The Post reports that the NFL has called 35 taunting calls in 136 games leaguewide through Week 9; they called 5 through nominally the same number of games last year, and 8, 20, and 13 in previous seasons, respectively.
Your second paragraph makes out of whole cloth a standard in the rule that doesn’t exist. Section 3, Article 1(c) states that a player will be called for Unsportsmanlike Conduct he “[commits] baiting or taunting acts or words that engender ill will between teams.” Your implied requirement that such an act be committed “in the face” of another player simply doesn’t exist anywhere in the rulebook. You said you have watched an embarrassingly high number of games this year, so it’s not clear why you assigned me to research the subject (a task which doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose considering the language of the rule).
Holy shit. What in the everlasting fuck are you talking about? "makes out of whole cloth a standard"? Huh?
Let's take a step back here: My "no it isn't" was a response to your contention that (and I quote) "It’s a ridiculous rule, but it is a rule
and that’s how they’ve been enforcing it." (emphasis on bolded)
You quoting the rule has literally nothing to do with the bolded point. As I said (again, I quote) " Literally every other
invocation I've seen of it this year involves "in your face" type close proximity stuff, with a heavy verbal/shouting element. " Again, this has nothing to do with the actual verbage of the rule, but the established standard (thus far) of invoking it.
As of this moment, I stand by that assessment. That said, I haven't seen every call in every game, so if you had seen events counter to my assessment (other than the one in the Steelers/Bears game), I would have been happy to change my mind. Sorry that asking you to come up with supporting evidence to your contention that "
that’s how they’ve been enforcing it" (emphasis on bolded) constituted "assigning you to research the subject."
Good grief, man.