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Celebrating with a fist pump makes sports fun

Former Yankees reliever and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Goose Gossage criticized Joba Chamberlain's enthusiastic fist pumps, saying: "There's no place for it in the game." (Newsday / Kathy Kmonicek / May 8, 2008)

Barbara Barker

1:56 PM EDT, May 9, 2008

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I once worked with the Joba Chamberlain of journalism, a guy named Hans Tesselaar who would leap to his feet and throw a fist pump for everything from a Southern Cal water polo victory to the fact that the cafeteria was serving his favorite vegetable soup.

Was it annoying? Sure. But it was also part of his charm, part of the emotional makeup that made this guy the great headline writer that he was.

Anyway, that's sort of how I feel when I see Joba Chamberlain celebrating after striking out David Dellucci Wednesday. No, this was not the final out in the World Series. But Chamberlain is a very emotional player, and it's that Joie de vivre that makes him the pitcher and player that he is.

Dellucci, however, was clearly not amused by the way Chamberlain pumped his arm three times and danced off the mound.

Barbara Barker E-mail | Recent columns

"That's what gets him going and that's what everybody likes to see, but if a hitter was to do something like that they would probably say it was bush (league) and you shouldn't do it," Dellucci said. "It's kind of funny how a pitcher can get away with it."

Dellucci is wrong. It's not only pitchers who have their strange little celebratory rituals. Manny Ramirez admires his home runs from home plate for a good 10 seconds. Sammy Sosa was famous for his hop, skip and jump after belting one out of the park.

Celebrating is one of the things that makes sports fun to watch. While it's impossible to determine who threw the first fist pump - could it have been Moses after parting the Red Sea? - there have been many famous celebrators over the years.

Here are my five favorite fist pumps/fist pumpers. I'd love to hear yours.

Kirk Gibson: Is there anything cooler than the way Gibson limped and fist-pumped his way around the bases after hitting a home run for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Gibson had kids imitating his fist pump for more than a decade.

Tiger Woods: What would golf be today without Tiger fist-pumping almost weekly on the 18th green? The current king of the fist pump has raised it to new heights of popularity, causing even the country club set to spill more than a few gin and tonics as they mimic his signature move.

Dave DeBusschere: Gets the award for best fist pump while wearing a suit. In 1985, DeBusschere, then the Knicks general manager, rose and gave a double fist pump on national television after it was announced his team would get the No. 1 pick in the Patrick Ewing draft.

Brandi Chastain: OK, it's her sports bra more than her double fist pump that people remember, but Chastain technically pumped her fist twice while taking off her shirt and falling to her knees after kicking the winning goal in the 1999 women's World Cup.

Wayne Gretzky: Gretzky was fist-pumping nightly on the television while Tiger Woods was still in diapers. What made the Great One's fist pumps so great, so memorable, was his delivery: The looked like a rock and roll move, like he was playing an electric guitar.