Monday, December 31, 2007

Slippery Soapbox of College Football Announcers

So I'm watching the University of Kentucky and Florida State University playing in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, and some FSU defensive back named Tony Carter just did a forward flip into the endzone after an awful interception. One of the announcers, ESPN's Ed Cunningham, has spent the last five minutes railing on the moral decrepitude of this cornerback for his "selfish" flip into the endzone, and that he wants players that forward flip into the endzone on touchdowns to be ejected from the games. Indeed, while he's uptight because of the thirty yards in penalties the forward flip assessed, he keeps claiming that his ranting is because the forward flip is a safety hazard, and he doesn't want to see someone get hurt. While that's noble of him standing on his soapbox, it's a ridiculous excuse for his moral condemnation of the FSU players, because plenty of other rules in college football support much more dangerous maneuvers than the forward flip. In particular, the horse collar tackle, outlawed in the National Football League for its dangerous nature, is perfectly legal and the takedown of choice for many of college football's best defenders. Using a horse collar tackle, the tackler puts his victim at risk of serious injury by yanking his legs out from under him awkwardly by grabbing the back of the neck pads. In this case, the defender is putting the ball carrier at risk of injury; contrast this with the forward flip, which puts only the leaper at risk, the leaper who consciously made the decision to leap. Indeed, even if we assume that the forward flip risks safety, is it really deserving of a personal foul? Sure, it's often unnecessary, but I'd certainly rather see a flip, a feat of athleticism and skill, than Chad Johnson jumping into a camera operator's stand. Does the forward flip call attention to the individual scoring the points? Yes. But so what? Football's a team game, obviously, but college football gets a lot of revenue from these athletes; I see no reason to penalize players for showcasing their athleticism as they score a touchdown, risky or not. And, from his words at halftime, it sounds like Bobby Bowden agrees with me.

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