Taunting contributes to violence between teams and should be banned.

The objective should be the best behavior, not descending to the worst.  There should be zero tolerance to taunting.

Bud Selig: worst commissioner of all time in any sport? Friday, September 27, 2013

Vigilantism is alive and well under Selig.  The NFL commissioner takes strong action against vigilantism and other unfair acts of violence.  The NFL commissioner tried to protect the players from themselves and punishes bad conduct on the field, such as taunting.  Selig is oblivious.  The NFL has a drug policy but does not dwell on it.  Selig is obsessed with his.  We all assume that NFL players use performance enhancing drugs (PED).  Selig abetted by the simpleton media applies a different standard to home run hitters, who made lots of money for Selig and his fellow owners.
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I oppose both hot dogging and vigilante violence. Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The recent confrontation between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh precipitated by the Pittsburgh pitcher mouthing off unnecessarily resulted in dysfunctional commissioner Allan Huber "Bud" Selig suspending five players but not the one who initiated the brawl.

More and more I hear media types advocating for more hot dogging, particularly for Latin players, as if that is an integral part of their cultures.  Even if it is, they are playing in our culture where I'd like to delude myself that hot dogging is anathema...

Baseball players should behave properly:

Don't hot dog.

Don't dog it.

Don't show off.

Don't taunt.

The Major Baseball League (MBL) should enforce behavior rules.  Individual players should not try to impose violent vigilante justice for violations of unwritten protocols.

This stuff should finally be written down and not left to the imagination.  It's about time.
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Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Taunting. It's time for rules in baseball, too. Thursday, July 31, 2014

Preening jackasses is what I've called some National Football League (NFL) players for several seasons.  Among the three top professional team sports leagues in the USA, football probably has the worst behavior, both on and off the field.  Baseball has been the best with basketball's NBA (National Basketball Association) somewhere in between.  However, the Major Baseball League (MBL), as I like to call it, is fast descending, abetted by limited criticism and far too much encouragement and approval from the main stream media, which seems to be searching for relevance.

Ironically, it's the NFL that has explicit rules against taunting ...

About 28% of MBL players are from countries other than the USA.  Each has its own culture and protocols.  For decades USA players have played in Japan, where conduct is much more restrained than here.  Those USA players generally conformed to the Japanese code of conduct.  Unfortunately, the main stream media seems to think it's somehow enlightened for more unrestrained forms of conduct to be absorbed in the USA rather than those guest players conforming to the USA conduct.  This has exacerbated a general break down in basic forms of proper sportsmanlike conduct.

Taunting has become prevalent in the MBL and it's increasing.  One fundamental problem is that baseball has by far the most uneven relationship between opposing players: pitcher-batter.  The pitcher has the ball and as such has become the on field arbiter of behavior...

That imbalance is probably a big part of why batters now seek some small level of revenge by standing at home plate and posing after hitting a home run and trying to taunt the pitcher further by slowly trotting around the bases in the unique victory lap that a home run affords like nothing in football or basketball, where even a break away score can theoretically be thwarted.  The home run victory lap may not be interrupted, not even by the catcher Brian McCann.

The pitcher, of course, remembers this and drills a batter in retaliation sooner or later.  And on it goes.

I really like the enthusiasm that's prevalent in all three sports.  But I only like it in the context of sportsmanship and awareness of the sensibilities of opponents.  Rubbing it in is never good. 
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