If you've ever wondered why people call the NFL the "No Fun League," wonder no more.
Nate Burleson, who celebrated his first touchdown as a Lion last Sunday by punting the ball into the stands, was hit with a $15,000 fine by the NFL in part for his celebration. Part of the fine also came from Burleson lifting up his jersey during the pregame introductions to reveal a shirt that said "What up Doe?" on it. The shirt was simply a nod to Detroit, but the NFL didn't care and fined him three times more than what the Lions fined Louis Delmas for flipping someone off during the Vikings game.
Burleson received a 15-yard penalty during the game for his celebration and made sure to dish out some apologies afterward for what was his Detroit "coming-out party."
"It was spontaneous; I didn't plan it," he said. "I was very apologetic afterward. I ran over to the head coach, to the offensive coordinator, to the special teams coach and to the special teams guys apologizing for putting them in that position."
Jim Schwartz didn't really have a big problem with the celebration. He realizes that this was Burleson's first chance to play in a few weeks and his excitement simply got the best of him. You could see Schwartz smiling on the sideline after it happened, and I'm sure he was smiling just as much after Alphonso Smith did the Carlton following his touchdown.
Unlike Burleson's bout of spontaneity, Smith actually had his celebration planned since the eighth grade.
"When I was in eighth grade," Smith said, "I told my friends that if I ever scored in the NFL I was going to do the Carlton Banks dance. I was thinking about doing the Deion (Sanders) but I'm not tall enough to do Deion. Me and Carlton Banks — his name (the actor) is Alfonso, my name is Alphonso — I thought I'd give him a shout-out."
I'd be surprised if we see a better celebration this season than Smith's Carlton dance. Not only was it entertaining, but there was no penalty and no fine for it, although it's probably only a matter of time until the No Fun League makes the Carlton illegal too.