THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
Update: Brent Celek told the Eagles' Web site his wife's job had a role in him posing like Captain Morgan Sunday.
"My wife works for 'em so I just did a little something for her," he said of the pose.
Thanks to Twitter follower babyfacejp for alerting me to the clip.
Update 2: Celek has apologized to the NFL and the Eagles.
Original post:
When the Eagles were whistled for a 15-yard penalty Sunday night following Brent Celek's touchdown, many in our live chat asked what exactly the tight end's celebration was.
Celek struck a pose, and Jason Avant tried to help him, resulting in a flag.
Well, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports has provided some answers in an article today.
With his hand on his hip and his right leg lifted, Celek was imitating the Captain Morgan's pirate.
But why?
It turns out Captain Morgan's was prepared to contribute $10,000 to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund (an organization designed to help retired players) each time a player struck the pose on camera. During the playoffs, it would be $25,000. And in the Super Bowl, $100,000.
Per Robinson, the campaign was set to be unveiled next week, but Celek apparently jumped the gun.
The Eagles' tight end won't be fined, but the league has killed the campaign, before it really got started.
“A company can’t pay a player to somehow promote it’s product on the field,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Yahoo! Sports. “Every league has the same rule. … It’s come up before, companies trying to use our games and then players for ambush marketing purposes.”
A league source told Robinson that if anyone tries to strike the pose in the future, he'll be subject to a "significant penalty."
So now we know what Celek was doing.
Never a dull moment with your 2009 Philadelphia Eagles.
To read our earlier post on the Eagles' blitz schemes, click here.
