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WORLD CUP USA ’94 ROUND OF 16 : Spotlight : IS THERE FIRE HYDRANT IN THE END ZONE?

By BILL PLASCHKE
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Two weeks remain in the World Cup, but the award for the strangest post-goal celebration has been clinched by Nigeria’s Finidi George.

After scoring the first goal in Nigeria’s final first-round victory over Greece, George ran into the corner of the end zone, fell to the ground on all fours and began barking.

After his teammates surrounded him, he lifted his right leg.

“It was just a dance of happiness. We do those dances all the time,” teammate Sunday Oliseh said. “The dance that Finidi did, in Nigeria, we do that at parties.”

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Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

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