Marshall's Moronic Touchdown Tribute to President-Elect Obama Foiled By Teammates

By Cleveland native Vince Grzegorek, who you can usually find at FirstCuts.



Brandon Marshall saw how badly Kellen Winslow wanted to lose the game last night, and decided he wanted to get in on the action. That's the only explanation for what Marshall did in the fourth quarter of Thursday night's showdown of defensive ineptitude by Lake Erie. He's not bright, or flat out selfish, or a combustible mixture of the two.

A recap is in order for the full effect.

With the Broncos trailing 23-10 midway through the third quarter, the Browns defense, intent on not simply duplicating their disastrous and complete second half meltdown from the previous week's game against the Baltimore Ravens, were allowing huge chunks of yardage at a time, including a 93-yard bomb. Cornerback Brandon McDonald was victimized on a couple of big plays. With no running game, Jay Cutler was still able to lead the offense -- which consisted of him and 10 garbagemen who happened to have the night off -- to a second half comeback and a grand total of 447 passing yards, pulling within a 27-30 deficit with under two minutes to go.

With 1:14 left in the game, Marshall catches the go-ahead touchdown pass over McDonald to put the Broncos up 33-30 with the extra point to follow.

Now stop. What would you do if you were a sane man?

Consider what was waiting on the other sideline: Brady Quinn, making his first pro start, playing admirably -- that is, when Kellen Winslow was not committing offensive pass interference to negate first downs, fumbling the ball on key third down catches, or simply soldiering around aimlessly. Also, Joshua Cribbs, who last week had 237 yards on kickoff returns, including one he took to the house, and who already had over 100 return yards for the game, running one earlier kick back to the 50 and another near the 40.

With the extra point your team will be up 34-30, meaning the Browns will need a touchdown in less than 1:14 to pull off the win.

You simply run back to the sidelines and wait to celebrate, right? You don't want to take any chance that a zebra pulls a flag for excessive celebration, moving the kickoff back 15 yards and setting up Cribbs for a better net runback and Quinn with a shorter field, right? Not if you're Brandon Marshall.

If you're Marshall, you reach into your pants or crotch or waistband and attempt pull out something that we’d later learn is a prop for a touchdown celebration. You know, as in "automatic 15 yard penalty for using props" prop. Of course that's what you would do.

Brandon Stokley wasn't going to wait to find out what said prop was, as he, and eventually a couple of other more intelligent Broncos, ran over to quell Marshall's planned celebration before he could get into full effect and draw the ire of the ref.

So, they don’t get the penalty for excessive celebration, kick off from the normal spot, and the Browns would-be game-winning drive stalls out when – you guessed it – Winslow has a fourth and short pass go right threw his hands.

Oh, and the prop that Marshall had in mind? It was a tribute to Obama:

Marshall said he had a glove in his pants - half white and half black. Marshall, a big supporter of President-elect Barack Obama - said he drew inspiration from 1968 U.S. Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who raised a black glove on the medal stand.

"I wanted to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me, our multi-cultured society," said Marshall, who read from the message he had typed out on his phone earlier in the day.

"And I know at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised that black glove in that fist as a silent gesture of black power and liberation. Forty years later, I wanted to make my own statement. I wanted to make my own statement and gesture to represent the progress we made."

Good intentions, I guess, but wrong place, (horribly) wrong time. Though I kind of wish no one would have stopped him not just because it would have given my Brownies a better chance.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.