Is it unsportsmanlike/arrogant to throw your fist in the air after winning?

No it does not.

Showing joy because you win or pr have nothing to do with having an unrealistically high self-image.

I've seen lots of students clenching their fists and saying "yes!" when getting an A. Just joy. Happiness. They do it for themselfs, not arrogant @ssholes like you.

50 plus wrote:

It is a race, that is all. Win the race and move on. Same with Tiger Woods and his fist pumping or the idiots that just made a tackle and think they just solved world peace. Sports are awesome and I enjoy watching them, but can't stand the self-importance that people like you place on them.

You can't stand people showing happiness in a brief moment over something they just accomplished?

Do you prefer people to be emotionless robots?

As long as you aren't using EPO and doing push-ups before crossing the tape, I don't have a problem with a little celebration. I do a little "yes" fist clutch when I hit the crosswalk at the perfect moment. Winning is fun. Enjoy your moment in a natural way.

As someone who has been through this, let me tell you guys that you will get better with practice. It doesn't hurt to plan ahead too. I usually practice my victory fist pump in front of the mirror for a few minutes every night and have my wife do mock interviews with me. Although after you win a few of these things you realize they tend to ask the same questions anyways.

No, what I really don't like is raising a finger up as if you are No 1 in minor races. I've even seen people doing this in 2nd place in bigger races!

Question for 50 plus wrote:

50 plus wrote:

It is a race, that is all. Win the race and move on. Same with Tiger Woods and his fist pumping or the idiots that just made a tackle and think they just solved world peace. Sports are awesome and I enjoy watching them, but can't stand the self-importance that people like you place on them.

You can't stand people showing happiness in a brief moment over something they just accomplished?

Do you prefer people to be emotionless robots?

So that is the two choices, acting like an idiot or an emotionless robot? There is a happy medium.

Look, athletes can do what they want, I am just letting people know that a lot of spectators and fans are annoyed with the unnecessary celebration. It is definitely not just me. One poster even said she broke up with her boyfriend who did it. There is just something that you feel about a person that is that insecure that they feel it is necessary to do this. I have won 100's of races, both big and small and never came close to even thinking, wow, I am going to raise my arms or pump my fists. I have too much respect for my competitors to do that. We all work hard to achieve our goals and I am not any more special that the person who took last. Therefore I am not going to act special just because I happen to win. I don't act emotionless either. I smile, and congratulate my competitors for a job well done for all of us. Keep celebrating if you want and some of us will keep losing respect for those that do. It is pretty simple. Everyone has an opinion.

I know what pretentious means and I used it correctly.

You sound like one of those 'everyone is a winner' types. Sorry but not everyone is a winner. In a race, there is one winner. By acting like winning is no big deal you are actually demeaning your competition.

What is competition all about if there is no joy or satisfaction in winning?

Do you really think that no student has ever celebrated getting an A on a test? You are out of touch

personally, i think if you do it in the moment without thinking about it then it is fine. if it is genuine emotion and excitement then why hide it? i think there is definitely a grace period after the realization of what happened where some celebration is totally fine. now once it sort of occurs to you that you are celebrating...then it's probably time to get control of yourself and chill.

i have won a decent amount of races over the years (particularly in high school) and don't recall ever fist pumping or anything, but i do remember doing it when i was playing baseball when i was 15.

i hit my first homerun ever, a grandslam with 2 outs to tie up the game in the bottom of the last inning. i definitely did a little kirk gibson-esque celebration between first and second base. probably my most joyous sports moment ever. it was unplanned and genuine and not disrespectful at all in my opinion.

This debate will never go away. John Carlos and Tommie Smith threw their fist into the air after winning (1-2) in Mexico City '68. Ask them (be quick, Carlos is ill) if it is unsportmanlike/arrogant.

I won a few races in college including a conference 10k. We had good crowds at those meets, so when I won I always threw a hand up, more acknowledging and thanking the crowd than anything else. Nobody ever accused me of being cocky, and I don't know how it could be construed as cocky.

This was a good post and well thought out. I am certainly in the minority with my opinion about celebrating, at least here on letsrun.

I will say that even though you didn't plan your home run celebration and you were overcome with emotion and excitement, I guarantee you that the pitcher that gave up the home run and let his team down, felt even worse about it because of your celebration. You weren't intentionally showing him up, but you did. Major leaguers often get in fights over this kind of stuff.

