Say hello to the new era of touchdown celebrations.

A couple of days ago, NFL officials agreed to relax the rules against celebrations and made a few adjustments to lower the risk of injuries in the high-contact sport.

After Jimmy Graham bent the goal post in the Georgia Dome, slam dunking a football in celebration of his 11th touchdown of the 2013 season, a shockwave went through the league, banning celebrations of any kind.

The notion to restrict players from celebrating a touchdown struck a cord

with me that did not stop ringing until yesterday when the NFL announced they would be more lenient toward post-touchdown celebrations.

Finally.

We can get back to the era of the great celebrations of Chad Johnson and Steve Smith on the gridiron where bizarre dances are accompanied by fun and exciting moments in football.

Don’t get me wrong, the NFL will still crack down on celebrations aimed to taunt a certain individual or group, but the tolerance the NFL is now demonstrating makes the sport’s future bright.

Recently, it seemed as if the rules were getting tighter and tighter, restricting nearly every move the players tried to make, putting unnecessary stresses on the already stressful nature of being a referee.

No longer will running backs have to shake hands after bursting into the end zone after an 80-yard scramble.

The era of the castigation of celebrations is over and I personally could not be happier.

The NFL made another positive move to protect players from severe injuries.

The league agreed to cut five minutes off of overtime to limit the player’s susceptibility to life-altering injuries such as concussions.

This means that overtime will change from 15 minutes to 10. Some may say this is an “un-American” way of fixing this problem because American sports don’t end in ties.

But in my opinion, this will not have any impact on the game and lead to more ties.

In the words of the great Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka, “If you are determined enough and willing to pay the price, you can get it done.”