Is diving or faking injuries common in American sports like it is in soccer?

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Xarysa@reddit

Not as common no, basketball is the most common for sure. The NBA can treat it at times as a skill to be praised because it can not only generate points but get players fouled out of the game.

In the NFL it does exist, particularly among very protected positions, qb, punter, kicker. Some guys are very good at getting free yardage and first downs by making incidental contact look more significant then it was. Aaron Rodgers was very good at it in his prime, but there is a culture in the nfl of trying to fool the referees in general.

Its more rare in baseball, where theres essentially no contact, or the NHL where you basically have to start throwing hands to get a penalty.

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shibby3388@reddit

Only in professional basketball. Americans hate floppers.

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ExtremeIndividual707@reddit

Zero respect for them.

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SmellGestapo@reddit

It's so fucking annoying in basketball. The game is so much less watchable than it was 20-30 years ago.

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Ignatiussancho1729@reddit

It's the primary reason I won't watch soccer too. Loved the game in the 80s and early 90s, then everyone started rolling around the pitch pretending they're hurt (I believe the Italians started it). Either way, if they want me back as a fan, get rid of that crap.

Exactly. You take the hit and deal with it with either grit and determination, or comedy.

Dio_Yuji@reddit

A correct charging call and a flop are not mutually exclusive. Just because someone goes down easily (or intentionally) doesn’t mean there wasn’t a foul. Same with soccer

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Uhhh_what555476384@reddit

Taking a charge in a fundamentally sound way involves going to the ground, not to flop, but as self protection.

By falling you allow the energy to dispate in you movement rather than into your body causing injury.

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Jerrys_Puffy_Shirt@reddit

Duncan was never really an issue, it was more Ginobili. He'd have some ridiculous flops.

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SmellGestapo@reddit

This is why this argument is so fucking stupid. Why am I supposed to listen to someone who says they don't watch something to get a vibe on of something is good or bad?

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baalroo@reddit

I don't watch sports, but I play some sports video games and I was just wondering the other day after playing some EA College Football if any college teams exploit the injury timeout rules.

Seems you could just have a rotation of players who fake injuries and come off the field when you need an extra timeout at a pivotal moment.

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StuckInWarshington@reddit

This became pretty common when some offenses started going no huddle and increasing the rate of play. Teams with bigger but not as well conditioned defensive linemen started having lots of cramps and minor injuries.

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Uhhh_what555476384@reddit

Yeah it really started in the PAC where Kiffin was coaching at the time, when Cal decided that flopping was the only way to slow down Oregon's O in 2010.

happens in the NFL all the time too. kickers act like they were murdered if they are touched, some QBs can be a bit dramatic. Players in the middle of a post play scuffle sometimes flail around a bit.

Doesn’t really happen in baseball because there’s some macho thing there.

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Bitter-Marsupial@reddit

Opinion on Paul Pierce faking an injury because he pooped on court?

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Yikes. I don't really have an issue with selling an actual foul. But pretending like you are checking for blood is pretty pathetic.

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idiot-prodigy@reddit

There are NBA fans today that actually think Lebron is the greatest of all time over Michael Jordan, which is just ridiculous.

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SayethWeAll@reddit

certain teams do it more than others.

You can say Duke.

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CaptainAwesome06@reddit

LOL you hit the nail right on the head.

I went to a mid major school so Duke was never really on my radar. I just figured the hate for Duke was because they are traditionally good.

Then we played them. Holy cow did they flop every chance they got! It's was so frustrating to watch. I'd be embarrassed if that was my team.

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shibby3388@reddit

It’s pretty common in the NBA.

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nevermindthatyoudope@reddit

More of a problem in college football than the NBA to be honest.

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davdev@reddit

Happens too much in hockey too. Not as bad as basketball but it’s there

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micmea1@reddit

Idk, you get a lot of acting in football and hockey to try and draw attention to penalties.

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micmea1@reddit

Idk, you get a lot of acting in football and hockey to try and draw attention to penalties.

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No_Drag_1044@reddit

Happens in hockey on tripping calls all the time.

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 “Did you see X game yesterday?” Wasn’t that weird?” and then it’ll turn to what could have prevented it like “How did he miss that kick??” 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 don’t 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.

