Changing the Game

The Touchdown Celebration:

Elmo Wright invented it.

Billy “White Shoes” Johnson

choreographed it.

Ickey Woods commercialized it.

The Fun Bunch and Mark Gastineau proved

that anybody could do it.

But Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens?

They owned it.

They brought a new kind of celebrity swagger

to the NFL that changed the face of the game and ultimately, influenced a change in the rules.

                                      Ochocinco: The Artist Formerly Known as Chad Johnson

As wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, Chad Johnson brought some fun and originality to the 2005 season. With his trademark grin and annoying-little-brother antics, you couldn’t help but love this guy. Whether he was doing the “riverdance,” proposing to cheerleaders, or performing CPR on the football, he did it with an endearing, no-harm/no-foul style.

Unfortunately the NFL (or as some say, the No Fun League) just couldn’t handle the excessive celebrations of #85 and he paid dearly in fines that year.

Preening for the cameras and promising entertainment on the field, Johnson has been criticized by players, fans and officials for making a mockery of the game. The thing is… in order to get to the end zone to celebrate as much as Chad Johnson, you have to be more than a pretty face- you have to be pretty damn good. He knows the game and he’s having fun with it.

Next up… Terrell Owens: “Excuse me sir, but is that a Sharpie in your sock?”



Thanksgiving Football Special

Okay, so I’m jumping ahead in my timeline for quick a minute to ask…did anyone else happen to catch Miami Dolphin Jared Odrick doing his Pee Wee Herman sack dance in last Sunday’s game against the Redskins? It might not be a touchdown celebration, but it’s destined to become a classic…Happy Thanksgiving!  

The 1980s and 1990s: The Hoedown Heyday

By the mid-1980s, touchdown celebrations

had woven themselves into the fabric of the

NFL. In contrast to the spontaneity that

characterized earlier examples, these dances

were often elaborately choreographed.

In an era when athletes became overnight celebrities, the touchdown dance was not only a (mostly) friendly competition between players but an entertainment marketing ploy.

Although most of these dances were performed for fan amusement and team camaraderie, examples of excessive celebrations and aggressive taunting also began to appear more frequently in both the NCAA and the NFL.

End zone celebrations involving multiple players-including players not directly involved in the play- became a phenomenon. The Washington Redskins’ offensive squad, “The Fun Bunch” was famous for its group high-five.

          

Not to be outdone by their teammates in the end zone, others turned the entire playing field into a dance floor. NY Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau celebrated his quarterback sacks with an egomaniacal “sack dance”.

Widely attributed to both the showboating antics of the “Fun Bunch” and Gastineau’s rival-taunting sack dance, the NFL introduced an “excessive celebration” ban in 1984. Despite the ban, an atmosphere of competition and personal glory in the end zone remained and largely influenced a whole new generation of NFL superstars who would take the end zone celebration to even bigger and bolder heights…

But, before we go there…take a look at some of the best end zone dances of the 80s:   



Origins: From Wright to Wrong?

The Touchdown Spike

In the mid-1960's before the end zone became a dance floor, the touchdown spike emerged as a common celebration which involved throwing the ball forcefully at one's feet upon scoring.

The invention of this classic is attributed to NY Giants wide receiver Homer Jones who also coined the term.  




Homer Jones

   

   

Despite the more elaborate antics that evolved from this simple celebratory gesture, the spike has endured over time and remains relatively untouched by current NFL regulations as long as the spike occurs in the end zone only and follows a touchdown.

  The Touchdown Dance 

                 

The end zone dance actually began in the N.C.A.A. when in the late 1960's, University of Houston's wide receiver Elmo Wright high-stepped his way out of a tackle and continued dancing all the way to the end zone where he celebrated with more dancing. When he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of years later, Wright brought his unique touchdown dance to the NFL.

Another influential end zone dancer started in college on a dare. When pressed into boasting that he would dance if he scored against his team's rival in an upcoming game, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson brought to the field the "funky chicken"-a dance which followed him as well, into the NFL.  

 

Billy "White Shoes" Johnson



While Wright is noted for being the father of the end zone dance, Billy Johnson's more elaborate (and planned) celebration paved the way for future choreography in the end zone. Overall, Johnson's funky chicken is generally referred to as one of the NFL's most memorable touchdown celebrations:

Clearly, the end zone dance began as a good-natured means of celebrating.  The fans loved it and the players were all the more motivated to score so they could perform it. These early dances led to what many consider the heyday of end zone celebrations in the 1980's and 1990's. So what went wrong? 

In a 2005 interview, during arguably the most notorious season for end zone celebrations, Elmo Wright was asked if he thought he created a monster with his legendary touchdown dance:

                "Years ago, I felt that way, that I had created a monster. But I understand what's going on in these players'  minds...a player who only has to run patterns and score touchdowns isn't thinking long term. He's thinking, I have to get into the end zone and score a touchdown. Wanting to do a dance is an inducement and a motivation to train harder and focus. Players use that in order to play well."

Full interview with Elmo Wright, NY Times 2005

                                 

Obviously the NFL thought otherwise. The following year team owners voted 31-1 against “excessive celebrations”, prompting a significant amendment to NFL regulations. The new rules prohibit a player from leaving their feet or using props of any kind. Stay tuned to find out why... 

End Zone Celebrations: From Beginning to End?

I’m not an expert. I can’t even claim to be a fan of any particular team in the NFL. For five months out of the year however, I am an observer of football, like it or not. Somewhat grudgingly over the years, I’ve come to realize that I do actually like it. I enjoy the familiar drone of the announcers, the roar of the crowds, the red-faced coaches gesturing from the sidelines, the amazing edge-of-your-seat-hold-your-breath fifty-yard passes and oh yeah… the touchdown celebrations.

In recent years the NFL has begun closely scrutinizing and regulating what many feel are “excessive celebrations”. Today, individual players may be fined or even suspended and teams are penalized (15 yards on the next kickoff). In an age of celebrity athletes and media saturation, there are certainly instances of unnecessary taunting, individual showboating and circus-like distractions.  

For the most part however, this tradition has always been all in good fun; a means for an individual-or entire groups at times-to celebrate their team’s accomplishment with a little jig, a shuffle, or an impressive rendition of the Riverdance.

   

                                                                                                   

                                                                                      

As a casual observer of all of this hoopla over end zone celebrations, I find myself considering at times whether football has lost its fun. Have owners lost their sense of humor or have players lost their minds? Has the NFL alienated its fans? What happened to just spiking the ball? And who started all this? Over the course of the next several weeks stay tuned as I highlight the evolution of the end zone celebration.