The term "snowflake" gets thrown around too much and it is mostly in relation to politics and overly sensitive people, but who would have thought that we would introduce this sissification into one of the manliest sports of the planet?
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The worst about this new penalty is that it is a personal foul, which means that it could at some point in time become a penalty that could determine the outcome of an entire game. If you don't know what I am getting at here and / or not a an NFL fan I'll break it down to to you in one sentence:
You are not allowed to be mean to other players
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That's right. One of the roughest, most physically-demanding sports where guys routinely take hits that would kill a normal person or at least send them to the hospital for a while, won't allow you to be mean to the players on the other team. I can't say for sure because I am rolling my eyes into the back of my head just thinking about it but I believe it is an offshoot of "unsportsmanlike conduct."
To me, this is a major part of the game and also why the fans get so worked up and into the games. One of the most famous and recent incidents where this rule was enforced happened at last year's Super Bowl when Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield flashed a "peace sign" to a Kansas City wide receiver after breaking up a pass play
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He was hit with a flag, ended up giving away 15 yards because of the penalty, and was later fined some amount of money for this that would make most of our heads spin if we were charged it but since he makes millions a year it was probably just a slap on the wrist.
Football's taunting can get a bit over the top but this peace sign taunt was actually in retaliation for a Tyreek Hill doing exactly the same thing to Winfield earlier on in the season. Hill received no flag for having done it to him.
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Same two guys, same sport, different day, different treatment. This rule is stupid and is entirely too subjective to be enforced correctly. Plus, we are talking about some of the toughest guys on the planet, do we really need to be policing their feelings? I can understand the "excessive celebration" penalties that are sometimes handed out after touchdowns because this interferes with the flow of the game and is sometimes directed at the fans (which should never be allowed because this could result in friggin riots.)
However, this sensitivity rule is dumb and we may as well just refer to an episode of South Park where "sarcastiball" becomes a new sensation
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Everyone wears bras, there is no score, and you just hug all the other players so that everyone can feel good about themselves.
Get rid of the stupid taunting penalty. It is dumb.
If you are an NFL fan I would love to hear how you feel about this...