Flop Off

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.