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By: Chris Corso, Staff Writer
Email: Corsoc@findlay.edu
When the clock hit 0 during the Oklahoma-Ohio State game on Saturday, Sept. 9th, it was the Sooners that came out on top with a score of 31-16. Overjoyed with the victory over a team that defeated them 45-24 a year ago, Senior Quarterback Baker Mayfield unraveled the Sooners flag, and planted it on the Ohio State logo at the 50-yard line.
This game, which was regarded as a huge one in order to determine playoff spots, made it an even more exciting victory. After the game, the media was quick to criticize Mayfield for his actions. Later on, Mayfield even apologized for what he did by saying:
“It was an emotional game, and so after the game, I did not mean for it to be disrespectful towards any Ohio State people at all, especially not the team or the players, because they’re a great team and a great program.”
The apology, while showing a level of maturity, was unnecessary. In sports, games are about winning. Winners get to celebrate while losers have to deal with their failures. Bill Johnson, a former NFL player, reiterates this claim.
“It’s a game you have to get excited about playing, and you have to thoroughly enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, then you’re in the wrong profession,” Johnson stated in the article “The Death of the NFL Touchdown Celebration” by Sean Tomlinson.
In my opinion, winners should get to celebrate while losers need to deal with their failures. Mayfield’s celebration was a sign of dominance and in a sense, payback for the beating and disrespect that the Ohio State team showed last year when they sang their fight song on Oklahoma’s field after their victory.
In this country today, too many people are worried about how other’s actions make people feel rather than what lessons and values those actions can actually teach and instill. Players will take multiple blows to their body during a game without saying a word yet lose their mind when a player plants a flag on their home field. This mindset is the real issue here.
When all is said and done, Mayfield’s actions were well earned, and should be a motivator for any other team that doesn’t want an opponent to come into their home turf and dominate them the way the Sooners did at Ohio State.
This type of action shouldn’t be criticized yet instead should be taken away as a lesson for everyone in this country, especially the youth who grow up idolizing and wanting to be like these players.
