Syan Swanger
Staff Writer
Three weeks ago, the football game between Ole Miss and the University of South Carolina (USC) created national attention and it wasn’t because the game was an absolute blowout.
USC freshman Dylan Stewart debuted a controversial new celebration. After sacking Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, Stewart repeatedly mimicked shooting Dart with a gun. A flag was immediately thrown and Stewart was charged with unsportsmanlike conduct, giving USC a 15-yard penalty. Because of this, Ole Miss got an automatic first down, an advantage they definitely didn’t need with their 21-point lead late in the third quarter. USC head coach, Shane Beamer, could be seen fuming on the sidelines.
In a post-game interview, Beamer assured that Stewart would receive punishment, but also reminded fans that he is still 18 years old and got caught up in the moment.
“He knows he needs to be better and it was unacceptable without a doubt,” Beamer explained. Beamer also commented on how bad Stewart felt about his actions after the play.
However, during the game minutes after receiving a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, Stewart tackled Ole Miss’ running back and proceeded to do the same frowned-upon celebration again.
Stewart isn’t the only player who favors celebrating with imaginary guns. During the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons game, Vita Vea, nose tackle for the Buccaneers, army crawled across the field and pretended to snipe the Falcons after sacking their quarterback.
Referees called a penalty against Minnesota for one of their players acting like he was brandishing a gun after a successful play against the University of Southern California.
Finally, in the middle of the Davenport University and Grand Valley State University game, Davenport’s defensive back imitated taking a gun out of his pants and shooting a Grand Valley player right in front of the referee.
There’s been much uproar recently regarding football player’s celebrations. Many people have expressed their anger at the BTA trend on TikTok, where the winning team’s players hit the losing team’s players on the butt with their towels, or even sometimes with an actual belt when they line up to give post-game high fives. This trend has mainly been popular with high school students, but there have been videos of young boys walking onto the field with belts in their hands for their Little League game.
This, plus the sudden influx of players pretending to shoot a gun, has people questioning whether or not player celebrations have gone too far. Where is the line between cool and cocky? Between acceptable and disgraceful? Should players receive a harsher punishment besides loss of yards when their celebratory actions insinuate violence?
Many of the players participating in these jarring trends are young men who don’t have malicious intent. They just get caught up in the moment and do something they think will make them look cool. But is their age and lack of maturity an excuse for participating in such trends?