For some reason, football players are increasingly jumping into the stands immediately after a touchdown. Um, why? Is the fawning applause, spiking-the-ball rituals, dancing in the endzone or, in Tim Tebow's case, offering a post-score "benediction" no longer enough for these heroes in tights? Guess not. Now they need tactile gratification. Sure, leaping into a sea of loving arms after a score is harmless (I hope) and presumably fun for players and fans alike. And yes, it really is too late to ask these multimillion-dollar receivers (and their college imitators) to tone it down and behave with manly humility. That train (along with classic sportsmanship) left the station long ago. But the endless displays of self-centeredness on the NFL gridiron (or NBA court or MLB diamond) merely reflect a larger truism: "We are a society of self-pleasers," as one blogger aptly observed. Let's hope it's all just a temporary cultural phase through which we must pass on the road to societal maturity.
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