In case you haven’t caught on…
The New Orleans Saints Wide Receiver, anomaly, Michael Thomas, makes plays! As a matter of fact, he makes so many plays that he decided to spend an elaborate amount of time this past weekend preparing for a special touchdown celebration in the Saints premier in-season match up against the L.A. Rams. During this amazing game between NFC heavyweights, Thomas scored on a 72 yd pass reception that put the Saints up 45 – 35 with 4:00 minutes left in the 4th Quarter. Upon reaching the end zone, Thomas sprinted over to the goal post and lifted up the goal post padding, where a pre-planted cell phone was idly waiting for the superstar wide out. Thomas went on to take out the phone and mimic making a call to reference the house call he just completed on the undefeated L.A. Rams defense. The New Orleans Saints crowd went crazy. Wow!
This capped off a record setting day in which Michael Thomas had 12 catches for a franchise record 211 yds. However, this was not the first time this exact end zone celebration was acted out. Back in 2003, former Saints Wide Receiver, Joe Horn, was the originator of the cell phone touchdown stunt. Michael Thomas made sure to pay homage to the aforementioned Horn. When asked about the move after the game by reporters, he stated, “I think Joe Horn left that cell phone under the goal post pad for me.”
Of course, once the referees caught onto Mr. Thomas’s touchdown antics, they quickly awarded the Saints with a 15 yd penalty on the ensuing kickoff. Head Coach, Sean Payton, seemed less than pleased on the sideline with the penalty and the stunt. You can probably see why the Saints Head Coach was a little ticked off considering the game was still in the balance, with the Saints holding a slim 10-point lead and plenty of time for the Rams explosive offense to come back. A Super Bowl Champion Head Coach never trusts that a game is won until a game is won! Luckily for Thomas, the Rams never scored again.
But it brings us to the question…
Was Thomas’s TD celebration “Pure Genius,” or “Pure Bonehead?”
There’s a certain level of confidence, vision, faith and attraction, that inspires a young man to go into a store hours before a game to purchase two cell phones (one for each end zone), with the expectation of scoring a touchdown before the game even kicks off.
That’s a Playmakers Mindset!
But what about the potential consequence? Let’s say the Rams take two plays to get into the end zone after the 15 yd celebration penalty, and turn the Saints lead into a 3 point lead with 2 minutes to play, while also recovering the onside kick?
Would Thomas still feel as if his TD celebration was as timely and entertaining? Who knows? Luckily for him the game never got to that point.
He could have easily been looked at as the “Bonehead of the Football Season,” if the L.A. Rams would have found a way to take the game to overtime and steal it from New Orleans. Thus far, Thomas has been applauded as one of the more subdued young NFL stars who is indeed ready to become a household name. It was continuously re-iterated from both TV analysts during the countless replays of Thomas’s TD celebration how uncharacteristic the celebration was for Thomas.
Makes you wonder. Is the fame starting to get to this newly unwrapped Pro Bowler? Is Michael Thomas destined to become the next “Me First,” NFL Superstar? Once again, who knows, only time will tell.
However, the Michael Thomas TD celebration truly illustrates a great lesson for young athletes. With obsession, confidence, faith and visualization, you can attract any outcome you want.
Even a Touchdown celebration!
But in that same breath, if you don’t think things through from A to Z, something you thought was the “Right Move,” while your day dreaming at the crib, may end up making you look like the “Bone Head of the Football Season,” at the end of the day.
So, Master your thoughts. Thoroughly think things through. There is truly Genius within all of you!
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