{"id":16368,"date":"2014-06-21T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-06-21T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=16368"},"modified":"2014-06-20T12:34:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T16:34:51","slug":"is-world-cup-soccer-diminished-by-flopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2014\/06\/21\/is-world-cup-soccer-diminished-by-flopping\/","title":{"rendered":"Is World Cup soccer diminished by “flopping”?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Did<\/a>

Did he fall…or was he PUSHED? Image: Vitgotube<\/a>,YouTube video still<\/p><\/div>\n

Like billions around the world, I’m watching some FIFA World Cup<\/a> soccer. The athleticism is amazing: what skill! What fitness! What fun!<\/p>\n

Writing in the Washington Post, here’s how Eugene Robinson put it<\/a>\u00a0(he likes the look of Chile, by the way):<\/p>\n

\n

Midway through the\u00a0opening round<\/a>, the whole tournament has been a fiesta of the unanticipated. Favorites are looking shaky, dark horses are rising and the United States is undefeated. After just one match, but still.<\/p>\n

Most surprising of all, Americans are watching. Monday\u2019s contest in which the U.S. squad defeated archrival Ghana, 2-1, was watched by\u00a015.9 million viewers<\/a>\u00a0on ESPN and Univision. That\u2019s the second-highest viewership ever for a World Cup match \u2014 a 2010 contest against England had 17.1 million viewers \u2014 and the upcoming U.S.-Portugal match on Sunday could set a new record.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But then there’s the unnecessary drama, something that’s called “flopping” or “taking a dive”, in which players exaggerate or even fake injurious contact in hopes of influencing the referee to call a foul or otherwise skew the outcome.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7QBPGXJE86I<\/p>\n

This has become a standard part of the game for so long that discussing it critically is a mark of naivet\u00e9, along the lines of “That’s how it is, where have you been?” Heck, players even train for it.<\/p>\n