NFL

You crush that big deal at work. Do you take your computer and fling it to the ground, dance around the wreckage and yell “woo-hoo?”

Didn’t think so.

Do you tuck that laptop under your arm and strike the Heisman Trophy pose?

Didn’t think so.

Do you high-five the person in the next cubicle, low-five the one after that and then crash to the office floor to make snow angels?

Didn’t think so.

But apparently, we love when NFL players do these things (well, not slamming computers to the ground – generally it’s the football, or each other).

The NFL, apparently tired of penalizing adults for acting like juveniles, is pulling back on its longtime crackdown on touchdown celebrations. Want to use the ball as a prop? Go ahead. A group gathering for further aggrandizement? Certainly. NFL owners approved new regulations on Tuesday that return to the game an aspect best extinguished.

And so idiocy returns. Within reason, of course. The NFL won’t allow any demonstration that mimics a weapon or is obscene or taunts the opponent. And there will be time limits on the “celebration of me.” Other than that, knock yourself out (please).

You might be getting the idea that a certain cranky typist doesn’t like all of this. You’d be right. Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis doesn’t like it either, and I will gladly be in his company. He says he wants to teach players the right way to play the game. Bengals founder Paul Brown had another way of saying that. He told players that when they got to the end zone, they should act as if they’d been there before.

It’s not enough to make a great play and score? You have to mug for the cameras, pound your chest and engage in a pantomime that would horrify Marcel Marceau? The NFL says go ahead.

College players don’t seem to have any problem scoring and handing the ball to the official, as the rules dictate. They still hug their teammates and revel in the moment. The NFL apparently feels that creating a new class of idiots can only enhance the game.

It probably will. We get what we deserve.