When I see stuff like this, I'm embarrassed for my profession



When I see stuff like this, I'm embarrassed for my profession

Tom Brady and Bob Kraft share a not so intimate moment after the big game. (Courtesy photo)

The championship celebrations immediately following the final seconds of play or the final out are among the most unforgettable we as sports fans remember.

Who can forget the 2004 Red Sox win against the Cardinals when closer Keith Foulke and catcher Jason Varitek met near the mound.

Who can forget the euphoria of the 2008 Celtics as they trounced LA in Game 4 at the Fleet Center.

Or when Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and the Patriots' defense brought New England their sixth Super Bowl championship and Lombardi trophy on Sunday.

These Patriot players had fought through an entire season of naysayers, doubting Thomases and Chicken Littles who pronounced the demise of New England, it seems, prematurely.

As Mark Twain once quipped after there had been a rumor of his death floated and even an obit printed, "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." So it was with the Pats.

But the NFL, whose near demise was also predicted after recent flaps over players kneeling during the National Anthem, came back in fine form this year, with increased TV audience and revenue.

But what I found infuriating in both the Kansas City AFC title game and Sunday's Super Bowl was the mob of photogs and reporters allowed on the field immediately following the game, even as players were trying to give each other hugs and congratulate each other after a long arduous season that had its share of adversity.

To see a full frame of Tom Brady hugging owner Bob Kraft while surrounded by 20 or so photogs and TV cams sticking their lens into what should be an intimate and iconic moment is no less than revolting.

At the Super Bowl multiple security folks were often seen jostling with scribes and photogs who were pressing in on the game stars as they sought to get that perfect shot their photo editors or producers would praise them for or to put in their photo resume book.

But when you have 53 players trying to congratulate each other and remember this special moment competing with hundreds of national, local and regional news and sports outlets, sports magazine and other celebs on the field, it makes for an unsavory sight where their victory celebration is sullied by an obnoxious horde of media.

If no one was injured in Sunday's after-game scrum I'd be surprised.

The NFL has got to clean up this mess. Allow fewer pool photogs on the field or give the teams 10 minutes to trot about, raise the Lombardi trophy and connect with the fans, much like they do with the World Cup.

The celebration format at Sunday's Super Bowl was a disgrace and a mockery we should never have to see again.

Let's hope they keep the press off the duck boats today.