I have found it.
It is example 2,904,876 (actually it might be example 2,904,877) of how soft we are getting. This one very well could take the cake --- it is a first-ballot, unanimous Hall of Fame entrant into the Please Don’t Hurt My Fragile Feelings Hall of Fame.
Man, this is amazing.
There is a fellow named Greg Burks who you might have heard of but more than likely have not. He’s got a fairly important and critical job in the landscape of college football as Mr. Burks is the Big 12 coordinator of officials.
Good for him. Important stuff making sure our games are governed impartially and all that jazz. I mean that in all sincerity, it is a big job and he’s the man for it.
Anyhow, Mr. Burks was doing his press availability at the Big 12 Media Days on Thursday and the conversation shifted toward taunting.
Naturally, because it is the Big 12, a question came up about players on teams that aren’t named Texas doing the infamous “Horns Down” symbol to a player or players who are on a team named Texas.
Mr. Burks’ response?
“Let me put it this way,” Burks said. “If you do a Horns Down to a Texas player as an opponent that's probably going to be a foul.”
What? Excuse me? This guy cannot be serious here.
And when he says “a foul” he means a taunting foul. With it comes a 15-yard penalty.
All this for pointing a few fingers toward the ground. Gosh are we soft or what?
This is where we are as a football playing country at this point? This is where the game of football and our weak, feeble and delicate feelings are at this point?
I mean, I thought football players --- especially in the Big Time Big 12 --- were strapping and brawny lads who were as tough as every nail you could find in a hardware store. Especially the kids from Texas, right?
I mean, I thought those kids who bowed to Bevo were as durable as a team of oxen and tough at any bull you’d find between El Paso and Galveston.
Apparently I was wrong.
I’m in the camp that if you don’t want your opponent celebrating, don’t let them score a touchdown or hit a home run or dunk the ball or whatever it is. If you don’t want to watch them rejoicing, do a better job of stopping them from being successful.
But I can’t believe, in the world of college football where testosterone and machismo is king, that Texas players now are so fragile that (or officials think they are so fragile) someone who scores against them or makes a great play against them can’t stick it to them a little bit.
Wow. We are getting so soft.