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 and 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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terryjuicelawson@reddit

Got to think how many Brits mock American sports from a place of sheer ignorance and how defensive people in subs like this are - maybe people should reflect a little more.

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jokeefe72@reddit

I’ve watched plenty of soccer. It’s boring to me. I’ve watched plenty of hockey and it’s wayyy more exciting (to me).

It really only gets called if they cause a delay of game which means its gotta be a super over the top dive that stops the play. Which I think is perfectly reasonable. I watch ALOT of hockey, especially this time of year (Because its the cup!) and I can assure you they dont take dives "all the time". It is very, very rare that you see a hockey player hit the ice and not get right back up and back in the action.

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Shoddster@reddit

Yes. Look at the stars of the Oklahoma City thunder and New York Knicks

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evil_burrito@reddit

No.

Soccer leads the sports universe in this shame.

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 there’s a grey area that means even egregious flops get upheld sometimes. And even if the foul is overturned, they can’t hand out yellow cards from VAR, meaning there’s really no disincentive for attackers to throw themselves down off minimal contact.

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HughLouisDewey@reddit

they can’t hand out yellow cards from VAR

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!"

Fyaal@reddit

Yes, but the opposing team isn’t likely to take kindly to that sort of act. And they’ll fix the problem for you

FIBA basketball also penalizes floppers with a technical foul.

The NBA needs to do this too. I was watching the WCF and SGA of the OKC Thunder deserves an academy award for real.

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sanka@reddit

A defender will not flop - the stakes are too high and if he falls and leaves the striker to do whatever they want hoping for a call that never comes their team will rip them a new one.

And in general people don’t just flop in the open field. Because why?

zack_bauer123@reddit

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.

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jokeefe72@reddit

I didn’t know that, but it’s somehow not surprising at all.

They were afraid of an uproar in support of the participation trophy flag, so in 1997, they decided to ban sticks at games.

Not an American, a Canadian, but what cracks me up is comparing soccer dives to hockey.

In hockey they’ll fall down, perhaps look like they’re in pain, and then often go on playing - with a broken bone.

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mtrap74@reddit

I don’t know, Women’s Soccer is pretty rough. I don’t recall seeing a lot of diving in those games.

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millerdrr@reddit

Depends on the sport.

Basketball, definitely.

Football, almost never.

Hockey players will pull their own teeth out, hand it to the coach, and go back to playing. They might fight the guy who knocked it loose.

NASCAR drivers have raced with seats redesigned to accommodate recent injuries. Bill Elliott once had an exhaust issue early in a race and spent three hours with the heels of his feet cooking as it they were over a fire; Dale Earnhardt flipped a car, noticed the wheels were still attached, and got back in. The rules were changed a decade ago to discourage pushing through injuries.

An Olympic gymnast competed with a broken ankle.

Baseball players sometimes step into a pitch to get walked, but they’re not really faking anything; they actually do take that hit.

I would say basketball is the only major American sport that has flopping. There’s some flopping in hockey as well, but not like basketball and certainly not like soccer.

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Goondal@reddit

Diving in basketball is might be even more egregious, probably because it is the sport where it is the most rewarded. Attempts in one way or another to influence/deceive referees happen in every sport

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msabeln@reddit

Americans used to be more stoic in athletics, with the attitude of “rolling with the punches” and “getting up and walking off” injuries. Parents and coaches reinforced this behavior.

That started changing quickly in the 1970s, when folks were told to “get in touch with their feelings”.

NBA elite players live off the flop. I am sure you can find a 30 minute highlight on YouTube somewhere that shows LeBron getting fouled without ever being touched but he sure acts like it.

There's a reason Zidane was one of the best players he made sure the opponent was actually injured if they stopped play lol.

Honestly there's been a million tim3s pro players have been questioned on the legitimacy of injuries

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huhwhat90@reddit

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!

ticklethycatastrophe@reddit

If the player can walk themselves off the field without a need for a timeout, then they wouldn’t be subject to the rule. So something nagging or minor should rarely get caught up in this. It’s anything that forces an injury timeout that should require them to sit out until the end of the drive.

