Issue: Really?
Short Answer: Yes. Really.
Reasoning: In case you don't watch football, in which case I would ask, "what do you do?", the NCAA struck again over the weekend. Let me set up the situation: with one minute and thirteen seconds left in the game and with Kansas State down 36-28, Kansas State wide receiver Adrian Hilburn caught pass, made a move, and scored a touchdown to make the score 36-34. What he did after he scored garnered his team a 15-yard penalty, which was enforced on the subsequent 2-point conversion, which made a basic Hail Mary the only option to tie the game. It failed and Kansas State lost by two. Take a look at what Hilburn did:
In the rules of NCAA football, an unsportsmanlike penalty should be called for "[a]ny delayed, excessive, prolonged or choreographed act by which a player attempts to focus attention on himself (or themselves)." And here is the lame explanation from head referee Todd Geerlings as to why the flag was thrown: "[i]t was the salute, which was the judgment of the calling officials, which were the head linesman and the back judge. Two officials threw the flag, both judged it to be drawing attention to themselves, and that's what the flag was for." This was not unsportsmanlike. I do not believe that Hilburn was intending to salute the fine soldiers of the United States of America, but this was not unsportsmanlike. Up to this point in my life, I could not think of a single situation in which a salute can be a negative thing. Thanks to the Big Ten crew doing the New Era Pinstripe bowl, that situation, apparently, now exists - after you score a touchdown, to potentially tie the game, in one of the biggest games of your life. Nice bowl season by the Big Ten in general, huh?
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