Make It Make Sense 

By Sarah McVeigh

Now there’s a lot in this little life that I simply cannot understand or agree with. But few things cause the level of frustration as the rules—and specifically the penalties—in football. I could argue for days about every play call, but to stay within my dreaded word count, let’s focus on the penalty calls and rules that are, quite frankly, complete BS.

The first is something that really does not exist anymore because it was such a stupid rule: excessive celebration. Why the heck should we care if the running back who scored a touchdown decides to do a little dance? It goes back to 1965 when Homer Jones created the infamous touchdown spike. The league then moved forward and started to seriously fine players, instead of calling the penalty. For example, go back to the gorgeous Terrell Owens Cowboys days (did anyone else use to watch his reality dating show?). Now, players are allowed to celebrate. I mean, have you seen a Detroit Lions game? The offense has full-on rehearsed touchdown dances, it’s adorable! The NFL still fines players for certain moves, usually those that are overtly suggestive. It usually has to do with the cable network fining the NFL for said dance moves. Anyway, I’m glad that the league got rid of excessive celebration, but I still hear too much hoopla around it.

The next penalty call that should not exist is unnecessary roughness. Oh, I’m sorry, I thought these were MEN playing football. What happened to the phrase “let ‘em play.” Things get heated during games. These guys have a gross amount of testosterone and adrenaline surging through their bodies! We are really going to call a penalty on them being rough … in football?! I can wrap my head around targeting calls because we want to keep these guys healthy. I can also understand no hitting after the play. But other than those exceptions, you’ve lost me. If a fierce but fair hit gets a flag because it looked too aggressive, I’m out.

I believe this next penalty should exist, but I almost never agree with the call: pass interference. I feel about pass interference the same way the Supreme Court felt about obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” Unless you are completely jumping on top of the other player, it shouldn’t be called! I personally love a little aggressive jersey-pulling, horse-collar, and hand-fighting between a wide receiver and a cornerback. I think that should be allowed! Other times, I think it is so blatantly pass interference, but the refs don’t call it! Make it make sense.

This is perhaps the most moronic rule of all, and it affected my poor, beaten, and bruised ASU Sun Devils this past weekend. The rule is that a quarterback cannot intentionally throw the ball away to avoid a sack if no receiver is open. But here is the loophole: If the QB is outside the tackle box, they are allowed to throw the ball out of bounds without it being grounding.

When my QB, Sam Leavitt, threw the ball out of bounds, the announcers were certain it was legal because of where he threw it from and the direction that the ball was leaving his hands. However, the refs called it grounding. If the intent is to avoid a sack and a loss of yards, it should be intentional grounding, regardless of how far the ball travels or the direction it leaves the quarterback’s hand, OR we should get rid of intentional grounding altogether and let them throw away the ball all the time. Seriously, what is the difference, people! It really only matters if we are discussing the possibility of a live ball.

Sports are one of those things that are just frustrating. I’m frustrated that the ASU secondary defense doesn’t exist. I’m frustrated that Cam Skattebo got so egregiously hurt on Sunday. And I am forever frustrated that rules like these exist and have the potential to impact the outcome of a game.

Will I be back this weekend to do it all again and get frustrated? Of course!