This weekend's worst offenders (in no particular order):
Dirk Nowitzki - Game 4, third quarter. Hack across the forearm, somehow he lands on his backside, sliding across the court. You can do better Mr. MVP. here
Ginobili - He basically rips away a rebound from Stoudemire (in the backcourt), and then exagerrates the foul to the point where it looks like he got hit with a tire iron. If he wants to get hit with a tire iron, I suspect he could find plenty of volunteers.
Curt Thomas - This one is the winner for me. He tries to flop after he runs into a screen.... on a DEAD BALL. As in, there was already a call somewhere else, and he still tries to draw a foul.
Shameful sh**.
(Update: we would be remiss if we didn't mention this gem of a deadball flop from last year, Baron Davis flopping against Okur here.)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Stop the disease
Flopping has reached a new low during these recent playoff games. It has been getting worse these past few years, but now, it's so bad it has to stop. It's embarassing; it's disgraceful. It takes a beautiful game, and makes it awkward, tacky and joyless.
If you want to flop, go play soccer. If you want to act, try Broadway. If you want to 'ball, and play in the Association, man up and don't embarrass yourself. If you take a full-on sprinting charge, you have permission to fall down. If someone's breathing in your airspace and you fall down, then maybe sports just aren't for you.
It's hoped here, that by highlighting these flops, and keeping track of the floppers, we can embarass them enough so they stop. Maybe in the offseason, an NBA committee will address this; maybe not. Since Seattle, I've not much faith in the big commish, or his office. We know players care about their millions, some even care about their legacies. Hopefully, enough will care about their rep, that if they get called out for flopping, and lose the respect of the league and its fans, maybe it won't be the thing to do anymore. A little accountability never hurt anyone.
Simmons, are you with me? SA Smith, can you feel me?
(I know SVG is with me; heard him complaining on air, asking the competition committee to do something about it in the offseason.)
**
So far, a few peeps, bloggers and so forth have addressed the issue:
http://therealests.blogspot.com/2007/05/nbas-first-team-all-flop.html
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/printthread.php?t=143823
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjsFu882zks
And of course, the SG. [Pretty sure he addressed the whole idea of this blog somewhere, but since he writes 30,000 word columns, it's hard to track down tidbits specifically. If anybody has a specific link, let me know.] -- Correction: it wasn't the SG, apparently he was asleep at the wheel. The idea came from TrueHoop's Henry Abbott. Thanks to Westy for the info.
These are a bit dated, and a little particular.
As far as I know, no comprehensive study has been conducted.
**
So the basic goal of this thing is to shine some sunlight on some dirty, dirty, s***. But along the way maybe we address some questions:
1) Worst floppers? Maybe we develop some Hollinger-like statistics. TBD.
2) Where did flopping come from? When? When did it get this bad? (I have theories, but prefer data to back them up.)
If you want to flop, go play soccer. If you want to act, try Broadway. If you want to 'ball, and play in the Association, man up and don't embarrass yourself. If you take a full-on sprinting charge, you have permission to fall down. If someone's breathing in your airspace and you fall down, then maybe sports just aren't for you.
It's hoped here, that by highlighting these flops, and keeping track of the floppers, we can embarass them enough so they stop. Maybe in the offseason, an NBA committee will address this; maybe not. Since Seattle, I've not much faith in the big commish, or his office. We know players care about their millions, some even care about their legacies. Hopefully, enough will care about their rep, that if they get called out for flopping, and lose the respect of the league and its fans, maybe it won't be the thing to do anymore. A little accountability never hurt anyone.
Simmons, are you with me? SA Smith, can you feel me?
(I know SVG is with me; heard him complaining on air, asking the competition committee to do something about it in the offseason.)
**
So far, a few peeps, bloggers and so forth have addressed the issue:
http://therealests.blogspot.com/2007/05/nbas-first-team-all-flop.html
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/printthread.php?t=143823
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjsFu882zks
And of course, the SG. [Pretty sure he addressed the whole idea of this blog somewhere, but since he writes 30,000 word columns, it's hard to track down tidbits specifically. If anybody has a specific link, let me know.] -- Correction: it wasn't the SG, apparently he was asleep at the wheel. The idea came from TrueHoop's Henry Abbott. Thanks to Westy for the info.
These are a bit dated, and a little particular.
As far as I know, no comprehensive study has been conducted.
**
So the basic goal of this thing is to shine some sunlight on some dirty, dirty, s***. But along the way maybe we address some questions:
1) Worst floppers? Maybe we develop some Hollinger-like statistics. TBD.
2) Where did flopping come from? When? When did it get this bad? (I have theories, but prefer data to back them up.)
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