The Art of Showing Off

In the world of sports, where does one draw the line between celebrating and showing off? When is it that confidence becomes cockiness? How does an athlete gauge the difference between entertaining and alienating his audience? The answers to these questions seem to be growing more vague with each passing year, in direct proportion to the increasingly elaborate ways that athletes have concocted to share their joy. Or to obnoxiously gloat, depending on how one chooses to interpret the behavior.

Rule makers of the various leagues have made strides to curb the enthusiasm of players upon executing an awe inspiring maneuver, or having just scored on their foe. NBA players are now penalized for taunting if they needlessly hang on the rim after a monster dunk, or wag a finger after sending an attempted lay-up into orbit. The NFL has been dubbed the "No Fun League" by some because of restrictions put on the various dances and gyrations demonstrated by players after they have reached the end zone. Baseball players have been the least offensive perpetrators of the art of showboating, but announcers are quick to admonish any slugger who pauses to admire his handiwork when he senses that a home run ball has just left his bat.

As in pretty much every aspect of life, excessive responses on either side of this issue is a bad thing. It is obviously a bad idea to straitjacket athletes from natural reactions. Fans do not wish to see players going about their business like robots. Emotion is a vital part of every sport. People both expect and desire to see it expressed. Otherwise, instead of televising sporting events we may as well be watching accountants accounting. Fans live vicariously through the feats of their on-field heroes. We want to see the thrill of their victories, to witness the agony of their defeats. Celebration is as much a part of the games as are the respective balls that are thrown, caught, kicked, and hit. Without the element of exultation, what would be the point of playing? Other than for those millions of dollars at stake, that is.

On the other hand, for there is inevitably another hand, no one enjoys watching a bully kick sand in the face of a 90-pound weakling. Yet that is precisely the equivalent of what certain players seem to be doing when they preen for the crowd. When the reaction of an athlete to a big play is obviously pre-planned; obviously choreographed; obviously staged to maximize individual camera time; those of us watching cease to be pulled along by the player's joie de vie. If it isn't natural then it isn't real, and nobody roots for a phony. It's one thing to do a little shuffle or brief theatrical display when scoring a touchdown. It's something else entirely to run all the way to the 50-yard line and gloat on the home team's logo. We smiled when the Australian swimming relay team played air guitar after winning gold, especially since it was in response to a bold prediction by an American competitor. But many of us cringed a bit when Maurice Greene and the rest of the U.S. gold medal winning track team stripped and flexed with our flag draped around them. Some impetuous releasing of steam and enjoyment of the moment could certainly be excused, even when done by overwhelming favorites, considering the magnitude of that particular moment in their lives. When the display continued up on the medal stand as they towered over the silver and bronze recipients, however, it was all onlookers could do not to gag. Thankfully, the American basketball " dream team" didn't do likewise for their underwhelming accomplishment of squeaking past Lithuania and Australia.

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