Of course the NFL fined Antonio Brown for the goalpost celebration
You knew this was coming.
The NFL has decided to fine Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown for his Super Mario Bros. celebration when he slid down (or, really, off) the goalpost after his punt return score against the Indianapolis Colts. Bill Phillips of WPXI and Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported the news. Kaboly said Brown was fined $11,576.
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That’s an expensive celebration. Totally worth it. The Cauldron over at SI.com nailed it:
So who among us who saw that celebration was bothered by it? Colts fans are excused from answering. Ravens and Browns fans are precluded too, just in case. Anyone else bothered by it? Of course not. It was awesome. Not even 10 hours after Odell Beckham took over the title of “Best Touchdown Celebration of 2015” by doing the high hurdles in the end zone, Brown surpassed him and wrapped up the award.
Nobody cared. It was fun. It’s great to see that even with millions of dollars in his pocket, Brown and other NFL players can still enjoy playing the game. So why are we fining Brown over this exactly? Technically Brown was penalized and fined for using a prop in his celebration. Whatever.
Watching the NFL hasn’t exactly been a non-stop party the last couple years, probably starting with the Ray Rice suspension and going right through Greg Hardy and all the concussion talk and complaining about the officials. Here’s a way to lighten it up a bit: Let the celebrators be. Brown’s celebration generated a ton of fun, harmless talk for the NFL this week. Maybe the league should be paying him $11,000.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab