Just in case House Republicans were planning a series of public chest-bumps, high-fives and keg parties if the Supreme Court decides to strike down all or parts of the health law, House Speaker John Boehner is shutting that down right now.

“There will be no spiking of the ball,” Boehner warned Thursday in a memo to House Republicans.  “We will not celebrate at a time when millions of our fellow Americans remain out of work.”

The Supreme Court is expected to announce its much anticipated health law ruling next week and House GOP leaders already announced initial elements of their post-decision game plan.  If the justices uphold the law or declare some elements (individual mandate, perhaps?) unconstitutional, House Republicans would vote again on full repeal.

But they wouldn’t rush “to pass a massive bill the American people don’t support,” Boehner said earlier this month. Instead, the party would instead pursue what he described as “commonsense, step-by-step reforms” including allowing people to buy insurance across state lines and permitting small businesses to pool together to purchase insurance to help them get the lower rates that larger businesses receive.

Boehner said Thursday that House GOP Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, and Policy Chairman Tom Price of Georgia would lead the party’s response team after the ruling is announced.

While we’re on the topic of sports metaphors:  If Republican members are asked a question they don’t like, they could do what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., did when he used the sports metaphor of the week, telling a reporter: “That’s a clown question, bro.”  Reid was mimicking young Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper, who used that rebuke to brush off a journalist inquiring about what kind of Canadian beer the 19-year-old Harper preferred.