Their Jumping Off Point Sucks

You've all no doubt seen the celebratory ritual conducted by professional athletes in many sports. Actually it has been going on a for a while now. It's this idea of jumping into the air and knocking bodies with a teammate, usually to celebrate a victory, but sometimes, like in the case of the NBA, to acknowledge one another during player introductions. It actually started as a chest bump without leaving one's feet, which led to the aerial chest bump and it gradually morphed into this current version, where the idea is simply to get airborne and whatever part of the body hits, hits. It's actually one of the most ridiculous things out there if you ask me. The ritual smacks of a kind of too-cool-for-school arrogance, though it seems every team has its share of players who practice it and put it on display at a moment's notice. But here's my wish: that one of these days, one of these idiots lands awkwardly on an ankle or a leg and suffers a severe sprain or perhaps blows out a knee and has to sit out the season. Mark my words, it's gonna happen. May not be for a long time, but it's gonna happen. Just remember where you read this first. Sorry about the rant but this has bothered me for quite a while. I always remember Bill Gramatica, an NFL kicker, who leaped into the air to celebrate a field goal and when he landed tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. By the way, the field goal came in the first quarter and gave his team, the Arizona Cardinals, a 3-0 lead. Outstanding. That's a picture of Bill below clutching his knee after his fateful leap.


Here's some more shots of these douchebags and their rituals:


Not sure what part of the body is touching here:


See, it's not limited to baseball, football and basketball:


And then there's this, which I can't even put into words: