No Fun League? NFL Draws Ire For Banning Celebration Dunks

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Atlanta Falcons' Tony Gonzalez dunks the ball over the goal post after scoring during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the New York Jets on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009, in East Rutherford, N.J.

Image: Seth Wenig/Associated Press

By Connor Finnegan2014-03-25 22:02:34 UTC

The NFL on Tuesday added more fodder for the "No Fun League" jokes that have plagued it for years.

In its continued effort to turn touchdowns into more somber and less celebratory affairs, the NFL will begin penalizing players who dunk the football over the field-goal crossbar to celebrate touchdowns this season.

The league's head of officials Dean Blandino broke the news to radio host Dan Patrick on Tuesday.

The NFL points out that this is not a new rule, necessarily, because using the football as a celebration prop has technically been a penalty since 2006. Yet the rule has never been applied to post-touchdown dunking (perhaps because dunking is awesome). The practice became a hit with fans and players alike over the past few seasons.

New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham is one of the players credited with popularizing the bit of sports cross-pollination. Here he is in action, via sports-GIF master C.J. Fogler:

Graham Dunk

While recent rule changes designed to increase player safety in the game of football make logical sense, changes like this one are harder for fans and media to understand. Aside from one time when Graham caused a game delay by bending a goal post with an emphatic dunk, it's hard to frame the act as a threat to the quality or pace of play on the field.

Indeed, the NFL's decision instantly proved to be an unpopular one on Twitter, as #NoFunLeague — a snarky edit of the league's acronym — quickly became a worldwide trending topic.

Recent NFL retiree and dunker extraordinaire Tony Gonzalez was baffled by the decision.

Bleacher Report's Michael Felder suggested a different new rule.

And CBS's Armen Keteyian added some much-needed context to the decision.

As for Graham, this was his response.

Farewell, beautiful endzone dunk. We hardly knew ye.