Basketball & NBA & Soccer 18 Mar 2010 05:35 pm
The Art of the Flop
Sometimes, sports can just be too difficult to explain. Why is it that strength can be so deceiving, and so unimportant? Why is it that the strongest athletes sometimes act like the weakest? Is faking, flopping, and falling so integral in sports? These questions are both amusing and necessary for a fan to ask themselves. Whether it is basketball or soccer, or any other popular sport for that matter, “flopping”, or exaggerating contact in any way, is a huge part of the game.
When people think about the NBA and its toughest players, who do they think of? They think of Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett, to name a few. But, even these three use the flop to their advantage. If he is guarding Carmelo Anthony or another star who uses his body to create contact, “Ron Ron” flails his arms and falls backwards to draw offensive fouls on the man he is guarding. He flops to both get the call and frustrate his opponent. Kobe Bryant does the same. When attacking the hoop or pump-faking his defender, the “Black Mamba” flails his arms more than anyone. The artist who approaches the art of the flop differently is Garnett. The “Big Ticket”, widely regarded as one of the best defensive players of his time, talks trash to his opponent and waits until they react. If his opponent responds by either talking to or pushing Garnett, the intimidating and intense Garnett steps backwards, puts his arms up, and flails them to act like he is actually innocent.
In the end, the flop is used by even the toughest players in basketball to achieve or receive something. In their minds, the end justifies the means. Artest falls and flails to force the referee to call an offensive foul and to frustrate the opponent, Bryant exaggerates contact to get to the free-throw line, and Garnett steps backward to get the opponent thrown out of the game for starting the fight. The funniest aspect of all this is that these three are considered to be the toughest, grittiest, and most intimidating players that professional basketball has to offer. Yet, they flail and flop when the game is on the line. They ignore their strength and physicality and resort to the flop.
The same can be said about soccer, which is notorious for the flopping associated with it. As with any sport, flopping is so difficult to explain in soccer. To illustrate is unexplainable side, I put forth two words: Gennaro Gattuso. Considered one of the world’s most hard-nosed, physical, and relentless footballers, “Rino” relies on an unexpected skill to get him over the top. That skill is using his bulky, powerful frame to exaggerate contact in midfield. In other words, he flops. Although Gattuso tackles with reckless abandon and uses his powerful frame to push around his opponents while defending, he resorts to flopping when he has the ball. When opposing defenders do the same work defending the ball as him, Gattuso falls to the ground, even with minimal contact on the play. In his mind, if he can get the foul call, flopping was worth it. In this way, “Rino” is no different from “Ron Ron”, the “Black Mamba”, or the “Big Ticket”. The reasoning behind the flop is the same.
So, do not be deceived by the athletes you watch on TV. While they may seem built-up and physically superior, they are not all that. The time that they spend in the weight room working out is negated when they make the decision to flail their arms, fall on the ground, and fake the impact of any possible contact. Keep that in mind when you watch a basketball game, soccer match, or any other sporting event. No matter how strong they get, athletes still try to act as weak as they can. Their goal is to become stronger, but to act weaker.