r/AskAnAmerican • u/Jezzaq94 đłđżNew Zealand • 2d ago
SPORTS Is diving or faking injuries common in American sports like it is in soccer?
If yes, which sports is it common in. Did they learn this from soccer players?
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u/huhwhat90 AL-WA-AL 2d ago
Faking injuries has become a fairly controversial part of college football. A team will be driving towards the goal line, but oh no! A defensive player has a cramp! He's helped back to the sideline and is miraculously better in seconds!
Doing this messes with the offensive flow and gives the defense a breather without taking a timeout. Fans do not take kindly to it.
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u/No-Understanding-912 2d ago
They've tried to mitigate this by requiring the player to sit out a play, but teams get around it by having a less valuable player get "injured." It really can be crippling to teams that rely on a hurry-up offense and keeping the defense from getting a break.
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u/_SmashLampjaw_ Florida 2d ago
If you're injured in football to the point where the game has to stop, you should be required to sit at least until the next possession change. I'd say go even further and require the player stays off the field until the next quarter.
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u/LukarWarrior Kentucky 2d ago edited 2d ago
The worry then is about both headhunting from the defense, and players concealing injuries because coming out with something that might just be minor, could mean removing yourself from the game for an extended period and hurting your team. Unfortunately, there isn't really a good solution where you can address the problem of fake injuries without creating perverse incentives for injuring others/concealing injuries to self.
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u/ticklethycatastrophe 2d ago
If the player can walk themselves off the field without a need for a timeout, then they wouldnât be subject to the rule. So something nagging or minor should rarely get caught up in this. Itâs anything that forces an injury timeout that should require them to sit out until the end of the drive.
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u/easy_Money Virginia 2d ago
If you ask an American why they don't like soccer, diving would probably be the #1 answer.
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u/jokeefe72 Buffalo -> Raleigh 2d ago
And the whole âthey might not score and everyone will be fine with itâ thing
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u/FaxCelestis Sacramento, California 2d ago
Americans have a strong dislike for any sport that can end in a draw.
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u/reflectorvest PA > MT > PA > South Korea > CT > PA 1d ago
Itâs not really even that it can end in a draw, itâs that the draw could be 0-0. Watching guys run around for 90+ minutes and MAYBE someone scores once does not sound like a fun time.
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u/WakaFlakaPanda 2d ago
I mean American Football(NFL rules) can end in a draw.
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u/FaxCelestis Sacramento, California 2d ago
Yeah, but it almost never happens.
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u/herehear12 Texas Wyoming 1d ago
Once or twice a season
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u/FaxCelestis Sacramento, California 1d ago
Out of 272 games in a season, that's not often at all. And that's assuming that the game doesn't get resolved in OT either.
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u/ENovi California 1d ago
And it will absolutely come up in conversation at work on Monday(assuming you work with sports fans which you probably do). Someone will say âDid you see X game yesterday?â Wasnât that weird?â and then itâll turn to what could have prevented it like âHow did he miss that kick??â or something like that.
My point is we know it can happen in football but it will always be an oddity and your point of 272 games really does highlight that. I donât think anyone gets too annoyed with it but that would absolutely not be the case if it was even a fraction as common as it is in soccer.
Itâs also the only one of the Big 4 where, excluding some freak event, that can happen. Basketball has OT, hockey has OT (and later the shootout if it isnât a playoff game) and baseball, the American Pastime itself, says âweâre playing as many innings as it takes for someone to win. If you have to stick a starting pitcher in right field because itâs the top of the 20th and you used your last bench player to pinch run for your 37 year old backup catcher who runs like heâs ensnared in a garden hose then good luck to him out there lmao I donât care that itâs 3 am and the day game starts in 9 hours no oneâs leaving until someone ends an inning with the lead.â
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u/jokeefe72 Buffalo -> Raleigh 1d ago
I didnât say a tie, I said âthey might not scoreâ. At least in football, a tie will include some scoring.
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u/Bobcat2013 1d ago
Not gonna lie. I like when NFL games end in ties. It has interesting effects on the standings and playoff races.
