Tom Brady was sacked 5 times in the Jets eventual 28-21 victory that showcased their out of this world defense and the continuing rise of Mark Sanchez. With that victory, the Jets have reached their 2nd straight AFC Championship Game. Patriots players complained after that game that the Jets were excessively celebrating their victory by taunting the fans attending the game. So what? The Jets spent an entire week talking non-stop about they were going to win and you know what? They ended up winning in spectacular fashion.
Which brings us to the topic at hand. When is taunting ever OK? The short answer is "never," but the long answer is simply "when you are 100% sure that you will not only win, but dominate." During one of the NBA All-Star Weekend events way back in the 80s, Larry Bird was participating in the 3-point contest. Before the players hit the floor, Bird arrived in the locker room and said that he was scoping out who would be getting 2nd place. Of course, Bird ended up winning the contest by a gigantic margin. Many feel taunting is simply cheap and petty, but the simple truth is that when a team or player is thought of having no chance to win it usually only fuels their intensity and desire to win. Such was the case with the Jets, many predicting an easy victory for the Patriots.
Another case lately has been Tim Tebow, a 3rd string quarterback for the Denver Broncos whose entire career has been made up of people doubting him. Tebow was viewed as someone who was simply charismatic and not much else in college, relying on his running ability to win games rather than his throwing ability. While there was no question that his team was good and that Tebow was a great college quarterback, most people felt that his lack of ability to throw the football would lead him to being permanently relegated to 3rd string quarterback or practice squad if he were to go to the NFL as a quarterback. Most experts believed that Tebow would (and could) be one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the NFL, but his own ego and agents led him to enter that draft as a quarterback who can't throw. Tebow was eventually drafted by the Broncos in the 1st round, seen universally as a waste of a draft pick they more than likely could have used in the 2nd or 3rd round.
Making matters worse for all the Tebow hype (mostly made by ESPN and the NCAA itself) was Tebow's jersey became the fastest selling rookie jersey ever, even before he took a single snap in practice. Tebow got an opportunity to play in regular season games once it became clear the Broncos were completely out of the playoff race. Tebow scored lots of touchdowns, but nearly all of them were rushing touchdowns or short passes. All Tebow really did was prove that he could not pass the ball and relied on trying to be Ben Roethlisberger without the passing ability. Recently, Tebow made a commercial in which he spouts the numerous people doubting his ability to play, saying that it is what fuels him to play better. This would be a great commercial, except no one ever doubted he was a good football player in college, only that as a quarterback he would never find success unless he learned how to throw a pass - which he has yet to do.
Taunting by sore losers is also unacceptable, such as the case was by Doc Rivers after losing to the Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals. Rivers made the idiotic statement that the Lakers had yet to beat their starting lineup in a 7 game series, because Kendrick Perkins received an injury during the Finals. The problem with that statement is that the Celtics also had never beaten the Lakers main starting lineup in a 7 game series. The primary reason the Lakers lost to the Celtics in the 2008 Finals was because both Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum were out with season ending injuries. It's pigheaded statements like that that really irk people because of how hypocritical they are.
The moral of the story is: If you're going to taunt, make sure you're going to annihilate the competition.
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