunting has not changed. The only thing that changed is it's enforcement. It's now enforced from the spot of the foul, like any other live ball penalty on the offense that occurs beyond the basic spot (line of scrimmage, most of the time).
So, if you taunt at the 5yd line, well, that's where the penalty is taken from. Honestly, I don't understand why people are so upset about that. Taunting should not be tolerated.
If you excessively celebrate at the 5yd line, well, as a coach, let's just say that I'd be pissed well before that flag is thrown. Leon Lett anyone? Celebrate when you score. The definition of Excessive celebration has not changed, just its enforcement.
This is a good rule change in my book.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^
your need for rules to be internally consistent (as you praise here) to look at the policy behind the rule itself.
The point of penalties:
- eliminate risky behavior that result in injuries
- eliminate opportunities to gain an unfair advantage
This rule promotes neither policy objective. Further, it affects the most critical situations (touchdowns) in the most critical times (people are most likely to get excited and celebrate late in games/OT). It's a terrible rule.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:40 AM ^
You left out a major point of rules:
- To control, manage, and uphold sportsmanship in the game.
This is why there are things like unsportsmanlike conduct, technicals, yellow cards, etc. The problem with enforcing taunting penalties as a dead ball foul after the play is that the penalty is next to nothing - 15 yards on the extra point is rarely much of a penalty. Same thing on the kickoff - though that could be more of a legit penalty.
If there is no consequence for taunting, you see more players do it and more games get out of control when players look for retribution after being taunted.
On every level, taunting is unacceptable. It shouldn't change in NCAA football where ESPN wants exciting games to push up that advertising dollar.
Now, the real issue is excessive celebration. Like I pointed out, this penalty does not come into affect if you score before you celebrate. Get in the endzone, do whatever the hell you want, and it will or won't be penalized just as it always has been.
The coaches make the rules. They are fully aware of what a potential early celebration can now do - they're the one's who were proponents of it. Thus, coaches will better hold their players accountable. This is good for the game.
again, is that your thinking is far too black and white. Assuming sportsmanship is a worthy goal to pursue (unlike the 2 concepts I suggested, this is actually debatable - some prefer the NCAA to stay out of such things), it does not mean it MUST be pursued in the same way.
The person earned the points in a legit way - without creating additional risk or injury or through an unfair advantage - and they should NOT be taken away for any type of celebration. To hold otherwise changes the outcome of the game and is a shame, IMO.
The punishment must fit the "crime." If we want to crack down on this sort of thing, the increased punishment should be ejection for the offender, not changing point totals. You can achieve deterrence without resorting to arbitrary punishments that directly affect the scoreboard.