The Hingle McCringleberry Rule is all the rage in the NFL after touchdowns, and even the referees are unsure of how many pelvic thrusts are OK before a penalty flag is thrown.
The celebration is a homage to the classic “Key & Peele” skit, where “Penn State rookie Hingle McCringleberry” celebrates touchdowns by thrusting his pelvis forward one, two and then three times. The joke is that two pumps are OK, but three will draw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. The skit mocks the NFL’s often-arcane rules that can seem arbitrary or plain silly.
For years, NFL players have done their own versions, sometimes drawing a fine and other times deliberately stopping short. The “rule” came back into effect in Week 9 when Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle was penalized and later fined $14,491 for doing the McCringleberry. But Dowdle only did two thrusts, which would be OK with the “Key & Peele” rules but apparently not the NFL. As ESPN explains:
“Crucially, McCringleberry had a flag thrown after three thrusts. Dowdle limited himself to two, but as Keegan-Michael Key himself pointed out during a recent video call with the Panthers, the NFL’s rules are not the same as in the sketch. Key and his wife, Elle, also donated $15,000 to Dowdle’s charity GoFundMe that the running back set up after the fine, with money going to the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina.”
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““We go over stuff like this every week in the meeting room, and I definitely think you’re supposed to get two pumps,” a joking Dowdle told reporters.
This led players on Sunday to stop at one thrust or none, which is what Dowdle did after his touchdown against Carolina.
The “controversy” is such that even the officials seem to be winging it, as this video from last week shows (hat tip to Rodger Sherman’s terrific NFL Substack). DeMarcus Lawrence of the Seattle Seahawks, along with another player, asks an official if two pumps are OK and then they get into the minutiae of a pelvic thrust versus a pelvic sway.
“What about bringing it around town?” Lawrence asks as he sways his hips.
“Well … as long as you don’t give me that motion, I’m OK with it” the line judge says as he mimics a thrust.
The best part of all this? Dowdle set up a GoFund Me to raise money for Children’s Home Society of North Carolina and has already raised $44,000, or $22,000 per pump, which makes it all worth it.
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