Today, showboating has become a popular pastime of athletes but a pet peeve of fans. Showboating is detrimental to an athlete's image, especially if fans believe that it's negatively affecting the athlete's performance. Look at Deion Sanders - his reputation as a showboater makes him the most frequently mentioned athlete in articles on the subject.
What is showboating?
- Un-sportsmanlike taunting or celebration.
- Excessive revelry, taunting, and gloating.
- Spiking the ball.
- Dancing in the end zone.
- Showing off unnecessarily.
In what sports is it a problem? All of them: from basketball, where it takes the form of head-butting and chest-thumping; to baseball, where hitters use it to unnerve pitchers. In a few sports, like boxing and professional wrestling, the audience expects it, but in most sports, it's an annoyance. Players often miss opportunities to score because showboating interferes with performance and sportsmanship.
Sports writers, commentators, and fans repeatedly stress that the main objective is to win games, not showboat. In countless articles, sports writers praise serious players for not showboating. One example: basketball legend-in-the-making Alan Iverson, who's recently been praised for his new, mature style of playing and his reluctance to showboat.
The overall mood among sports fans is this: sports shouldn't be about conceited millionaires jeering and showing off, it should be about modesty, skill, and performance. Athletes who don't showboat on the court or get into trouble off it are valuable commodities in the eyes of the public.