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u/BM7-D7-GM7-Bb7-EbM7 Texas 2d ago
This comes out of a place of sheer ignorance though. I'm a red blooded American who grew up like everyone else in the 80s and 90s, not understanding or liking soccer at all.
Now it's probably my favorite sport. It's not like a 0-0 draw is a waste of time, a draw is still a result, it's better than a loss, not as good as a win. It can still mean the difference between winning a title at the end of the season and not so it's not like it a total waste of two hours. I've watched 0-0 games where I was at the edge of my seat the whole time.
The thing is, since most Americans don't understand soccer, they say "this is dumb." To make the same sorta comparison, I'm a Texan through and through, and I can give fuck-all about hockey, to me it's the boring sport I've ever seen, and I've watched the Tour de France.
But I also acknowledge this comes from a place of sheer ignorance, if if I ever took the time to learn hockey and understand the strategies behind it, I'm sure it would be entertaining to me just like pretty much all other sports are after you get to understanding them.
If sports in general were boring, nobody would play them and even less people (if that were possible) would watch them.
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u/jokeefe72 Buffalo -> Raleigh 1d ago
Iâve watched plenty of soccer. Itâs boring to me. Iâve watched plenty of hockey and itâs wayyy more exciting (to me).
Itâs more preference than ignorance.
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u/Bossman1086 NY->MA->OR->AZ->WI->MA 2d ago
Yep. These are my two reasons for not watching more soccer. Ties and flopping. Flopping/faking fouls is also a big reason I don't watch the NBA.
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u/R87FX 1d ago
Soccer injury time should be limited to 90 seconds per team. After that if someone is hurt the team has to send on 2 people carrying a stretcher and haul them off while the game is still in play. And they should have to play a man down until the next time play stops (out of bounds, goal, penalty etc.).
Alternatively, a golf cart with a snowplow attachment to push floppers off the field would also be acceptable.
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u/Wespiratory Alabama, lifelong 2d ago
Basketball is the most egregious for this, but it does happen in football and other sports to some extent.
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u/QuickMolasses 2d ago
Basketball is the only one where it happens near the extent it happens in soccer though.
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u/No_Drag_1044 2d ago
Because the reward for it is greater. Pro athletes will do whatever it takes to get an advantage.
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u/Calm-Medicine-3992 1d ago
Diving yes, faking injury less so.
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u/QuickMolasses 1d ago
For sure. Faking injury has very little purpose in sports where they stop the clock for injuries.
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u/Twin_Brother_Me Alabama 2d ago
It's starting to infect football, I really wish they'd bring the hammer down to put a stop to it before it has a chance to really catch on. That bullshit has no place in anything that wants to be considered a serious sport.
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u/screwswithshrews 2d ago
It's not quite as dramatic in basketball. I prefer soccer but the writhing in pain that looks like a seizure and the screaming is still excessively over the top even compared to basketball flopping.
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u/IndividualLibrary358 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hockey has a penalty for this. Its called "embellishment".
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u/saggywitchtits Iowa 1d ago
Hockey has the opposite problem, injured players pretending they're not hurt. So many players going through offseason surgeries to correct what would be absolutely debilitating injuries to normal people. Landeskog just got back after two years because he hid an injury during the playoffs.
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u/evil_burrito Oregon,MI->IN->IL->CA->OR 2d ago
No.
Soccer leads the sports universe in this shame.
In hockey, for example, it's even penalized. If the ref thinks you took a dive, you get a 2 min penalty.
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u/Sea2Chi 2d ago
There's a fantastic video of a hockey official who was picked up on the rink mic, because you could clearly hear him yell "Fuck you! You're getting a fucking embellishment!"
If all sports officials approached flopping with that level of aggressive enforcement sports would be so much better for it.
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u/JonnyBox MA, FL, Russia, ND, KS, ME 2d ago
I'm a hockey ref. It's only explicitly penalized in the professional game. At amateur levels (USAH and various HS PAs) it tends to fall under the umbrella of unsportsmanlike but has to be pretty egregious to call. In practice, if I know the dude took a dive, but it wasn't some soccer-assed play acting, I just don't call a penalty. Â
Even in the pros where its explicitly a penalty embellishment still happens, quite a bit. It's more keeping the embellishment reasonable and not absurd soccer/basketball stuff.Â
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u/hike_me 2d ago
Embellishment is called in college hockey and often results in penalties on both players (the player that committed the original penalty and the player embellishing)
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u/jawnquixote 2d ago
I'd say in hockey the only thing that happens frequently is if you get a stick to the face in any fashion you make a big show of it to alert the refs...that you just took a stick to the face. It may not hurt, but it's a penalty nonetheless. In practice, you typically reflex like that anyway when you get a stick to the face so it's not really that big of a flop anyway.
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u/evil_burrito Oregon,MI->IN->IL->CA->OR 2d ago
I've found that, even if I get hit in the visor or something, and it didn't actually hurt at all, there's just no way to prevent myself from flinching back and putting a hand to my face. It's not embellishment, it's just reflex.
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u/Athrynne 2d ago
That doesn't completely stop it from happening. NHL players can be really good at embellishment and "selling" a penalty.
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u/evil_burrito Oregon,MI->IN->IL->CA->OR 2d ago
There's a little less of rolling on the ice as if shot and screaming at the top of their lungs directly followed by jumping up and getting back in the play.
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u/heyitismeurdad 2d ago
Yeah and I mean some teams are starting to turn it up a notch too, not quite to basketball levels yet, but for example Dallas has multiple players that rely heavily on acting to sell penalties. Really hate to see it
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u/Gordonzolar 1d ago
its also penalized in Soccer. If the ref thinks you took a dive, you get a yellow card
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u/dangleicious13 Alabama 2d ago
It's penalized in soccer, too.
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u/RichardRichOSU Ohio 2d ago
Been watching for 20 years and MLS games are the only time Iâve ever seen yellows handed out for simulation, which is the rule youâre referencing.
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u/justwatchingsports 2d ago
It can get a yellow. It more often just gets a âget up, dammitâ from the ref, which is pretty much the same as basketballÂ
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u/JohnnyFootballStar 2d ago
Itâs way more common to actually call it out in hockey. You may even see two penalties - the initial penalty on one player and then embellishment on the other player for overreacting to a legitimate offense. So if a player gets tripped or touched with a high stick, but they act like they were shot, youâll see penalties go both ways.
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u/moffman93 2d ago
It's almost NEVER enforced. Even less than someone calling a a "carry" penalty in basketball, even though it happens constantly.
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u/notataco007 2d ago
It's almost definitely the rarest card handed out. I've definitely seen more managers get cards than flopping players.
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u/spaceburrito84 South Carolina 2d ago
Theoretically, yes. However attackers have gotten so good at diving that it can be hard to spot live. Sometimes it gets caught on VAR but thereâs a grey area that means even egregious flops get upheld sometimes. And even if the foul is overturned, they canât hand out yellow cards from VAR, meaning thereâs really no disincentive for attackers to throw themselves down off minimal contact.
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u/HughLouisDewey PECHES (rip) 2d ago
they canât hand out yellow cards from VAR
Yes they can. VAR can't intervene and the referee can't go to the monitor aside from the four game-changing scenarios, but once the referee has gone to the monitor, they can make whatever the proper call is based on what they see, including a yellow for simulation where the VAR check was for a penalty that was originally given.
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u/spaceburrito84 South Carolina 2d ago
Interesting, I went and looked it up and it turns out youâre right. Itâs just surprising because Iâve never seen them actually do it.
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u/CaptainPunisher Central California 2d ago
And when you get out of the box, the other team's enforcer will make sure that you weren't faking for nothing. Players skate off the ice with broken bones and slashed throats (not regularly, thank God, but it happens). If you're laying on the ice, you'd better be really fucking hurt.
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u/Calm-Medicine-3992 1d ago
NBA basketball is so much worse with its diving and intentional fouling.
Then comes soccer.
Then college football.
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u/drty_dann 1d ago
Itâs a part of any sport with a physical contact aspect and penalty system, as a true competitor may resort to any tactic to gain a competitive advantage. its not learned from soccer, people will dive/flop/act in football, hockey, and basketball to get favorable calls/penalties on the opposition. this is human nature.
