Save the Gatorade

Over the past few weeks we've seen a ton of football playoff and bowl games being played.  While some games were nail biters and some were blowouts, what was common among nearly all of them was what happened in the final minute of the game.  Some poor coach trying to ensure that his team finishes the game strong and with class get an "unexpected" surprise...The Gatorade Shower.  I put unexpected in quotes because it's not really unexpected anymore at all.

The first time I remember seeing this traditional celebration take place was in a game in which Bill Parcells got soaked in the mid 80's.  It turns out that I may have in fact witnessed the first one of these in history.  There's some dispute over whether it started with the Bears in 1984 after they clinched the NFC central.  There's even a report that in 1990 coach George Allen died a month after receiving one, reportedly from complication from pneumonia.  I prefer the story involving Jim Burt, who after being upset with coach Bill Parcells, dumped a cooler filled with Gatorade and ice on his coach....mid season.

Regardless of when this tradition started, am I the only one who thinks it's time for it to end?  Win a bowl game or win a playoff game and the coach always takes "the bath".  Get original already!  Is that the only thing these guys can think of to help celebrate a victory?  We've seen guys get all kinds of creative when they score touchdowns.  In fact it's so bad now that if a guy makes a basic tackle he starts his audition for Dancing With the Stars.  We have 4 playoff games to look forward to this weekend and I doubt we'll see it this week, but without a doubt come next weekend some other poor coach will be indoctrinated into the sticky cold shower club.  I just hope some team surprises me and gets original already.