I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

I know absolutely nothing about football, but even though I know nothing about the game,

I was delighted by a video that my sister Elizabeth sent me of Jalen Waddle, a football-wide

receiver for the Miami Dolphins.

First I'll explain that in football there's a tradition of the touchdown celebration,

which is some kind of action or dance that a player does after making a touchdown.

The players can't push celebration too far because excessive celebration and taunting

are both offenses in the NFL because they can delay the game, orp the goalpost out

of place, and so on.

Given those restrictions, the player Jalen Waddle has found a great way to put his own

stamp on the touchdown celebration.

With Jalen Waddle, it's striking that his last name is Waddle because while the word

Waddle conjures up associations of clumsy movements and swaying short steps, he of course

is a professional athlete with superb physical skill.

In the video my sister sent, we see Jalen Waddle make a touchdown.

To celebrate, he puts his arms down straight at his sides, sticks his hands out flat, and

rocks side to side as he takes short steps forward.

It is such a great evocation of a duck or penguin waddling, and then a teammate runs up

to him in great excitement and he waddles too.

It's so funny and even sweet to see these big athletes doing this funny little motion.

In another video, we see fans doing it too.

It makes me happy to see these professional athletes doing this waddle.

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