The Morning Win: Why can’t we let pro athletes have fun?
In the fourth quarter of the Saints’ 45-35 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, New Orleans receiver Michael Thomas blew past his defender for a 72-yard touchdown reception that padded his team’s narrow lead in a big spot against an undefeated opponent.
It was a touchdown worth celebrating, and Thomas celebrated. The receiver, who set a franchise record with 211 receiving yards in the game, ran to the goal post and pulled a planted flip-phone out of the pad -- echoing former Saints receiver Joe Horn’s hilarious but infamous 2003 celebration.
If there are fair criticisms to be made of Thomas’ behavior, it’s that it was unoriginal -- though Horn himself loved it so much he bought himself a Michael Thomas jersey -- and, perhaps, that it was anachronistic, in that no one makes phone calls anymore. Maybe Rams players have the right to feel disrespected by the staged celebration, but they were more likely upset by the loss and Thomas’ actual in-game performance than anything he did in the end zone.
And yet one of football’s foremost front-facing voices, Hall of Fame quarterback turned FOX Sports analyst Troy Aikman harped on Thomas’ display for the rest of the game, even after the ensuing 15-yard penalty proved meaningless to the final outcome. Postgame analysts Michael Strahan and Howie Long didn’t care for it, either.
The NFL might benefit from positioning itself as the joyless governing body that penalizes and fines players for coordinated and awesome celebrations like Thomas’: Adding an element of controversy to the act helps amplify it, and thus helps develop Thomas as a lovable, marketable personality for his willingness to flout the rules. No one watches Animal House to root for Dean Wormer.
But Thomas and the Saints served the penalty the league deems appropriate for his action, and any hand-wringing beyond that is pointless. New Orleans won the game. Thomas had a historically good day. And spectator sports exist for our entertainment.
Football is for fun. Pulling a flip-phone out of the goal post to pay homage to a franchise legend and thrill your home fans in the midst of a huge victory is extremely fun. If you prefer watching humble players who “act like they’ve been there before,” then great, root for those guys over dudes like Thomas. But there’s just no sense whatsoever getting bent out of shape over a harmless gesture in a pursuit that ultimately only exists for fans’ amusement.
Quick hits: About last night...
- After defeating MMA legend Conor McGregor in a conventional boxing match last year, Floyd Mayweather will take on undefeated Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Kasukawa in an event for Rizin Fighting Federation on New Year’s Eve. The format has not yet been announced, and as of their last fights, Mayweather has a 24-pound weight advantage over Kasukawa, but Mayweather said the “weight class and rules” will “get situated” in the coming weeks.
- European Tour golfer Sam Horsfield landed in the spotlight for a video that showed him standing over his ball lining up a shot for about half a minute at the Turkish Airlines Open. “This is not something I am trying to do,” Horsfield tweeted. “It’s something I am working hard on to try and fix.”
- LSU football coach and Louisiana native Ed Orgeron introduced the world to a new form of poetry when his postgame press conference completely beguiled attempts at closed captioning. Orchestral Talk About Retiring Earth seems as good a title as any for the forthcoming collection.
- The NFL is partnering with the mega-popular video game Fortnite in what seems like either a flat-out terrible idea or a plot point in an episode of Black Mirror.
- Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz spent his bye week duck hunting with superfan and two-time AL MVP Mike Trout in North Dakota. Their party eliminated some 75 waterfowl from the North Dakota ecosystem, but things could go horribly awry if either athlete expands his hunting horizons, as Wentz is an Eagle and Trout is the G.O.A.T.