"I want to do something cool Every Round!!!"

This item ties neatly into an ongoing discussion my current game group has been engaged in. Rodney Thompson (who I don't know from Adam) has an interesting livejournal post here where he discusses a topic near and dear to my heart: awesome-osity versus mundanity in D&D. There's an accompanying EN World thread here. I'm of two minds on this subject. On one hand I like it when game mechanics encourage freaking out, but on the other hand this sometimes feels like a crutch. With a cooperative GM you can buckle swashes without the mechanics holding your hand.