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The NFL should be embracing celebrations like Chad Johnson's, not stamping them out, MSNBC.com contributor Michael Ventre writes.

Yet the league is quick with the excessive celebration penalty. It can’t stand the notion that one of its employees might be enjoying himself.

The same holds true for the NBA, albeit to a lesser extent. Referees are quick with a whistle if they think a player is deriving too much satisfaction out of a positive turn of events. Dunks can be spectacular and contain a high degree of entertainment value, but if a player gestures or acts out too much he’s usually hit with a technical. It’s as if commissioners Roger Goodell and David Stern have lunch together on the topic regularly and exchange notes.

The issue of suppressed individuality is less acute in basketball, because the players are in jerseys and shorts, and there is more opportunity for players to get exposure to the cameras and there is more intimacy between the court and the stands.

Yet the NBA takes the same basic stance as the NFL: Players are secondary.

That would be terrific if the games themselves were of primary importance. But it’s more about polishing an image than it is about protecting the integrity of the sports themselves.

And that’s an exercise in idiocy right there. The NFL has a conga line of criminals going through the media recently, so much so that the players themselves are proposing a “three strikes and you’re out” policy. The NBA has also experienced a crime wave, usually involving handguns and nightclubs.

The leagues should make a concerted effort to keep their players from running afoul of the law, and punishing those that do. But they should also lighten up on the idiots who celebrate.

Fans need the enjoyment provided by the latter to compensate for the outrages created by the former.