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"With hustling, there's an ETHICS involved! "- Woody Harrelson, White Men Can't Jump (after Wesley Snipes hustled him for a huge bankroll)
"Yeah. Which you wouldn't know a thing about." - Snipes
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When Golden Tate cut back and 'pirated' an interception, he took off for the end zone and ... at about the 25-yard line, waved goodbye to the Rams safety chasing him. My 21-year-old son John started screaming and didn't stop for about six hours. OH YEAH BABBBBY! THAT IS THE GREATEST PLAY IN NFL HISTORY! OH YEAH! I TOLD YOU ABOUT TATE! YOU CHEW ON THAT YOU GUMBY! OHHHH MAN!
Meanwhile, Mike Tirico in the booth reacted as though somebody had abducted a kindergartener, or chucked a recyclable bottle into the regular trash, whichever is considered worse by East Coast media members these days. He ran through six or eight synonyms for "ridiculous" and "travesty."
A few commercial breaks later, Tirico (on about his 1,000th NFL broadcast) managed to figure out that "well, maybe the defensive back had done something to provoke him, but still..." Of course, his broadcast partner Jon Gruden hadn't needed any help figuring that part out; Gruden has been in the arena and so isn't as prone to judge the warriors inside it. But even Gruden was mildly annoyed by Tate. "Just play your position, be a professional."
Generally around the nation, Tate's actions are also condemned. There is a discussion about whether the rules should be changed to call back the touchdown, implying that it would have been desirable to take Tate's points off the board for his actions. Dr. D is not clear on this: why is it fine to kiss your bicep after sacking Colin Kapernick, but waving goodbye to a defender is a felony?
Certainly, if Jon Gruden doesn't understand NFL code, then nobody does. Gruden comments, in this case, that Tate needs to be a professional. But the defensive end kissing the bicep, Gruden doesn't admonish his player in that case. Why not 'be a professional' at sack dance time? Dr. D doesn't totally get it.
The focus seems to be on his doing it 25 yards from the end zone, which misses the point entirely. The 25-yards thing shows you that the non-athlete commenters:
- Hated the play
- Can't tell you exactly why
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Dr. D's rant mode goes viral against --- > hypocrisy. Against double standards, against unfairness. Golden Tate is now going to be labeled, as are (probably) the Seahawks. With all of the things that goes on, down on the field, in the NFL?
But this is visible, this is transparent, now it's out in the open, so now we're going to single Tate out and ...
Trash talk is an art form in basketball. Larry Bird, whose trash talk was truly vicious and mean-spirited, is a folk hero in America. "Well, but he didn't let the fans in on it."
Oh.
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John, in video games, is the worst trash talker and 'styler' you ever met. But it's a funny thing: when he competes at real sports, he's usually one of the slowest to do so. He loved the Tate play ... but wouldn't do it himself. What's up with that?
He's 30 years younger than I am, and so is perhaps just a tadbit more in tune with what the 25-year-old Golden Tate was thinking. I'll do the Q's; the A's are John's responses, paraphrased.
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Q. Why is it such a big hurkin' deal what Golden Tate did, and it's not a big deal when Richard Sherman does a 'loco' sign after an incompletion to his man?
A. You're kind of doing the other thing out of your man's grill. It takes it to another level to do it right at him. Then it's another level to do it while the play's live.
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Q. Why don't you style very often, in real action, John?
A. If I respect the guy and he respects me, there's no need to make it personal. We can do professional until he starts trash talking me first.
You could tell the DBs had been in Tate's ear, and bad. You notice Tate did the "yakking" sign with his hand at the end. And you notice the DB didn't do anything back - he just took it. That tells you the guy deserved it.
.......
Some situations, like ... the guys you're playing already know you're better than them. In that situation, trash talking is just mean.
Or you have such high esteem for them that you wouldn't style them. Like Sherman and Randy Moss. Sherman isn't going to style on Moss.
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Q. What was so great about the Tate play?
A. That he earned it.
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Q. You think Richard Sherman would have done the same thing?
A. I don't think Sherman would have. What Tate did was just a little bit on the wrong side of where the line is.
But still. You're going at somebody who is as good as you are, and it gets intense, and then you go earn it, then you got the right to rub his face in it. Tate earned that one.
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Q. If you're Carroll, do you go through the motions of penalizing him, but sort of wink at him, I get it? Or do you lower the boom and tell him, next penalty, you sit a game?
A. Carroll will probably tell him, next penalty, you sit a game.
But everything depends totally on what the DB's were saying to him. Were they talking about his wife, his girlfriend? Certain situations, I'd give Tate a medal for it. Nobody knows what was going on down there, which is why they can't judge it.
I'd probably let Tate know he's got to watch it, but I get it.
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Q. Bottom line?
A. My respect for Golden Tate went up.
He's not backing down. He's there to talk and he's there to back it up. For me, that's as cool as it gets. You give up 15 yards on the next play, but if that's what it costs, to let the other team know how it's going to be, then that's fine.
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