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Uhhh_what555476384@reddit

Possession change would be appropriate, end of quarter goes to far.

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ce402@reddit

And then you get teams head-hunting the quarterback.

Oh, 15 yard penalty on the defense, and possible ejection of the safety, but the QB now has to sit out the entire quarter? Most teams would take that trade every day. And then you get players playing through injury and hiding concussion symptoms.

Second and third order effects to rule changes. It’s tough to police without really screwing up the game.

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justanaveragerunner@reddit

Fun fact- it isn't a new phenomena in college football. Notre Dame players admitted to doing it way back in 1953, and said it was a legal and common practice. At least, it was legal until after the controversy surrounding the 1953 Notre Dame against Iowa where Notre Dame used that tactic to great effect.

In soccer they'll fall to the ground while the play is going on and roll around holding their ankle for several seconds and if it doesn't work they just get back up like nothing happened.

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Squeengeebanjo@reddit

For real? All those defensive guys who happen to get an injury when the offensive is running no huddle is legit? I look silly now.

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Dio_Yuji@reddit

Players fake injuries all the time in American Football to waste time, kill the other team’s momentum, and curry favor with the refs…same reasons they do it in soccer

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moffman93@reddit

NFL also doesn't have the same level of guaranteed money that basketball and baseball has. If you don't play, eventually you just get cut and don't get paid.

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CaptainAwesome06@reddit

Agreed but there are some exceptions. I remember watching a NY Giants (IIRC) game. To stop the clock (I think), 3 Giants players just fell over, faking an injury.

It's probably most common in basketball

In baseball, in the event you feign injury from another player, it's likely there already could've been an obstruction ruling or other incident.

ln football, you can get injured without there being any sort of penalty call. That's just part of the game.

Hockey as well, you can get injured without there being any sort of incidental fault.

Some of these sports also have embellishment penalties where you would get penalized instead if they see through your rouse.

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ronshasta@reddit

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 you’re called out for doing that as it’s unfair to the pitcher. We don’t like flops and it’s a main reason “other than low scoring” why people here tend to think soccer is not entertaining

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Redbubble89@reddit

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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ILMTitan@reddit

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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MechanicalGodzilla@reddit

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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SenseNo635@reddit

In baseball it’s 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. I’m 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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dhrisc@reddit

Solid baseball W on the flopping issue. It also doesn't have a game clock so there is no strategy to clock mgmt like other games have, or penalty shot situations.

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Riker_Omega_Three@reddit

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

It’s pretty culturally frowned upon. It happens, but it is typically not well received if someone is caught flopping. It’s 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 “tough”.

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Nofanta@reddit

No. We call that theater. It’s what aspiring actors do, not athletes.

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Calm-Medicine-3992@reddit

Basketball is worse than soccer since not only do people dive even more but fouling on purpose is also a 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.

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AwkwarsLunchladyHugs@reddit

Ask Patrick Mahomes.

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1981drv2@reddit

Basketball.

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JohnConradKolos@reddit

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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BeautifulSundae6988@reddit

There's no crying in baseball.

That's a phrase for a reason

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Mixeygoat@reddit

People are saying basketball but it’s only the diving aspect that is mimicked in basketball. No one fakes injuries in basketball as much as they do in soccer. If someone in basketball is writhing in pain on the floor chances are they have a real injury.

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thermalman2@reddit

Soccer is by far the worst and incredibly obvious with all the camera angles and the general space between players.

I can’t remember specific instances or fighters but I know I’ve seen replays for the UFC where a fighter hammed it up and got away with pretending a kick or knee to the inner thigh was a nut shot.

Longwell2020@reddit

In football, baseball, and hockey, you would be mocked pretty bad if you did.

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Suspicious-Peace9233@reddit

I have never seen it happen in baseball

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blueponies1@reddit

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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idiot-prodigy@reddit

~~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.

This is NOT basketball, this is a joke.

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LiquidDreamtime@reddit

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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VolcanicTree@reddit

Only for basketball and even then being a notorious flopper is seen as a bad thing.

