(11-10-2021, 07:07 PM)Bullseye Wrote:

(11-10-2021, 11:32 AM)flsprtsgod Wrote: I dunno, I guess it's popular or something. They could not act that way, but old ideas like sportsmanship and fair play are so last century.

Dimson, if I have misinterpreted your question, please correct me, but I believe the question, within context, is better expressed "Why are they perceived or labeled as hoodlums by you?  

Am I correct?

If so, I join you in your inquiry.

Taunting is in no way new to the NFL or football overall.

Take one of the all time classic NFL films clips of Chuck Bednarik leveling Frank Gifford.

https://youtu.be/o1EHius5Y88

Even though many thought Bednarik taunted Gifford, I have seen interviews where he indicated he wasn't trying to taunt Gifford.  Assuming his denial of unsportsmanlike behavior or intent is honest, yet people have accused him of taunting on the play, can we conclude it's possible he could have been flagged for taunting under the current rules?  If it's possible what was perceived to be taunting was competitive heat of the moment exuberance and he could have been flagged irrespective of intent, is it fair to label him a "hoodlum" under those circumstances?

If it's possible his intentions could be mistaken by observers, who is to say that a player today, in a helmet on tv possibly a hundred feet from a camera or field mike can't have his actions misconstrued by officials or other observers?  If so, and his intent was misconstrued, is it similarly fair or unfair to label him a "hoodlum" too?


There' are also a couple of noteworthy instances involving Steelers HOF LB Jack Lambert. Vs the Cowboys.  The first happened in Super Bowl X.  Steelers K Roy Gerela missed a FG, and HOF Dallas S Cliff Harris went over and patted him on the helmet.  Lambert saw it as taunting, took offense to it, threw Harris to the ground and pointed at him.  Both Harris and Lambert both taunted on that play.  A few years later, circa 1982, Lambert played against Dallas in an early season MNF game.  He tackled Dallas RB Tony Dorset, stood over him, pointed, and said, "That oughta calm your [BLEEP] down!" In another famous NFL films clip.  That, too would have been a clear violation of the current rule against taunting..  Yet in the decades since those interactions, I have never heard or read Harris, or Lambert or Dorset (spike the ball against Washington DT Darrell Grant's head) and many others called "hoodlums" simply because they taunted an opponent on the field.

Why?  Was the act of taunting somehow less egregious in the 70s and 80s than a similar act now?

Did "unsportsmanlike" somehow become a synonym for "violent" or "criminally inclined?"


Former Raiders CB Damon Arnette?  If he taunted, yes, the term Hoodlum" would be appropriate because there's other activities that makes the adjective fit.  In the absence of definitive proof of hoodlum activity, it's rhetorical, logical and factual leap to conflate one who taunts with a hoodlum and it's patently unfair.