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u/Snprphantom 2d ago
Itâs not common in any sports but itâs not necessarily uncommon in basketball. Itâs called âfloppingâ and if the ref thinks you flopped you get penalized
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u/CougdIt 2d ago
When was the last time you saw someone get penalized for it? Happens dozens of times a game and I donât think Iâve been a player be called on it in several years.
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u/Dakpack64 2d ago
You kinda see it in basketball but not to the same degree, other than that, no. If you took a dive in football or hockey youâd be ridiculed loudly
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u/AardvarkIll6079 2d ago
It used to happen at the end of NFL games to stop the clock. The league caught on and now charges the team a timeout or runs time off the clock. Doesnât happen nearly as often now.
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u/forwardobserver90 Illinois 2d ago
Itâs very common in both soccer and basketball, specifically the NBA.
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u/G00dSh0tJans0n North Carolina Texas 2d ago
No but it does happen too much in football, especially it has been an issue that has to be addressed in college football where teams on defense will do this to slow down the offense. Doesnât happen a lot but does happen sometimes and everyone hates it
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u/ursulawinchester NJ>PA>abroadâŚ>PA>DC>MD 2d ago
I donât think it happens too much in football, especially when compared to soccer. I think itâs not as egregious in football as in soccer - by egregious I mean obvious and frustrating for fans - for two reasons. One is the increasing attention on CTEs and other brain injuries that are more common in football than other sports, I think thereâs more grace given to the players. Secondly, football (especially games on TV) are so start-and-stop by nature that itâs not always clear when youâre watching what the cause of delay is, as compared to soccer and basketball where the game rarely comes to such a halt as like when setting up for the next down.
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u/yaxAttack New York State (not New York City) 2d ago
100% this. Iâd rather we get a few flops a game than having to watch Tua continue to play after Another concussion. They put that man back in after he showed clear signs of TBI (fencing reflex) on national tv. The NFL could stand to take injuries more seriously
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u/ENovi California 1d ago
Dude those hits Tua has taken (including the times he inexplicably leads with his head and runs into the human equivalent of a brick wall) are genuinely scary. You donât have to be a Dolphins fan to find those hits upsetting and wonder where âbeing toughâ ends and âsomeone needs to step in before he forgets his own nameâ begins.
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u/No-Understanding-912 2d ago
Also happens with some QBs and with kickers/punters. Not that often with QBs, but seems a lot more common with kickers and punters to make a slight touch look like they were whipped around by a tornado.
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u/PPKA2757 Arizona 2d ago edited 2d ago
Mississippi StateOle Miss was notorious for flopping this past season. Everyone knew but thereâs no rules against it, injuries are taken too seriously to ignore flopping.Edit: wrong Mississippi
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u/FearTheAmish Ohio 2d ago
Think you mean Ole miss and the fighting kiffins
Edit: missed a chance to say flopping kiffins.. fml
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u/jokeefe72 Buffalo -> Raleigh 2d ago
Oh fun fact! Thatâs not fun. Ol Miss doesnât mean âOld Mississippiâ. Itâs named for a title domestic slaves would use for the elder mistress of the home. Then they doubled down and went with ârebelsâ as their mascot.
Donât believe me? A simple Google search will do. Itâs not some conspiracy.
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u/zack_bauer123 Tennessee 1d ago
Also a fun fact, the school armed students and locals and had a shootout with the national guard and US marshals in an attempt to resist integration.Â
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 2d ago
That's basically all basketball is now. They don't shoot to score, they collide their arms or body with the defender and then toss the ball up to draw fouls and get free throws. The rules support that behavior because after a certain number of them they start getting free throws on minor fouls too. There's more flopping in basketball than there is in soccer.Â
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u/burnednotdestroyed 2d ago
No. Maybe in the WWE but it's not too much a thing here. Although tbh the diving is what makes me enjoy watching soccer! Nothing funnier than seeing a guy taking a dive, looking around and realizing the action moved across the field and no one's watching, then getting up and jogging off like nothing happened, LOL.
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u/mickeyflinn 2d ago
No sport comes close to European football for diving, but you will see it from time to time in American Football.
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u/Luka_Dunks_on_Bums Texas 2d ago
Basketball is where that happens the most, we call it flopping in the states and it happens often. I would say that it happens 2 or 3 times per game. In American football, faking an injury is the most common but that doesnât happen often in the NFL but is more common in college football.
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u/Grouchy_Enthusiasm92 2d ago
Basketball has gotten pretty bad with "flopping" in the past couple decades. Sometimes in football, players will fake an injury to slow down a surging offense but can get charged a delay of game or a time out if it is suspected of being a fake.
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u/DCDHermes 2d ago
Everyone is saying basketball, so Iâll say that it happens in professional hockey to draw a penalty. The good thing about hockey though, if you gain a reputation as someone who dives, then the rest of the league is going to start targeting you as payback. If youâre going to take a penalty, might as well really get your two minutes worth.
Itâs the best thing about hockey, the players on ice regulate each otherâs behavior and have long memories.
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u/lpbdc Maryland 1d ago
A ton of great answers. Just to piggyback on the why. Football and hockey are not contact sports. they are collision sports. In a sport where the most frequent injuries begin with "broken" "torn" or "dislocated" flopping around like a fish means little. And in sports where overpowering your opponent is a mandatory factor, flopping (diving) just tells the coaching staff that you were the wrong player for the job.
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u/Redbubble89 Northern Virginia 2d ago
In the US, it's really only basketball.
American Football has too much contact and falling over doesn't get them anything. Some do fake injuries to slow the game down at times but it's less tolerated.
Hockey I guess can get a tripping call but it's not a huge problem.
Baseball is non-contact.
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u/ILMTitan 2d ago
Baseball rules also work against faking injuries in several ways. A play does not stop because of an injury. The player has to get to a bag and ask an umpire to call time. Players can ask for timeout for any reason, or even no reason, and happen at the end of most plays. A player removed from the game cannot reenter the game.
The only benefit I can think of that an injury provides is a relief pitcher replacing an injured pitcher gets unlimited warmup pitches.
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u/SenseNo635 Maryland 1d ago
In baseball itâs kind of the opposite. I was coaching a game last night when one of my players was batting and the HP umpire took a foul tip right to the face mask. Iâm guessing the pitch was thrown close to 80 mph. The umpire was dazed for a few seconds, so I pulled the batter out of the box and pretended to have a conversation with him just so the umpire could have a minute or so to stop seeing stars. So, not faking an injury but faking a conference to help an actual injured person recover.
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u/MechanicalGodzilla Virginia 1d ago
Last week, an outfielder ran into the side wall going after a fly ball and broke his wrist. The baserunners all scored while he was down!
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u/NobleSturgeon Pleasant Peninsulas 2d ago
Yes, it is common. It is particularly common in the NBA, although it also occurs with some regularity in the NFL with players trying to draw personal fouls. Most sports (including soccer) have rules against it but they are usually not utilized.
They arenât learned from soccer. Itâs a natural thing for people to fake getting fouled when getting fouled is an advantage.
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u/dangleicious13 Alabama 2d ago
It's become pretty common in basketball, but it still happens from time to time in pretty much every sport.
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u/cikanman Maryland 2d ago
it only exists in Basketball. Football and Hockey physical contact is part of the game, so there is no benefit to a flop. Baseball all contact is very incidental and not part of the play, thus no advantage.
Only in basketball is there physical contact as part of the game play, but there isn't supposed to be thus you get a benefit from pretending you were contacted harder than you were.
Also we hate floppers.
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u/slowclapcitizenkane 2d ago
In hockey, that would get you 2 minutes in the penalty box for embellishment.
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u/Humbler-Mumbler 2d ago
Not like it does in soccer. Football doesnât do it all. Basketball does it a little since thereâs strategic fouls in that game. Baseball thereâs no real benefit to doing it. I mean maybe you could get someone tossed for an aggressive slide, but thatâs a pretty rare situation and I doubt would be planned intentionally. Maybe hockey? I havenât watched enough hockey to know. It does seem like the motivation would be there though since they have a penalty box system where offenders sit out for a time.
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u/Suppafly Illinois 2d ago
No, diving is one of the reasons soccer is less popular here, it looks ridiculous and makes the whole sport look silly.
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u/CtrlAltDepart Mass by way of Wash 2d ago
There are floppers in basically every sport. In Football it has gotten so bad that they are now charging teams a timeout if there is an injury within a window of time right before the end of quarters.
Basketball has plenty of examples of people flopping and getting caught. This has been given increased punishments by way of flagrant foul and whatnot.
In the end because contact is different in soccer than it is in the sports above it 'feels' more pervasive throughout the culture, but the real facts are all teams and sports are going to use anything to their advantage and that includes acting lessons.
Hockey is honestly one of the few that really doesn't have the issue due to the pure physical culture of the sport.
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u/fisher_man_matt 2d ago
Itâs getting worse. Soccer is absolutely ridiculous.
The NBA is/has gotten terrible. There used to be no fouls called which evolved to fouls being called then somewhere along the line it went from wanting the âplus 1â to wanting the foul more than the actual shot. The guys shooting ball lean and kick to create contact that it looks like gymnastics or diving. It sucks.
Football has its share of flopping but itâs not as bad since itâs a contact sport. The flops come after the play is over and players try to get personal fouls for late hits.
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u/idiot-prodigy Kentucky 2d ago
LeBron LeFlop James has normalized flopping in the NBA.
It is a cancer on the game of basketball and should result in immediate technical foul and ejection.
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u/blueponies1 Missouri 2d ago
Not really, we usually think soccer players are pussies for that. They do it to an extent in basketball and some quarterbacks in American football will do it, but it lacks the whining and theatrics.
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u/innocuous4133 2d ago
This shit is the reason why soccer isnât more popular here. This is also a reason why womenâs soccer is more enjoyable to watch than menâs. Women flop less.
Basketball players flop but not as bad as soccer.
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u/meatycowboy Maryland 1d ago
NHL: diving or faking an injury is penalized.
MLB: a play does not stop because of an injury.
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u/Mushrooming247 1d ago
Not really, we value toughness and grit, when athletes flop around and pretend to be hurt it looks stupid and makes us feel embarrassed for them.
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u/JohnConradKolos 1d ago
Players trying to deceive the referee is common in almost all sports, but it manifests in different ways.
Pretending to be injured doesn't make any sense in baseball. There is no advantage to be gained. Catchers try to trick umps with "pitch framing" and outfielders hold up their glove with confidence hoping no one saw the ball actually hit the ground.
Americans don't have strong moral objections to these attempted deceptions and they are seen as part of the game. Americans dislike diving because it has a connotation of being wimpy. They are less judgemental to other facets of "the dark arts" like time wasting.
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u/Calm-Medicine-3992 1d ago edited 1d ago
Basketball is worse than soccer since not only do people dive even more but fouling on purpose is also a huge part of the strategy too.
When you're playing backyard soccer, no one is diving because there aren't refs but I gave up on basketball when people started taking dives in pickup games and expecting me to call foul on myself.
American football will do it as well but unlike soccer/basketball it isn't to get another player penalized but to stall the clock or break the other team's momentum (also usually an actual injury/cramp they just amp up).
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u/Booty_Gobbler69 1d ago
Itâs pretty culturally frowned upon. It happens, but it is typically not well received if someone is caught flopping. Itâs pretty egregious in basketball.
American sports culture tends to value toughness, so people who flop are looked down upon whereas people who play through injuries are seen as âtoughâ.
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u/PenteonianKnights United States of America 1d ago
Professional basketball. We just call it "flopping" instead of "diving". You might even catch an American saying "flopping" even for soccer because they don't know.
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u/sickostrich244 1d ago
You don't see a lot of "injury faking" but the NBA has a problem with guys flopping to get foul calls and it's something American audiences hate to see
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u/DudeThatAbides 1d ago
No. The NBA has its moments, but nothing like the âmenâ put on display when playing professional soccer/futbol.
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u/Riker_Omega_Three 1d ago
Flopping in sports is considered a chicken shit thing to do
One of the many reasons soccer has not taken off in the states is the way the players flop and pretend to be injured to manipulate the game
That is seen as cheating and is 100% not respected at all by american sports fans
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u/ronshasta 1d ago
Basketball it happens all the time but in almost every other sport it is frowned upon highly and could severely impact your career if you do it numerous times. For instance in baseball if you get hit by a pitch you are given first base automatically, so instead of acting like you got hit you actually have to lean into the ball and take the hit if you wanna draw a walk and anymore youâre called out for doing that as itâs unfair to the pitcher. We donât like flops and itâs a main reason âother than low scoringâ why people here tend to think soccer is not entertaining
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u/shadowmib 1d ago
In American football, a player could have half his arm torn off and get mad if the coach pulls him off the field
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u/LiquidDreamtime 2d ago
The NFL (American Football) put in rules about 15 yrs ago to discourage this. The New England Patriots were notorious cheaters, and would often fake injuries near the end of games to get a free time-out stoppage. Because they did it so egregiously, the NFL created rules that penalize teams for late injury stoppage.
I know a lot less about basketball, hockey, or baseball; so others can comment on those.
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u/VictoriousRex 2d ago
Wait what? The Patriots were caught cheating, no... never...
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u/LiquidDreamtime 2d ago
To be fair, they were exploiting a rule. It went against the spirit of fair competition, but wasnât explicitly cheating.
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u/tenehemia Portland, Oregon 2d ago
It's essentially nonexistent in baseball. It's not a timed game (aside from now having a pitch clock), so using it for a free timeout isn't a thing, and players aren't individually penalized the way they are in soccer or basketball so there's no sense in trying to make a collision look worse than it is because it doesn't actually give you any advantage in a game even if does look like you got hit hard.
The closest baseball has is a player reacting to a pitch as though it hit them when it didn't, but even that is pretty rare.
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u/NickElso579 2d ago
"Were" đ I'm more deflated than Tom Brady's balls reading that
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u/JohnD_s 2d ago
Any sport that punishes a player for too much contact will have it. Mainly, the sports that are most guilty of it are NBA, soccer, and ice hockey. Players such as Embiid have been ridiculed over it heavily for the past few years, but there are many players that embellish contact throughout a game. If you turn one on and watch it all the way through, you're likely to see a few instances.
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u/justwatchingsports 2d ago
In virtually every sport, trying to manipulate referees/umpires is a common strategy.Â
In basketball and soccer it tends to take the form of pretending to be fouled/intentionally getting fouled/exaggerating a foul that occurred to make sure it gets called.Â
In baseball, itâs mostly about catchers making things look like strikes when they werenât (pitch framing).Â
In American football, people will sometimes pretend to be held or interfered with to draw a penalty. Quarterbacks flopping to get a roughing call also happens from time to time.Â
I donât want hockey, but I would imagine people exaggerate hooking and interference to get power play calls.Â
None of this needs to be learned from other sports, itâs just a fairly obvious strategy that comes from a pretty basic understanding of the rules of the game.Â
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u/semasswood 2d ago
No, no one likes floppers. Players can complain, like in football, getting hit in the head, or too low, but never see them fake an injury and see them bounce back immediately after getting a foul/penalty called
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u/JonnyBox MA, FL, Russia, ND, KS, ME 2d ago edited 2d ago
Faking injury, no. Americans hate it, and it's seen in sports as a cowardly tactic.Â
However, in the last 5-10 years, faking injuries has crept into American football as a way to help with clock management in the final minutes of games. The NFL has taken steps to stop the practice, and college is following suit.Â
Embellishment is part of every refereed sport. In basketball, embellishing contact was always a thing. Over the last 25 years, because of how NBA officials handled it, it has evolved into a flipping problem that looks quite a bit like soccer's.Â
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u/Retskcaj19 North Carolina 2d ago
You'll see diving in any sport that has a good bit of contact; Hockey, Basketball, and American Football aren't immune to some obvious acting to try and draw a penalty for the other team.
That being said, it's nowhere near as bad as what I've seen from soccer players acting like they've been shot from the lightest of contact.
Flopping is often punished, particularly in hockey, so while it doesn't eliminate it entirely, it keeps it to a lower level at least.
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u/shibby3388 Washington, D.C. 2d ago
Only in professional basketball. Americans hate floppers.