The Flop: The Integral Degredation of Basketball and Soccer

A “Flop” is when a player intentionally falls over with little to no physichal contact from opposing players, with the intention of drawing a foul. Because flopping is deceiving and dishonest, flopping is generally considered to be unsportsmanlike, and in my opinion, soft. Regardless, many players are well practiced in the art of flopping. This includes some of the world’s top athletes. Flopping is often associated with basketball and soccer. However, there are several differences between basketball flops and soccer flops. The top two being how players react to their own flop (the actual flop itself) and how the sport handles such behavior.

In soccer the flop is so flamboyant I can’t even watch it anymore. Basketball players flop, and it is annoying, childish and in poor taste. However, when basketball players flop, they get right back up and continue playing. Soccer players on the other hand (at least a majority of them) follow up their flops by rolling around on the ground, clutching their shins in the fetal position, screaming, kicking and flailing before finally deciding that they are in fact perfectly fine, hop up, and start sprinting around. It is embarrassing and hard to watch. There are people who break bones and lose limbs that have less of a reaction to their injury. I can not and will not watch soccer games until something is done regarding the attention seeking and humiliating soccer flop. It is comparable to a two-year-old who falls over, looks around and begins screaming and crying until their mother runs to console them. As soon as the parent tends to the child, the child stops crying. This is the exact mentality of soccer players. Kick and scream until a referee acknowledges their pain.

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