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Drslappybags@reddit

You will see it a lot in American football if the opponent's offense is in a nice fast rhythm. A lineman might fall down and grab his knee to buy some time for the defense to catch their breath.

And if you don't believe that, you can find videos on YouTube of someone yelling "Someone go down!!!" Followed by two players falling.

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It’s 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 “plus 1” 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.

“Flopping” is a part of basketball for the purpose of drawing a foul and getting free throws, though you don’t generally keep fake writhing on the court for long; you just exaggerate the body reaction to an imagined foul to draw the call. But also if you don’t show any exaggerated reaction, sometimes you get beat up on without getting any fouls called. So there’s some grey area.

Really doesn’t come up in baseball (because there is not much contact and little advantage to doing it). It is frowned upon in American football, which also has enough real devastating injuries that you don’t need to fake it. Hockey just lets people actually fight each other, lol.

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slowclapcitizenkane@reddit

In hockey, that would get you 2 minutes in the penalty box for embellishment.

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Lakerdog1970@reddit

Actually, its funny you ask.

The soccer pyramid in the US doesn't really exist like in other countries, but a lot of youth soccer clubs do field an adult team in the early summer: Usually from early/mid-May to early July.......then a quick post-season. The teams are primarily made up of college soccer players who are off for the summer. Sometimes the clubs bring them in.....and sometimes they're just home near their Mom or Dad for the summer. It's great fun. Nice hot summer weather. Go watch a game on Friday or Saturday night. Have a beer and watch soccer. The kids love it too because a lot of the players are also working at summer soccer camps they're attending.

It is SHOCKING how little diving happens. Shocking.

Like most American soccer fans, most of the soccer I watch is in Europe or maybe Mexico. Once you get used to all the embellishment and diving and rolling around grabbing an ankle (and then being perfectly fine 3 minutes later, lol), you just get used to it.

Then you watch all these 20-22YO young American boys playing and its shocking to see players dribbling and just bouncing off challenges, staying on their feet, etc. I mean, it makes sense too......these are athletic young men: they shouldn't fall down just because they were jostled. But the game honestly has better flow to it....but it does take some getting used to when you see a play that would normally have both players rolling around in fake agony hoping that the ref will give the other a yellow.

The other funny thing you notice is when you do see a player go down from nothing, it really stands out......then you look in the program and see that he does go to college here, but grew up in South America.

And to be clear, I'm not at all saying that American soccer players have more integrity or are more manly. In fact, national team fans wish our players would try to draw cheap fouls, cards and penalties in international soccer.......especially versus Central American teams who are - omg! - embellishing.

What causes more of it - imho - is these soccer players grow up playing a sport with a lot of the guys challenge their toughness (and often sexuality) a LOT. They hear it from guys on the American Football Team, the basketball team, the baseball team, the track team, the wrestlers, etc. Basically that they are soft and soccer is a soft sport. It's just not the main sport for young guys and they can get defensive about the toughness aspect and I think they make an extra show of being tough and NOT falling down like the stereotypes suggest.

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1Negative_Person@reddit

You’re focusing a lot on men, as if girls and women don’t also play soccer. Go watch a high school girls team play; they’re not diving either.

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Lakerdog1970@reddit

Oh I know. I just don't watch much professional women's soccer. My only real exposure is to the Mexican and Brazilian team......and you're right.....those girls are diving a LOT.

QBs and WR flop all the time in football. DL will always act like they are being held. This is all flopping trying to draw a flag(foul). It’s the same thing.

Baseball is not really intended to be a contact sport so it’s less common but you’ll occasionally see someone pretend to be hit by a pitch who wasn’t.

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SonOfMcGee@reddit

Basketball is known for players embellishing contact with an opponent to make it look like it made them fall down (flopping). They almost never fake injury.

In American Football it is incredibly uncommon to fake injury. But once or twice a pro/college season you might see a highlight clip where a player obviously just decided (or was told) not to get up so as to trigger a stoppage in play. This isn’t to try to get a foul called on the opponents, but to bail their team out of some sort of clock/timing issue. It’s technically illegal but happens so infrequently it really isn’t seen as a problem.

Hockey players don’t flop. Ever. They’re more likely to pretend they aren’t injured when they clearly are.

