Last week, we talked about baseball players doing stupid things in reaction to calls that they disagreed with. In football, the bulk of the stupid things that they do is through celebrations. Let’s take a look at the three most memorable (in my opinion) stupid celebrations.
1. Happy New Year, Stevie Johnson
Stevie Johnson had a little bit of a history for excessive celebrations in Buffalo. In fact, this “Happy New Year” gig wasn’t even the first time he had on an expressive t-shirt for celebrating.
In the first picture, Stevie Johnson had just caught a touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Jets, their rivals. The game was played on or very close to New Year’s day. Stevie Johnson ran to the back of the end zone, lifted up his jersey, and lo and behold, a repeat of the second image. Johnson is now on the Chargers, who will be lucky if his celebration syndrome doesn’t come back.
2. Leon Letts it fly
Any football fan over the age of thirty-five remembers THIS like it was yesterday. In Super Bowl XXVII, Leone Lett nailed Jim Kelly, forcing the fumble. Lett then took off with it, and after a matter of five seconds, he was in the red zone. Leone Lett realized this, of course, and started to get a big head. He thrust the ball into the air and cantered towards the end zone. But he forgot that there were players still on the field who did not want Lett to score. Don Beebe, a wide receiver for the Bills, leapt for the football that was being used in Leone Lett’s pre-touchdown celebration. The pigskin went flying, and the Bills got the ball at the twenty yard line through a fumble recovery. As that guy Aesop would say, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch!”
3. The Deflate-gate Press Conference
Note regarding second image: DE-FLATED? Really? Does no one know how to use a hyphen anymore (a hyphen is this thing – )
I remember watching this press conference and thinking “this is garbage. They’re lying through their teeth.” Bill Belichick and Tom Brady both gave very different excuses for these footballs that for whatever reason didn’t have enough air in them. There’s not much to say here except that Ted Wells didn’t need to get involved here, we all could tell that they were lying from this stupid conference.
I really love all of these–er–”moments” that these football players have that make us laugh (or for some people incessantly moan) in the heat of the game.
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