Letters to the Editor
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NBA floppers
I have come to the conclusion that major sports leagues really don't care all that much about gamesmanship, which can be used to include such terms as flopping, diving, faking, etc.
So far, the NHL has proven to be the most advanced in regards to its eradication. They go so far as to have a rap sheet of egregious violators, hoping that the stigma of being labeled a cheater will be enough to thwart future violations.
Referees already have what is probably the toughest job in the world: observe a pair of highly skilled athletes and figure out which one cheated more than the other, and then tell him that they're being bad. Add to that a layer of what I like to call plausible fallibility (i.e., provide to onlookers that you are, indeed, mortal and can fall down at the drop of a hat) and now you have officials that are basically forced to make calls based on game context (player A pissed off the ref earlier and is now going to be on the bad end of a 50/50 call), and not on the play itself.
They use video for everything, so why not use it to punish cheaters?
I've played soccer and I can tell you that it doesn't take more than a flick of your ankle to cause you to lose your balance; however, at professional game speed there is no way that you're going to see that microscopic flick. On the other hand, there are cases in which the referee is so sold on a call by a flagrant cheater that the league should have no recourse other than to splash the replay all over the air so that the violator is ashamed of his actions and, not to mention, missing a few thousand dollars out of their bank account as a result of the impending fine.
Heck, at hockey games fans get to see Brendan Shanahan on the JumboTron expertly pull an opponent's stick up to his face to draw the high stick call, so why shouldn't the refs or, better yet, the league start using these same replays to punish such violators who do more to hurt the image of the game than a referee's missed call?