Letters to the Editor
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Flopping in the NHL
The NHL has it right. I'm not a hockey fan, so I don't remember exactly what the penalty for flopping is, but it IS a penalty, and it IS called. Good for them.
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Diving = Yellow Card
Soccer has gotten a lot better recently as refs have shown spine and handed out yellows to divers. Even worse than a yellow, a player known as an actor often doesn't get the call when he and his team should and sure penalty is denied.
I think a few well-placed T's would clean things up real fast.
9 days and counting, King...
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what a flop
The flopping topic sure does get my blood boiling. I understand a player feeling the need to do anything he can to gain a competitive edge, or in this case dupe an official into calling a play a certain way. I also understand that technically speaking flopping isn’t against the rules. But come on already! Don’t these guys have any dignity? Flopsters like Bell and “it literally makes my fingers ache to type his name” Manu Ginobili only serve to take away from the fun of watching a physically competitive sport by acting. That’s not to take away from Ginobili’s pure basketball skills; he can be exceptionally fun to watch on the offensive end of the action.
I’m not sure what the best solution to this problem would be, maybe King’s technical for a flop is the right call, but I do remember being completely disgusted with the NBA at the same point last season and for the same reason. It seemed like the refs were less susceptible to flopper-trickery during the regular season but some of the calls they’ve been falling for this post-season have seemed like a definite regression.
Oh well, maybe next year…
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Floppin' Bell
King, thank you for finally doing a real piece on the incredible amount of flopping being done in these playoffs. Most journalists or analysts barely mention it and some are even branding it as good defense. Thanks to the development of recordable/reviewable television the "flop" is definitely becoming more scrutinized by the serious NBA viewer and as a result, the refs are going to be the ones who need to alter their decision process. I (as well as most of my NBA devoted friends) am in total support of leveling the "T" against floppers. Too many no calls have been used in cases of clear and intentional flops and that, coupled with the ridiculous amount of poorly called, flop induced offensive fouls, has given anyone in the NBA with any acting aspirations the green light to continuously deceive the NBA, the refs and its fans.
Along with Raja Bell, I think that Manu should also be mentioned as a blatant offender. These two players both can play world class defense (I swear I have seen it a couple of times). However, the amount of times that both have obviously taken a dive with little or NO contact has to be more than their combined total of free throws attempted during these playoffs. Manu is completely impossible to watch on defense anymore. If he is not taking a dive, he is reaching or grabbing or holding and in the slight chance that a defensive foul is actually called, he looks like he is going to cry. Whatever happened to sliding your feet and putting your chest on the offensive player? Bell can be even more aggravating because he can play such good defense for most of a possession and then, at random, start flopping like a fish out of water. During the Lakers series Raja even started flopping on imaginary elbows that Kobe was swinging on his pivot moves. I like how Raja played defense on Kobe. Up in his face, no room to operate, body to body contact. Thats how you guard a player like Kobe in the playoffs. But, that also means that Kobe gets his space to operate and pivot in. When his elbows swing through during the pivot, your supposed to hold your ground then slide your feet on his move to the hoop; not cringe when the elbow nearly misses your face then act like you where sucker punched, so everybody forgets what an ass you looked like for flinching. If the officials leveled a couple Tech's on the right players at the right times I think that the message would be sent and players would adapt. King you are right on with your message.
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Review it
I've always thought diving in soccer should be reviewable after every game w/ video. Give the divers a yellow. That would clean it up pretty fast. Diving is really really annoying in soccer because the guy who dives will inevitably pretend to writhe on the ground and initiate a game of chicken between the ref (will he stop the game?), the diver (will he ever get up?), and the other players (will they play the ball out of bounds?).
So same deal for basketball. Review the tape and give the floppers a T, or something worse.
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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?