I guess the bottom line for me is that I care more about my opponents than I do my own personal satisfaction and if that makes me an *sshole or pretentious as some have said on here, then I guess that is their opinion. Showing off and making others feel bad so you can feel better is never a good thing. And if some of you don't understand that the guy in second watching you celebrate doesn't feel worse because of it, then you are pretty clueless. Sportsmanship has gone so far away it isn't even funny and to me and many others, just a sad situation.

look what these kids did after their race win http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xdxqlPSnx8

Act like you've been there before.

Awarenesss wrote:

Today, I won my 1600m race by a good 30-40 meters. At the end, I threw my fist up (like throwing a baseball or football). Is this acceptable, or is it cocky and unsportsmanlike to others? Just want some opinions.

You are a distance runner, so when you make a gesture like throwing a baseball you most likely look like that guy on the VW commercial. More pathetic than cocky, keep doing it.

the only right answer wrote:

I know what pretentious means and I used it correctly.

You sound like one of those 'everyone is a winner' types. Sorry but not everyone is a winner. In a race, there is one winner. By acting like winning is no big deal you are actually demeaning your competition.

What is competition all about if there is no joy or satisfaction in winning?

Do you really think that no student has ever celebrated getting an A on a test? You are out of touch

It is difficult to respect someone's opinion whose handle is "the only right answer" and calls someone a prick because of their opinion. You definitely have issues and I am sure you were one of those that celebrated like crazy to make yourself feel important and the person you beat feel like crap. Congratulations.

As far as the everyone is a winner type, I am far from that and hate the sympathy clap for the last place finisher almost as much as I hate the cocky celebrating by the winner of the race.

Do you really think it is necessary to show boat in front of the crowd and your competitors to have joy and satisfaction in winning? I was very happy and satisfied when I won a race, but didn't feel the need to rub it in to my competition. It just looks bad to a lot of people, the kind of people that usually don't hang out on letsrun.

If you got promoted at work, would you start raising your arms and rubbing it in to your co-worker who is devastated that he lost out on the promotion. I guess you probably would. Good luck with that. People do have feelings and your feelings of superiority do not trump their feelings.

As far as someone getting the A on a test, I am sure there are kids excessively celebrating that as well. Do you also think it is acceptable to celebrate the A that you got, in front of your classmate who worked his butt off and got a C. It is the same thing, trying to build yourself up by making someone else feel worse.

How soon you guys forget:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5i_xNDhOaM

At ~5:00.

i would agree that it probably did make the pitcher feel worse. but i would stand by my statement that it wasn't disrespectful. like i said, it was my first homerun ever, i was totally shocked, and the fist-pump or whatever i did was just something that happened. i literally could not have stopped it. and once that brief moment passed and i sort of realized what was going on, i definitely stopped. i wasn't throwing my hands in the air all the way around the bases.

now when i was running in HS and most of the time either knew, or at least expected, to win, i never had that overwhelming sense of joy crossing the finish line. if i had pulled something out of my a** and beaten alan webb at the state meet or something, then who knows.

anyway i guess my point is, i kind of agree with you. if you are in a state of mind where you can think about your opponents' feelings, i wouldn't do it. but if it's just being caught up in the moment, there really isn't any stopping it and the best you can do is just not let it drag on past the point of good taste (a threshold that obviously people aren't going to agree on).

"Example; Grabbing your junk and yelling GOBBLE, GOBBLE MOTHER F*CKERS would be unsportsmanlike."

but it would be awesome.

woman here wrote:

Depends on the race. In my opinion, if it wasn't the Olympics or other major international race, then yes it is cocky and more than that, makes you look simply ridiculous and arrogant.

Actually I broke up with my boyfriend in high school because of this. He won states and fist-pumped and instantly became kind of unappealing and repulsive to me. To me it revealed something about his character that I hadn't known before. I really tried to get over it but I couldn't. Not a huge deal, just a high school relationship, but I definitely wasn't the only girl who felt that way. A few girls dug the cocky bravado thing but the majority didn't.

Just another anonymous perspective, in case you find it useful.

And I think you have your own head buried up your ass.

If you can't celebrate winning, then what is the point of even trying to win?