Fake It Until You Make It

photo credit: Lorianne DiSabato via photopin cc

How does flopping affect the leagues?

Flopping has become a major issue in todays world of sports. Flopping is when a player fakes a fall or foul of any kind to try and get the referee’s attention for a free shot or in football get extra yard. Five time NBA champion Kobe Bryant calls this“chump ball”. This art of flopping is turning these professional athletes into actors. Flopping has been around for centuries, but has recently became worse then ever before in sports today. Although some players get their way when they flop, the leagues frowns upon it and agrees with the sports nation that something has to be done about it. Why is flopping a problem?

Players often flop when they are desperate for a win or has the fans excited and want to keep up the momentum. Although the NFL has its share of floppers, the NBA has the most and is more easier to spot, so the NBA has came up with a solution. Just recently the NBA passed a new rule called the Anti-Flopping rule which will fine the players up to $30,000 for flopping. Flopping takes away the fundamentals of the game and not only that but it also holds the game up. How effective will this rule be, and how will the refs in the league separate the flops from the real fouls? I hope this does change the league a little for the fact of keeping the game completely. Although flopping isn’t the worst thing you can do, but it is a desperate crutch a lot of players today use.

The new rule was enforced to make the game better, but ironically some players are opposed to it. According to NBA star Drew Gooden “flopping should just be ignored because it is hard to police”. News reporter Chase Kiddy says “Let the players police themselves. No code of conduct is required; just do what baseball does. Let the veteran players take over and institute a culture of no flopping.” Both could be right, the officials don’t always make the right calls and some even go overlooked, they can only see what their eyes will let them see. Although the veterans players should start to set the example and all the rookies and underclassmen in the game will follow suit. Some of the better known floppers of the NBA are players from the L.A. Clippers Team. One player that stands out from this team is dunking star Blake Griffin who gets the crowds attention from showing off his jumping skills. Griffin sometimes takes the momentum and run with it when he’s desperate for attention making flopping a natural instinct and feeding off the crowd.

The NFL is a sport that requires more contact and more players that has to be observed by the referees which makes it harder to spot the floppers. The NFL players hardly ever flop because there is a chance that the refs might not see them, but the camera will. When the floppers make it obvious that they have just flopped more than likely the camera will get it and expose the player. The floppers sometimes even result in desperate measures and act injured just to go to the bench to sell it to the crowd. One of the most famous flops of the NFL is when a player from the Pittsburgh Steelers flopped directly in front of the camera. The flopper was the defender that missed a tackle and gave up more yards than expected and flew backwards hoping for a flag.

As much as players would love to flop around and get free calls and go to the line for free throws all night, this is not the way the game was meant to be played. Flopping takes away from the game in so many different ways and players apparently don’t see the wrong in it because they continue to bounce around and fall all over the place. We all see how bad it has gotten. So bad to the point where they had to make a rule against flopping. Now we have to look at this 2 ways either we will start having better performances without acting or a lot of broke NBA players that can not following the rules. With this rule now active there is possibility players start to recognize and respect this rule. No matter how much money these super stars are making I doubt they would risk their money and spot on the court over one or two free points. Flopping is good acting not good sportsmanship and all the players know wrong from right and the best players don’t have to flop to be at the top.