For the record, the creator of the famed Mile-High Salute did not endorse what Brandon Marshall was about to do.
Terrell Davis, now a football fan like everybody else, had just watched his Broncos complete an improbable comeback against the Cleveland Browns last Thursday night. Jay Cutler threw a touchdown pass to Marshall with 1:14 remaining to give the Broncos a 34-30 lead.
Happy, excited, Marshall immediately grabbed a glove out of his pants. Whatever joy Davis felt for his former team abruptly turned to anguish. The NFL has rules against such theatrics. Davis wanted to jump through the TV.
“I know he was reaching into his pants for something and I was like, ‘Hold on, what are you about to do?’ ” Davis said from Los Angeles, where he is an analyst for the NFL Network. “Knowing you can’t use a prop, knowing you could get a 15-yard penalty. You can’t understand his rationale. I was able to understand after he explained what he was trying to do. But whatever celebration you had in mind, you don’t trump your team’s chance of winning the game by trying to prove some social issue. I was a little bewildered at what he was trying to do.”
It may comfort Davis and all of Broncoland to know that upon reflection, Marshall agrees. Marshall wanted to honor the election of African-American Barack Obama as president by putting on a black-and-white glove, which in his mind would symbolize the unity of a “multicultural society.”
Glove on, Marshall planned to then pose Tommie Smith-John Carlos style (except palm up) for the NFL Network cameras.
A well-meaning, if poorly timed gesture. Luckily for the Broncos, teammate Brandon Stokley was already aware of Marshall’s plan. Initially, Stokley was only approaching Marshall to give him a hug, but as he spotted the glove, “something clicked.” He told Marshall to put the glove away. The glove would have been considered a prop, an NFL no-no, and the team didn’t need to get backed up 15 yards on its ensuing kickoff.
Marshall has received substantial guff over the past week for what was perceived as placing individual attention ahead of team victory, but to his credit, he didn’t ignore Stokley. He obeyed. No penalty. Broncos win. And Marshall donated his famed glove Monday to auction at Cutler’s charity event, raising $1,000 for a good cause.
“I’m a team guy,” Marshall said Thursday. “Stokley’s definitely a vet. He was thinking clearer than me. I wasn’t paying attention to the situation. All I was thinking about was the fine.”
Elmo tickled at being pioneer
Please don’t blame it on Elmo. Football was a no-frills sport until Elmo Wright first performed his high-step, run-in-place act for the University of Houston in 1968 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 1973.
New York Giants receiver Homer Jones started spiking the ball after touchdowns in the 1960s, but Wright was the first to dance in the end zone, even if he admits it was more calisthenic.
A few years ago, Wright visited a friend who also was a professor at New York University and a football historian. The friend showed a film depicting various end-zone celebration scenes. There were players taking off their helmets, making crazy faces, running from one side of the end zone to the other. Players taunted opponents by holding the football back at their chasers.
“I said, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. I didn’t start that, did I?’ ” said Wright, who is retired in Houston. “I was trying to distance myself from the dance for a while after I saw that.”
Not anymore. Wright is mostly proud, if a bit perplexed, at his claim to fame. He set several NCAA receiving records at Houston, yet he will be forever remembered as the father of end-zone celebrations.
And until the millennium, almost all end-zone antics were in good taste. The Broncos attracted national attention in the late-1990s when their Super Bowl run was accented by the Mile-High Salute. The simple, military salute was concocted by Davis, the team’s star running back.
“The running backs as a group, we sort of adopted that mantra that we were soldiers,” Davis said. “Howard Griffith was the fullback who had to block all the time. I had to carry the ball 25 times a game and would get beat up. So what do soldiers do? They salute. We started saluting after every touchdown, and it caught on like wildfire.”
League clamps down
NFL end-zone celebrations became increasingly more elaborate to the point it became a contest within the contest. The league became concerned with players turning celebratory demonstrations into demeaning gestures. Terrell Owens, when he was playing with San Francisco, twice followed touchdowns against Dallas by racing out to midfield to take a bow at the Cowboys’ star.
The league decided to ban group dances. Players were prohibited from using props in end-zone skits, such as Sharpie markers (Owens), cellphones (Joe Horn), pylons (Chad Johnson) and even the football (Brandon Jacobs).
Most players believe the league has become too strict. The No Fun League, as it’s sometimes called.
“I like touchdown celebrations,” Broncos veteran safety Marlon McCree said. “I think they ought to be allowed more than they are. I think it’s exciting and fun for the game. As long as it’s not done in an unsportsmanlike manner, like pointing at a guy’s face or doing some obscene gesture with the ball. If you’re just doing the Ickey Woods Shuffle, I think it’s all good fun. I think it sells tickets. It’s entertainment. Fans like to see entertainment. That’s why the WWF does so well.”
Even Marshall’s aborted demonstration, while mostly panned, had at least one supporter. It was Khalid Adamopoulos, a 17-year-old junior at Mullen High School, who placed the winning bid on Marshall’s glove.
“I think the glove has a lot of significance,” Adamopoulos said. “It represents that blacks can do anything. It symbolizes unity. I wanted the glove, for sure.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
