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League official explains T.O. penalty 
September 10, 2008 9:59 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Matt Mosley
Icon SMI Terrell Owens' celebration drew a 15-yard unsportsman-line condict penalty on Sunday.
Now that Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips has complained about the "hidden" rule responsible for Terrell Owens' 15-yard penalty following his Usain Bolt tribute Sunday, the league's supervisor of officials Mike Pereira felt the need to clarify.
"You've just got to stay on your feet," Pereira told the New York Times on Monday.
Asked why players aren't flagged for kneeling to pray after scores and first downs, Pereira said, "I do not want to get struck by lightning."
See, it's possible for someone in the league to have a sense of humor. Pereira also said the Lambeau Leap was allowed because it's classified as a spontaneous display of emotion and doesn't normally involve teammates. And while I have no problem with the Leap, let's not say it's a spontaneous reaction. When something has been done by a team for years, it's no longer spontaneous.
I'd love for someone to do something completely radical, like flipping the ball back to the official. That's the way Herschel Walker used to do it. It always gave the impression that he'd been there before and planned on returning soon.
But there's still a place in the league for Billy "White Shoes" Johnson's dancing and Butch Johnson's "California Quake." The league just needs to get over itself and realize that someone touching the ground isn't going to ruin the youth of America.
Butch Johnson, Billy Johnson, Mike Pereira, Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers
Read comments or leave a comment
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/mike-pereira-explains-the-penalty-on-owens/#more-1227
September 10, 2008, 2:10 am
Mike Pereira Explains the Penalty on Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens’s latest contribution to touchdown celebration history — dropping into a sprinter’s crouch at the goal line during Sunday’s victory against the Browns (above) — came with the usual price: a 15-yard penalty. That seemed to catch Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips by surprise.
“It’s my fault for not knowing that there was another hidden rule here somewhere,” Phillips told reporters.
In fact, the rule is not hidden, and it is not new. In March 2006, N.F.L. owners voted to clarify existing bans on choreographed celebrations to include those that used the ball or other items as props, and any in which players put their hands or their bodies on the ground.
So no more using the football as a pillow for an end-zone nap. No more pretending to row a boat. No snow angels. No push-ups.
“You’ve just got to stay on your feet,” Mike Pereira, the league’s supervisor of officials, said in a telephone interview Monday. (Pereira did make one exception: he said no player would be penalized on his watch for dropping to his knees to pray because “I do not want to get struck by lightning.”)
Owens’s celebration Sunday had its roots in his recent boast that he could beat the Olympic champion Usain Bolt in a 100-meter race if he had a 20-yard head start.
Pereira said the league was sensitive to the grumbling of fans who enjoy Owens’s type of showmanship, but noted that there was another segment of fans that most definitely does not. That group, which includes youth coaches and officials, often complains to the league office that over-the-top celebrations run counter to their messages about team play and sportsmanship.
So while using a pylon to putt the ball like a golfer, as the Bengals’ Chad Johnson once did, is still out, classics like the Lambeau Leap are safe because they are considered spontaneous displays of emotion and usually involve only the player who scored.
“It’s not something I would want to do,” Pereira said of the leap. “If they knew who I was, I might come out naked.”
September 10, 2008 9:59 AM
Posted by ESPN.com's Matt Mosley
Icon SMI Terrell Owens' celebration drew a 15-yard unsportsman-line condict penalty on Sunday.
Now that Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips has complained about the "hidden" rule responsible for Terrell Owens' 15-yard penalty following his Usain Bolt tribute Sunday, the league's supervisor of officials Mike Pereira felt the need to clarify.
"You've just got to stay on your feet," Pereira told the New York Times on Monday.
Asked why players aren't flagged for kneeling to pray after scores and first downs, Pereira said, "I do not want to get struck by lightning."
See, it's possible for someone in the league to have a sense of humor. Pereira also said the Lambeau Leap was allowed because it's classified as a spontaneous display of emotion and doesn't normally involve teammates. And while I have no problem with the Leap, let's not say it's a spontaneous reaction. When something has been done by a team for years, it's no longer spontaneous.
I'd love for someone to do something completely radical, like flipping the ball back to the official. That's the way Herschel Walker used to do it. It always gave the impression that he'd been there before and planned on returning soon.
But there's still a place in the league for Billy "White Shoes" Johnson's dancing and Butch Johnson's "California Quake." The league just needs to get over itself and realize that someone touching the ground isn't going to ruin the youth of America.
Butch Johnson, Billy Johnson, Mike Pereira, Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers
Read comments or leave a comment
http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/mike-pereira-explains-the-penalty-on-owens/#more-1227
September 10, 2008, 2:10 am
Mike Pereira Explains the Penalty on Terrell Owens
Terrell Owens’s latest contribution to touchdown celebration history — dropping into a sprinter’s crouch at the goal line during Sunday’s victory against the Browns (above) — came with the usual price: a 15-yard penalty. That seemed to catch Cowboys Coach Wade Phillips by surprise.
“It’s my fault for not knowing that there was another hidden rule here somewhere,” Phillips told reporters.
In fact, the rule is not hidden, and it is not new. In March 2006, N.F.L. owners voted to clarify existing bans on choreographed celebrations to include those that used the ball or other items as props, and any in which players put their hands or their bodies on the ground.
So no more using the football as a pillow for an end-zone nap. No more pretending to row a boat. No snow angels. No push-ups.
“You’ve just got to stay on your feet,” Mike Pereira, the league’s supervisor of officials, said in a telephone interview Monday. (Pereira did make one exception: he said no player would be penalized on his watch for dropping to his knees to pray because “I do not want to get struck by lightning.”)
Owens’s celebration Sunday had its roots in his recent boast that he could beat the Olympic champion Usain Bolt in a 100-meter race if he had a 20-yard head start.
Pereira said the league was sensitive to the grumbling of fans who enjoy Owens’s type of showmanship, but noted that there was another segment of fans that most definitely does not. That group, which includes youth coaches and officials, often complains to the league office that over-the-top celebrations run counter to their messages about team play and sportsmanship.
So while using a pylon to putt the ball like a golfer, as the Bengals’ Chad Johnson once did, is still out, classics like the Lambeau Leap are safe because they are considered spontaneous displays of emotion and usually involve only the player who scored.
“It’s not something I would want to do,” Pereira said of the leap. “If they knew who I was, I might come out naked.”
