TD celebration cleverness thrives in relaxed NFL

EDEN PRAIRIE, MINN. » The idea for one of the most clever touchdown celebrations of the season was hatched in Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph’s mind right before the pass play was called that night.

“‘If we score here,”’ he told his teammates in the huddle, “‘whoever scores, you get to be the ducker, and everybody else sit.”’

Fittingly enough, Rudolph found himself open seconds later for a 13-yard touchdown. Then a wave of purple rushed toward him in the end zone.

Like grade-schoolers on the playgrounds where they first learned the game, the Vikings dutifully plopped down crosslegged in the grass. Rudolph patted them on the helmet as he jogged around the circle for a nationally televised rendition of Duck, Duck, Goose. Rookie center Pat Elflein was picked as the goose, or gray duck as Minnesotans peculiarly prefer. LONDON » The unsolicited tweets started appearing on timelines over the last week. No website, company or individual is publicly associated with the accounts. But the message Twitter is being paid to promote and spread is clear: Qatar is an unsuitable host of the 2022 World Cup.

Twitter is cashing in from anonymous attacks on Qatar just as it faces scrutiny over the limited disclosure of information about political advertising in the 2016 U.S. election. Twitter leaders are testifying this week before congressional investigations looking into how social media networks provided a platform for Russian meddling.