David Wilson: Listen to your Teammates

When I first read the story about Justin Tuck and several other members of the New York Giants suggested that David Wilson stop doing flips in the endzone after he scores, I had three thoughts in the span of as many seconds:

1. Why the hell am I reading a story about the New York Giants and giving it even a second of thought?
2. It sounds a little to me like they are overreacting.  The dude is excited and he just wants to celebrate.  If I could backflip on command, even without football pads, I would probably start backflipping to work.  Need a drink of water? Backflip to the water cooler. Need to use the bathroom? Backflip over stall door for my privacy. What sensible person wouldn't backflip if they could?
3. On second thought, you, David Wilson, are a professional athlete. You have been gifted an opportunity that so many of us grew up dreaming about (for the record, I still haven't given up on my quest to make the NBA). You make millions of dollars. The most important aspect of your job is to take care of your body.  And doing backflips will certainly not help you accomplish that in the long term.

I turn your attention to Exhibit "A" where you will find some of the dangers of backflipping:

• Cute girl fails on a backflip
• Lots of people try to backflip: all fail
• Man helps another man fail backflip

If you need a heavier does of Schadenfreude, I suggest just looking up in YouTube: backflip fail. 

Now, I understand that suggesting that the people in those videos possess the same level of athleticism as David Wilson is preposterous at best. But that is not what I am trying to do. The point is that accidents can happen. And the last thing that the guy who just set the record for all-purpose yards for the Giants needs to do is tear an ACL because he was celebrating like a hamster stuck in a wheel. 

There are plenty of other celebrations that athletes have coined and does not have the potential for a catastrophic injury: Gronk's spike, the Moss Moon, the Moss Autograph, Joe Horn's Phone Call, and even your teammate Victor Cruz's Salsa.  Celebration every football fan knows and associates with that individual.

He is just a rookie and on top of the world right now after that performance.  He's been one of the biggest surprises of the year and he just wants his time in the spotlight. But I suspect that his teammates will take him aside and tell him that that spotlight gets awfully dark and fast when you injure yourself acting like a jackass. 

And while I would love nothing more than watching a New York fan base suffer, not even I can hope that he hurts himself this way. He has to start using his head a little bit here. This Giants team needs a balanced attack to create opportunities for Eli Manning and Victor Cruz to find each other in the endzone.  Wilson certainly can't help in that endeavor if he is crutching up and down the sidelines. 

But, hey, a backflip on crutches: now THAT would be impressive. 

Bonus: I leave you with this video of a football player who got a tiny bit too excited...and this was over a field goal. I knew the Gramatica brothers were good for something: Bill Gramatica FAIL