Touchdown celebration

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Touchdown celebrations are unusual and often humorous acts that American football players may do after scoring a touchdown.

Taunting and excessive celebration are both offenses in the NFL; as a result, gaudy displays are often frowned upon. If the league views the act as highly offensive, hefty fines and even suspensions can be handed out. In 2006 the NFL, in an effort to cut down on celebrations, amended its rules to include an automatic 15 yard penalty against any player who leaves his feet or uses a prop.[1]

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[edit] Some memorable celebrations

  • The "touchdown spike": New York Giants wide receiver Homer Jones is credited as the first player to throw the ball into the field at his feet after scoring a touchdown. He first did this move in 1965, calling it a "spike", and it is said to be the origin of post-touchdown celebrations.[2]
  • The 1980s Washington Redskins "The Fun Bunch": For years, players like Billy "White Shoes" Johnson demonstrated in the end zone after scoring a touchdown. The 1984 Washington Redskins raised the bar on celebrations by performing a group high-five after scoring. The NFL had made previous attempts to curb celebrations but, after the 1984 Fun Bunch, they changed the rules and "excessive celebration" was disallowed. This is one of the few offensive squads that have managed to acquire a nickname.[3]
  • In his rookie season of 1988, Bengals running back Ickey Woods gained media attention with a touchdown dance that became known as the "Ickey Shuffle". He had plenty of opportunities to do this, as he set a rookie record with 15 touchdowns in the regular season and added 3 more in the playoffs en route to Super Bowl XXIII.
  • Arguably the most famous NCAA celebration was Desmond Howard's end-zone move after returning a punt for a touchdown against Ohio State in 1991. In his since-copied celebration, Howard mimicked the pose of the figure on the Heisman Trophy. Howard won that same honor later that year.
  • During their 2000 playoff run, the St. Louis Rams offense would circle up in the end zone and crouch down and weave from side to side after touchdowns in a performance eventually dubbed "The Bob and Weave". However, after the dance became a more regular occurrence, the NFL declared it, and all celebrations involving multiple players, illegal and began to hand out fines for them.
  • Receiver Randy Moss, then with the Minnesota Vikings, was fined $10,000 after a short touchdown dance that ended with him pretending to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay crowd in a 2004 playoff game. Moss claimed he did it because the Green Bay crowd often moons the bus of the opposing team when it pulls into Lambeau Field.
  • New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Horn performed a highly publicized touchdown dance after he scored a touchdown against the New York Giants in the 2003 season. Horn spiked the ball after scoring the touchdown and then went to the upright, where he pulled a hidden cell phone out of its padding which he then used to call his kids. He was fined $30,000 for his actions.
  • While Terrell Owens was playing for the San Francisco 49ers, he twice ran out to the midfield star on the Dallas Cowboys' field to celebrate touchdowns against them during the 2000 season. Both times the Cowboys fans loudly booed him, as an opposing player celebrating on the Star is considered an extreme faux pas. He was suspended one game by head coach Steve Mariucci for his actions.
  • During the 2002 season, Owens had two memorable touchdown celebrations. After a score in a Monday Night Football contest against the Seattle Seahawks, Owens pulled a sharpie out of his sock, signed the game ball which he then gave to his financial adviser who was sitting in a seat close to the end zone. After scoring a touchdown in a December contest with the Green Bay Packers, Owens celebrated with a pair of pom-poms borrowed from a 49ers cheerleader.
  • In 2004, playing for the Philadelphia Eagles in a game against the Ravens, Owens mocked the dance of linebacker Ray Lewis.Also playing for the Eagles T.O. would move his arms up and down like an eagle. In 2006, playing for the Cowboys, he was penalized for sleeping at the end zone after the touchdown against the Washington Redskins. In 2007, Owens, in the wake of the New England Video Taping Fiasco, stood behind the goal post after scoring, held up the football like an old-fashioned wind-up film camera, and mock-taped the Dolphins sideline.


  • Joey Galloway shows his bicep after most touchdowns that he scores.
  • Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson had a number of original celebrations in the 2005 season. After a touchdown early in the year against the Chicago Bears, he performed his version of the "river dance". In one game against the Indianapolis Colts, after scoring a touchdown Johnson knelt down on one knee and pretended to propose to a Bengals cheerleader, who accepted the mock gesture. After he had been fined several weeks in a row for excessive celebrations, Johnson celebrated his next touchdown by holding up a sign that read "DEAR NFL, PLEASE DON'T FINE ME AGAIN!!!" (and was subsequently fined by the NFL). Other celebrations included performing CPR on the football, and picking up a pylon in the end zone and using it to 'putt' the football into an imaginary golf hole then pumping his fist in a loose imitation of Tiger Woods, for which he was fined $5,000. Johnson is also known for doing an Irish jig, and even went so far as to do the Chicken Dance in an '06 game. In 2006 before a game he wore a nameplate that said "Ocho Cinco" and was fined by the NFL. On opening day 2007, he wore a jacket that read "Future HOF 20??". The next week, in Cleveland, he jumped into the Dawg Pound after a touchdown (and had beer poured on him by the fans in attendance). On November 25th, 2007 against the Titans, he pushed a cameraman aside and pretended to film the players, which drew a 15-yard penalty for using a prop (in this case the TV camera) during touchdown celebrations.
  • Like Johnson, Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers was known for his touchdown celebrations (Smith and Johnson were teammates in junior college). Some of his more memorable celebrations included treating the football like a baby on multiple occasions, going so far as to change the football's "diaper", wiping it down, and rocking it to sleep. He also posed like a supermodel in the end zone, made a "snow angel", and on one occasion against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, used the football as a sword and made swashbuckling motions, mocking the Bucs' mascot.
  • Rams (former Chiefs) KR Dante Hall, nicknamed "the X-Factor", makes an 'X' out of his forearms after a touchdown.
  • New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, in a game against the Chicago Bears in 2006, stuck the ball under his shirt to mimic being pregnant. He received a 15-yard penalty and a $10,000 fine from the NFL. He later claimed he did that it because his pregnant wife was in the stands.

The New England Patriots would mimic T.O. by doing his bird dance when ever they made a good play.

[edit] CFL dances

The CFL is much more lenient than the NFL when it comes to touchdown dances. It often has very small, if any, penalties handed out to players who excessively celebrate.

CFL end zone celebrations often include more than one player, often a whole wide receiving corps of 4-6 players. The dances may not include much dancing at all, but instead a quick comical sketch. Recent dances include five Calgary Stampeders receivers celebrating a touchdown against the rival Saskatchewan Roughriders by holding out their hands and each pretending the football was a champagne bottle, popping the cork, pouring drinks for all and then stumbling around as if drunk. Their latest[when?] end-zone routine was a simulated bobsleigh run: receiver Jeremaine Copeland sat down and wrapped his legs around the goal-line pylon, the rest of the receiving corps tucked in behind him, and the players swayed together in a pretend trip down a bobsleigh track. A very creative sketch by the same team was the four person stationary bicycle, which all players played a role for the bicycle.[clarify]

Edmonton Eskimos punt returner Henry "Gizmo" Williams had many punt return touchdowns over his CFL career. He celebrated each one by doing a backflip in the end zone.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have a celebration whereby players form a circle, toss a football in the air in the middle of the circle and then fall directly backwards in unison when the ball lands on the ground as if a hand grenade has exploded.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Archive copy at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Bill Pennington. "Giants' Wide Receivers May End Long Drought", The New York Times, September 30, 2001. Retrieved on 2008-02-03. 
  3. ^ The Fun Bunch. Retrieved on 2008-02-03.

[edit] External links