So soccer is unique in that players commonly flop and spend several minutes reenacting the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan. Wailing what must be their last breaths as they grasp at the stump that used to be their leg. Oh nevermind, they’re fine now.

It’s the extended theatrics we Americans find pitiful, not the initial “flop” itself. Which like I said is really quite common in basketball.

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IndividualLibrary358@reddit

Ive seen a couple embellishment penalties called in NHL games in my time. Its definitely not common though.

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SonOfMcGee@reddit

Yeah. I think if you searched for a while you could come up with a few clips of soccer-level bullshit from both hockey and American football. But pointing at those isolated incidents would be a sort of “bad faith argument” because you’re well aware of the comparative rarity.
Pile together a decade worth of flip/fake injury clips from both those sports are you still wouldn’t approach any given Italy vs Spain soccer match.

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IndividualLibrary358@reddit

Yes. Absolutely.

But I was responding to your claim that hockey players dont take dives EVER.

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cikanman@reddit

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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Extension-Scarcity41@reddit

Maybe some in basketball, because you can get a key player to foul out and impact the tone of the game, but generally not. The rules of the rest of the games are not structured in such a way as to allow it, and it is deeply frowned upon. In american football, there are some instances of defensive backs trying to draw a pass interference call at a key moment in the game, but the refs are usually pretty good about delineating real from fabricated interference.

notyogrannysgrandkid@reddit

It is if you play football for Ole Miss

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

Faking injuries isn't super common, mostly because every other sport (baseball excluded) simply stops the clock, so there's not much advantage to milking a supposed injury.

Diving is definitely a thing in pretty much all the sports, except maybe baseball (I'm not sure, but I would imagine that anyone who flops in baseball is going to get hit by a pitch their next at bat to send a message, baseball players are pretty serious about bullshit)

Basketball does it all the time, it's a common way to draw fouls.

Hockey players will do it, it's a penalty that sometimes gets called.

Football players do it a lot, look at the top level quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes flopping on youtube for good examples of how they do it to draw calls.

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SenorPuff@reddit

There's a difference between faking an injury and "selling a foul" to American sports viewers.

Both Basketball and Football are contact sports: you can touch the opposing player, but there are rules about how you can do it. Certain forms of touching are against the rules, and are a penalty for the other team. Given that, if you can force your opponent to touch you in that fashion, its better for your team. And at the furthest extent of this idea, even if they dont touch you in this way, if you can make the Referee/umpire think the opposing player touched you inappropriately, you get the benefits all the same.

"Selling a foul" is somewhere in here. It almost never fakes injury, and it doesn't need to. The contact was either acceptable or not on its own, and whether you got injured by it isn't a factor. The rules are the rules, and using the rules to your advantage is expected. When an NBA player goes up for a shot and contorts their body to make the defender contact them, to make it into a foul, they arent faking an injury. Drawing a foul in that context isn't even unsportsmanlike. Defenders know what's coming, and it requires athleticism by both players to either force the contact or evade it.

Pass interference in the NFL is another are where there will be similar behavior, but its a fine line there. They still aren't faking an injury. The risk is, if they fall down and act like they got illegally pushed, the defender might intercept the pass. Some teams have made an art form out of being able to reliably get pass interference calls, but smart, talented players putting the defense in a bad situation with respect to the rules is exactly what you're paying them for.

The only area where I've seen "Injury faking" is in American football, when defensive players will fake an injury to get an "injury time-out." This gives a momentary stoppage in play while the player is assessed and helped off the field. Its generally used to break up the rhythm of the offense. Most people consider it a distasteful tactic, partly because it makes people wonder if people actually are injured when they hit the turf and dont get up, or just faking it. There are a number of proposed "penalties" to dissuade this behavior. Currently players that have to be escorted off the field need to wait one play. Some suggest that independent doctors evaluate every injury so there is an indeterminate time the player will be off the field as they get evaluated. Others suggest it simply be a set time, but more like 5 plays or until the teams change possession.

Its important to note that this isn't necessarily pretending the opposing team did something to injure you, even unintentionally. Cramps happen, tripping and getting the wind knocked out of you, etc. But it is looked down on as abusing the care given to players who are legitimately injured when you're unable to keep pace with the opponent.

