Over the course of the last few seasons the NFL has encouraged touchdown celebrations and even the jubilant festivities following an interception or fumble recovery. They’ve even installed cameras in end zones to further encourage the very public displays of emotion.
The behaviors are consistent with those of Madden NFL, a game that nearly all young NFL players grew up playing. Like it or not the exploits are now so commonplace that they’ve become acceptable etiquette in the modern world. That’s just the way it is.
But recently Roger Goodell and his merry band of cranky old guys decided to put the league’s officials on hyper-alert to fine players for taunting.