Help a poor dumb colonists #5

[cheerupjimmyhill]

I always thought Ivor was very good at 'winning' penalties.

Makes you wonder how George best played at the incredible level he did without diving (i think) even with players like chopper harris and norman bites your legs hunter around.

[Forever Fulham]

I'm evolving, so definitely not Italian.   :drums:  Italian, Italian...let's see.  The basketball game is on the line.  One second on the clock.  Score tied.  You go up to shoot, and the defender tries to block your shot.  He doesn't touch you, but the ref calls "foul" and sends you to the free throw line, where an easy free throw will win the game for your team.   What do you do, Mr. Moralist?  See, that's the functional equivalent of diving when untouched.   What's keeping you from speaking up, saying, "Hey, ref, he never touched me"?  You can play out countless scenarios like these for all aspects of soccer, and in just about every sport, and yet it's only the divers who draw such contempt.  I don't get that.  You're American.  Ever watch Manu Ginobili play for the San Antonio Spurs?  One of my favorite basketball players.  Argentinian of Italian extraction.  They call him a "flopper."  He takes a little contact on the dribble near the basket and, hesto presto, arms flailing all akimbo, down he goes in a dramatic splashy way.  Is this basketball or Swan Lake for God's sake!  The ref blows the whistle, and one of the best shooters in the game steps to the charity stripe for two free throws.  He WAS fouled, but probably not enough to make him go down or at least to call attention to the foul and ensure it was called.  So down he goes.  You tell me where and how a fan of the game, of any game, should draw the line between appropriate or inappropriate.   What's the ref, a potted plant?  It's his job to make the call. 

[YankeeJim]

I'm evolving, so definitely not Italian.   :drums:  Italian, Italian...let's see.  The basketball game is on the line.  One second on the clock.  Score tied.  You go up to shoot, and the defender tries to block your shot.  He doesn't touch you, but the ref calls "foul" and sends you to the free throw line, where an easy free throw will win the game for your team.   What do you do, Mr. Moralist?  See, that's the functional equivalent of diving when untouched.   What's keeping you from speaking up, saying, "Hey, ref, he never touched me"?  You can play out countless scenarios like these for all aspects of soccer, and in just about every sport, and yet it's only the divers who draw such contempt.  I don't get that.  You're American.  Ever watch Manu Ginobili play for the San Antonio Spurs?  One of my favorite basketball players.  Argentinian of Italian extraction.  They call him a "flopper."  He takes a little contact on the dribble near the basket and, hesto presto, arms flailing all akimbo, down he goes in a dramatic splashy way.  Is this basketball or Swan Lake for God's sake!  The ref blows the whistle, and one of the best shooters in the game steps to the charity stripe for two free throws.  He WAS fouled, but probably not enough to make him go down or at least to call attention to the foul and ensure it was called.  So down he goes.  You tell me where and how a fan of the game, of any game, should draw the line between appropriate or inappropriate.   What's the ref, a potted plant?  It's his job to make the call. 

Argentinian of Italian extraction: that would mean flopping is in his genes. He probably can't, not do it.
Mr. Moralist?  I'll assume you meant that as a joke.
As to the tangent you ran off on, taking advantage is part of life. Those that can, usually do. As Leo Durocher said, "Nice guys finish last". I'm not disputing that it exists in all sports on all teams. What I dislike is when the flow of the game is  disrupted. It detracts from the pleasure of watching the game. Why is it necessary on evey pass, every 50-50 ball, every shot, every throw or dead ball as it is in Series A?

[MikeCdawg]

It's all down to mind games and trying to wind the opponent up. I don't know if you seen any of the Celtic vs Juve game, all that jostling in the box, tugging shirts, diving. They all fall in to the same category as far as getting on the nerves of your opposition is concerned in my opinion.

It's more about "footballing culture" they are encouraged to do these type of things by their coaches. Players don't play at their best when they're mad!

[Forever Fulham]

Juve defenders hung all over Celtic players in that game.  But for Lennon to complain about it to the press--that was embarrassing. You complain, maybe, after losing  by a goal.  But 3-0?  Really?  Put on your big boy pants.   Suddenly a team from the north is crying about an opponent playing physical, grabbing and holding?  Sheesh.  Well, Stoke is coming up, and we know how they play.  We need the points.  Therefore, Should Fulham players
A.  Defend like banshees, destroy all monsters, come in here you're dead, you hear me, your dead!?
or
B.  Play skillful football, diligently observing every rule, and turn the other cheek while (ouch!) Ryan (ow!) Shawcross plays rugby, and sends Ruiz to the hospital?

What is Stoke, anyway, but the flip side of Latin Divers?   Which is worse? 
We all have a mass of inconsistent opinions on fair play and sportsmanship.  But I want us to win against Stoke.  I hate the way they play more than I hate a skilled player who dives when he can get away with it  I figure it's the ref's job to sort out who is faking and who isn't, hard as that job is.  But I can't stand to see a cynical tackle, where someone is badly hurt.  That's my line in the sand.  What's yours?

[McBridefan1]

I'm evolving, so definitely not Italian.   :drums:  Italian, Italian...let's see.  The basketball game is on the line.  One second on the clock.  Score tied.  You go up to shoot, and the defender tries to block your shot.  He doesn't touch you, but the ref calls "foul" and sends you to the free throw line, where an easy free throw will win the game for your team.   What do you do, Mr. Moralist?  See, that's the functional equivalent of diving when untouched.   What's keeping you from speaking up, saying, "Hey, ref, he never touched me"?  You can play out countless scenarios like these for all aspects of soccer, and in just about every sport, and yet it's only the divers who draw such contempt.  I don't get that.  You're American.  Ever watch Manu Ginobili play for the San Antonio Spurs?  One of my favorite basketball players.  Argentinian of Italian extraction.  They call him a "flopper."  He takes a little contact on the dribble near the basket and, hesto presto, arms flailing all akimbo, down he goes in a dramatic splashy way.  Is this basketball or Swan Lake for God's sake!  The ref blows the whistle, and one of the best shooters in the game steps to the charity stripe for two free throws.  He WAS fouled, but probably not enough to make him go down or at least to call attention to the foul and ensure it was called.  So down he goes.  You tell me where and how a fan of the game, of any game, should draw the line between appropriate or inappropriate.   What's the ref, a potted plant?  It's his job to make the call. 

I'll take it one step further... Michael Jordan got the phantom foul call every time he wanted it. Christ the so called greatest player to play the game was for all intents and purposes a flopper. Then again I hated when he did it and I hate when football players do it. Especially when they roll around on the ground for three minutes then after they get the other guy a card they pop up like nothing ever happened. But the English cheat too they just don't make a big show of it, until they cry foul, then its a three ring circus... man do they love to cry.

[NogoodBoyo]

That's why Australians call us whingeing poms.
Nogood "g'day, isit" Boyo

[A Humble Man]

Stand by any set of traffic lights and at least one person will go through the red.  Stand on any 30 mph road and at least one car every few minutes will be driving close to 50 mph.  Go to any football match and players will be diving everywhere and supporters will be standing everywhere.  The pubs are filled with under age drinkers.  People park where the like ignoring the regulations.

We have become a deeply degenerate society lacking morality of any kind and happy to ignore any law that does not suit them.

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

This is quite funny (the music helps )

WORST FOOTBALL (Soccer) DIVERS and CHEATERS

[Forever Fulham]

God, that really is a disgusting compilation of fakery, isn't it?  Even Figo?!  Wow.   McBridefan1, how can you say English players make a meal out of crying foul?  I don't think that's true at all.  Rather, the opposite seems more true to me.  They disadvantage themselves in international tournaments (just as Americans and Canadians and northern European and, I think, Asian Rim countries do) by usually trying to avoid going down on minimal contact.  There's a moral compass--it's fluid, I'll grant you that--which for whatever reason motivates them to honor a set of unwritten rules of play decorum.  But my larger point is that there are observed exceptions which eat up the rule.  Holding.  Hugging.  Tugging.  Obstructing.  Rough house tackling.  It's as if the school playground taught what was noble, though disadvantaging, and a silent pact was made to honor subjective touchstones of honorable play.  But what we have today is a mish-mash of inconsistent belief systems.  It's OK to play like Shawcross; not OK to dive like Suarez.  Why?  Every so many years, England and teams that play like England try to advance in the big international cups.  Those subjective touchstones of honorable play--do they help us or hurt us when playing Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina...? 

[MikeCdawg]

Steven Gerrard - Diving hypocrite

I like this video. Steven Gerrard Hypocrite

[Azeedo]

Are you serious may be you should not sugarcoat your words and be honest of what you are trying to say.