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DCDHermes@reddit

Everyone is saying basketball, so I’ll 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 you’re going to take a penalty, might as well really get your two minutes worth.

It’s the best thing about hockey, the players on ice regulate each other’s behavior and have long memories.

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SeaAndSkyForever@reddit

Football kickers are notorious for this.

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Humble-End-2535@reddit

I don't know if it is as common, but, as others have said, flopping in basketball is a problem.

Some sports, yes. It's disgusting.

That's why I like hockey. Most players will continue playing even if hurt and if someone does try to dive, that's actually a penalty called embellishment.

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NickElso579@reddit

Basketball is the only sport where that shit gets pulled, and even then, not nearly as much as European Football players do. All the real athletes in Europe come over here to play Hockey.

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Unlucky-Pomegranate3@reddit

In college football, it had become an epidemic in recent years for defensive players to fake injuries to slow down or disrupt the rhythm of the offense.

They actually made some mid-season rule changes last Fall as it had gotten prevalent.

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MartialBob@reddit

It's become something in professional basketball, with a certain level of controversy, but is otherwise not a thing.

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Comprehensive_Tap438@reddit

The US Men’s soccer team doesn’t dive to a fault. Which is competitively disadvantageous to them but noble. You’ll see it in basketball and hockey but it’s a penalty in hockey if you get “caught”

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CapitalG888@reddit

Only in basketball ball. Look up SGA flops on YouTube. This is a guy who's a top current player.

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SeaworthinessIcy6419@reddit

Eh....I see it sometimes in hockey. But its a 2 minute penalty if the ref thinks they dived so its not easy to pull off. Usually they exaggerate an actually penalty.

Now one time I did see a goalie have a helmet issue conveniently when his team had an injured player on the ice and because they'd just iced the puck the player had to stay on the ice until the next face off. The commentors speculated whether the veteran goalie had snapped a tie on his chin strap on purpose to give his injured player a few more minutes to rest.

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Real-Psychology-4261@reddit

I take it you didn’t watch the Thunder-Wolves game last night?

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Careful-Bumblebee-10@reddit

You're seeing it increasingly in basketball and a bit more in hockey. Not so much baseball (that would be hard since there's very little contact) or American football (they actually get penalized if players try to do this). Not sure if they learned it from soccer but it's possible.

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JonnyBox@reddit

Faking injury, no. Americans hate it, and it's seen in sports as a cowardly tactic.

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.

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.

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jameson8016@reddit

In football, it happens a bit, though I don't think it's for the same reason. My understanding is that in soccer they're usually trying to get a penalty against the other team, though I don't know much about soccer so that may be wrong.

In football, it's usually to get a free time-out. They actually have rules about it because of this, like if the player isn't either up or off the field in a certain amount of time, the team will have to use a time-out. I think the refs also have some leeway to give a penalty if it's too blatant.

*So while I was typing, I got curious and turns out they've recently changed things a bit. Under the new rule, if the player presents as injured after the ball is spotted by the officiating crew for the next play, that player's team will be charged a timeout. If the team does not have any timeouts remaining, a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty will be assessed.

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ibridoangelico@reddit

While "Embellishment" or "selling a foul" absolutely does exist, faking injuries doesnt. Both actions are met with a lot of backlash in the US, an I actually think the whole culture behind "faking injuries" and "diving" is a big reason why soccer hasnt taken off in America like it has in other countries.

A whole generation of American men have been trained into thinking that soccer is "soft" for this reason

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semasswood@reddit

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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justwatchingsports@reddit

In virtually every sport, trying to manipulate referees/umpires is a common strategy.

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.

In baseball, it’s mostly about catchers making things look like strikes when they weren’t (pitch framing).

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.

I don’t want hockey, but I would imagine people exaggerate hooking and interference to get power play calls.

None of this needs to be learned from other sports, it’s just a fairly obvious strategy that comes from a pretty basic understanding of the rules of the game.

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Emotional-Loss-9852@reddit

May I introduce you to Shai Gilgeous Alexander

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Retskcaj19@reddit

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.