My favorite headline of the off-season was supposed to be "City Wins Lawsuit Against Sonics" or, possibly, "Photos Emerge of Bennett and Stern," but until those come rolling off the presses, I'll settle for this one, courtesy of espn.com:"Fines will be imposed for clear cases of flopping"
Of all the problems with the NBA on the court - the complaining to the officials, the special treatment for superstars, the dubious officiating whenever the Lakers are playing, the 'swing the ball around the perimeter for a 3-pointer' offense - to this viewer, flopping is the worst.
Flopping is not basketball. Nobody flops in pick-up basketball, because it is the antithesis of competition. Competing means pushing back, not falling down. Competing means focusing your efforts on defeating your man, not playing to an official.
And yet the NBA has allowed this spectacle to rob the game of its excitement. 15 years ago, a man drove into the lane, threw down a dunk and the crowd cheered. Now, a man drives into the lane, Manu Ginobili slides over, allows himself to be grazed on the elbow, and falls down as if he had been shot from someone on a grassy knoll.
It's a disgusting practice, and it has had the same affect on the game as the European introduction of smallpox to Native Americans. Sure, flopping existing before the Euros came over, but it reached new heights under the teachings of Professor Vlade Divac and his bizarrely bearded disciples.
Kudos to the NBA for making an effort to put an end to this. If they do nothing else right this off-season, I'll applaud them for this.
7 comments:
Yes, I am aware that Manu Ginobili is not European.
Vlade Divac must be rolling over in in his grave...
Vlade Divac can't roll over in his grave. . . he is still alive.
I don't know, did you see Vlade's last year in LA? Didn't look too alive to me ...
don't you kids have anything better to talk about. you are about to lose a franchise due to the lack of community support. Vlade is one of the pioneers of NBA's globalization today and flop or not he has contributed and paved the road for your favorite players today. give a man some credit. why don't you talk about his ability to pass the ball or the fact that he is one of the biggest humanitarian pro-athletes sports has ever seen..........i'm out this is a waste of time.
Ok I'm not a fan of flopping... it is in every sense of the word childish... You don't holler foul every time you've been touched playing ball... That's what cry asses and nobodies do... I am a spurs fan and cringe every single time I see Manu on the floor like a large-mouth Bass... Its shameful... Much like your ignorant analogy about Native Americans... I agree with you on the subject of flopping but to compare the pantomiming of modern players and the attempted genocide of an entire race... That is just poor form... What's next? Telling Cleveland fans that just like the Jewish people in the holocaust the Cavs didn't stand a chance? Please post a retraction... or at least use a little bit of dignity next time...
reading this rant was a total waste of time...
"Flopping is not basketball. Nobody flops in pick-up basketball, because it is the antithesis of competition. Competing means pushing back, not falling down. Competing means focusing your efforts on defeating your man, not playing to an official."
two problems with that argument: 1) no one flops in pick-up games cuz there is NO ref, and 2) competition means trying to gain an advantage, which is the purpose of the flop.
i like your passion for i would call the "purity" of the game and wanting to keep flopping out of it, but you're kind of an idiot. the smallpox analogy? yeah, flopping is genocidal. get real.
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