E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
All right, I'm not exactly sure what's going on here but I am pretty certain I don't like it, much less understand it.

When the Giants played the Packers last Sunday, their irrepressible tight end, Jeremy Shockey, caught a 21-yard pass. He was so overjoyed with his achievement that in a fit of boyish exuberance he jumped up and slammed the football to the turf -- yeah, right there on that hallowed grass at Lambeau Field.

For that he received a flurry of yellow flags and a 15-yard penalty not for showing disrespect for all those warriors who had trod there before, but for something as mundane as unsportsmanlike conduct, sub-titled "taunting."

So his 21-yard gain turned into a net-six- yard gain, and what the hell, the Giants won the game anyway (on Shockey's subsequent 4-yard touchdown catch from Kurt Warner, so all's well that ends well.Right? No, not right. It was wrong. And this whole concept had better change. There is too much riding on each yellow flag that flutters to the ground.

Now let's get one thing clear. Shockey is more man-child than man. He is a bit, shall we say, unpredictable. If you choose to use the phrase "loose cannon" you probably wouldn't be far off. He is a boy in a man's body, playing a man's game, and taking a boy's joy from his achievements, speaking his mind whenever he feels like turning on the verbal faucet with no thought to his consequences. But you have to admit he's better. Hey, he hasn't insulted Bill Parcells again (not yet, but they play this Sunday in Texas, you know?) and he hasn't granted interviews with magazines that were curious as to his non-football fantasies.

But anyway, he's so happy he makes that bit catch that he slams the ball to the grass on his way up. So for that he gets penalized.Well, if the NFL was consistent in its rulings and fair in its decisions that would be fine. Smart, no, but acceptable nonetheless.

Yet this "taunting" thing is as inconsistent as anything the NFL does, and that takes in a lot of wrongs. In truth, and don't tell anyone I said so, taunting is kind of enjoyable for the player who chooses to do it, and kind of infuriating for the players against whom it is done. But it isn't new. Years and years ago, the taunting took on a more personal, and therefore quieter, tone.

But the "celebration," if you will, was no less real. Players gloated when their team scored. Players laughed when they flattened a guy with a great block. The receiver who made the miracle catch would run pass the forlorn defensive back and say, sarcastically, "nice play, chump."

And now it's slamming the ball on the ground and doing pushups and dancing, for heaven's sake, in the end zone. For instance, you saw Joe Horn of the Saints pull out a pre-planted cell phone from the padding of the goal posts when he caught a touchdown against the Giants last year during that 45-7 slaughter and stood there like some kind of a new- born idiot and called his daughter.

Incidentally, if you want the truth it was that game that sealed head coach Jim Fassel's future -- rather, his non-future with the team Did Horn get fined? Yeah, he did. But did he get a 15-yard flag? Absolutely not. How about that IQ-challenged wide receiver in Philadelphia, Terrell Owens, who dreams up new ways to celebrate his touchdown catches? Last we saw, he was doing pushups in the end zone while the crowd roared and cheered and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue turned the other cheek.

Or there's that Owens-clone in Minnesota, Randy Moss, who caught a touchdown pass, retrieved a Sharpie (that's a thick felt marker) and autographed the ball for his agent, who just happened to be sitting there in the end zone seats. (You'd think, by the way, that Moss would have provided his agent with better seats; we all know that neither agent nor player ever buys his own seats.)

Did he get a flag for taunting?

Nope, none of the officials' arms even twitched, as if considering even for a split second throwing a flag. Against the Giants a couple of years ago, it was Moss who started prancing and dancing on his way to the end zone and then did a mesmerizing dance routine in the end zone, and behind him at top speed came middle linebacker Mike Barrow. It looked for all the world like he was bearing down on the jerk like some kind of heat-seeking missile. But no, he veered off at the last moment, probably mumbling something like, "excuse me," on his way past. Barrow will not be forgiven by the hard- liners and the old-timers for allowing that delicious bit of retribution to pass.

OK, fine, there are inequities on the field. But how about what the NFL does when it approves and sponsors (and gets well paid for) the video games that exhort violence among computer- generated look-a-like superstars? These can be actually damaging to the psyche of a youngster, and there is the danger that a few 10-year-olds are going to get out there on a sandlot and see if they can do the same horrific things to their friends. Have you ever seen or played one of those video games?

The John Madden series, the EAS collection?

They are about as violent as a ball-peen hammer to the face, and they are intensely popular with the young and impressionable out there, the same ones who idolize the pro football superstars -- just like the ones who do funny things like Joe Horn and Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. Does the NFL shrink from such nonsense? Absolutely not. That's money, you see.

But Jeremy Shockey slamming the ball down on the turf is a mortal sin against the sanctity and honor of the game. They make a sandwich out of that stuff. It's called baloney. So Shockey escaped the ultimate embarrassment of allowing his childish exuberance cost his team a victory, but while he probably should have known better -- and somebody has to make the issue loud and clear in terms of what he can and cannot do on the field -- it seems to be the NFL that is primarily at fault.

Get your rules straight, guys, make sure you know what you want the players to do and, more important, not to do, and then enforce it. But don't have a different set of rules for Jeremy Shockey and another for Terrell Owens and a third for Randy Moss, and don't allow Ray Lewis to portray the gangster in more than just fictional roles while smiling and nodding your bobble heads and extending your hands for more and more royalties from the video game folks. This is supposed to be the greatest and most popular professional sport in the country. So how about you start acting like its worthy of that sobriquet, huh?

This is about football, not acting, and even though the networks consider this game entertainment, let's not be quite so obvious to go along with it. Let the kids celebrate, but within reason -- and Shockey throwing the ball down on the grass was not out of line. I wouldn't do it, but that's me.

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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