If the kids need to know why, blame the culture of football...

And we have our first major refereeing controversy...

On it's surface, one can understand why: An Ohio High School football team, the Louisville Leopards, was playing in one of it's first games in the season, shortly after the death of a close friend who died in an accident.

Here's the Yahoo! story on it.

And here's the response of the athletic director of the school, one of the few people who agrees with me that the call was correct!

One problem: That's a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration. That penalty eventually helped lead to them losing the game on a last-second field goal.

Here's the biggest problem: The call was absolutely and 100% proper and correct and forced!

Normally, I will rant and rail and yell and scream and bitch as the day is long about acts of unsportsmanlike conduct, of which this (though it will be tagged as such, since that was actually the call) was not, and you'll get no dispute from me.

So I won't blame the kids.

HOWEVER:

We have a culture in football in this country of open violence, semi-rioting, and very violent fights, of which there are literally dozens across the country posted on YouTube (and I'm talking high schools here, Miami-Florida International from a few years back is not necessary here!).

Blame what we have made football in to: A test of manhood, effectively, a dick-sizing contest.

If we didn't have to analyze almost every conceivable action which could be made after a touchdown (remember, even spiking the ball is a 15-yard penalty in all levels except professional!), calls like this would not have to be made.

Here's the relevant clause: It is an unsportsmanlike conduct foul for a player to engage in:

“any delayed, excessive or prolonged act by which the player attempts to focus attention upon himself.” (emphasis mine)

That it is an act meant in tribute to a dead friend matters abjectly zero. That's 15, and the correct call. In fact, I'm surprised they didn't get tossed too.