Flag thrown for TD Celebration

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by TXMike

I suspect the covering official will say the flag was thrown for the player drawing attentoion to himself. Many of us would not have seen it that way. Furthermore, the NCAA rules were tweaked 15 years ago to deal with acts like this and they have been permissible. I am surprised the NFHS has apparently never confronted the issue and dealt with it at the national level. Instead they seem content to leave it to the judgment of each official.

It seems some have difficulty remembering that NFHS games, despite all the sometimes excessive hype and crazyness attached to them, are intended for a younger (and expedtedly less mature) pool of athletes. Although many choose to ignore it, these are actually still games played by children and not the matters of "life and death" so many choose to try and apply to them.

Personally, this particular incident, based solely on this out of context snippet, does not seem worthy of a penalty, although without knowing what may have transpired with this player previously during this contest, I'd withhold judgment as to whether this flag should have been thrown or why it was thrown.

In general, the NFHS reliance of the soundness of it's official's judgment in determining the seriousness of such behavior has apparently served the needs and objectives of NFHS contests well. Leaving rational judgment in the hands of competent and reasonable officials most often ( but sadly short of always) seems to consistently satisfy the needs of game management at the High School (and below) level, better than trying to anticipate and specify every possibility conceivable by exceptionally fertile imaginations.

There may be some point, at any level, of this great game, where this increasing insistence on nit-picking for nit-picking sake, and the increasing overreaction to the nit-picking, could seriously hamper the enjoyment and success of this game.