Just sad day for sports

[Elspode]

Another thing to consider is that, as in American football, doing a nice acting job if you're hit (like, say, the punter taking a dive) can result in a favorable call, giving you a free kick or even causing the opponent to be carded.

I think of it as tactical acting...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

*rimshot*

Ooooh, not all of them like rimshots.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Another thing to consider is that, as in American football, doing a nice acting job if you're hit (like, say, the punter taking a dive) can result in a favorable call, giving you a free kick or even causing the opponent to be carded.

I think of it as tactical acting...

Yes, and I contrasted that head butt versus the phony dive by the french forward at 5:00. Even if it were a dive/flop, it would have been justified. But, I still claim the head butt was a flagrant foul, unexpected by the other guy.

[Elspode]

I didn't get to see the final, so I just read up a bit. If the Italian did in fact take a dive, it was a brilliant dive, and Zidane was a moron for letting his temper get the best of him. What a twit.

My hat is off to the Italian player who, whether it hurt or not, did the smart thing and let Zidane hose his own team.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

This is why I won't watch soccer or basketball. Can't watch pussies fall at the slightest touch...

As I mentioned before, I played BB regularly with Marines. I am 5' 8" and one time I downed a 6' 2" muscle-bound Marine.

Cheek got a pass at the foul line, dribbled once, then decided to take a shot. As the pass reached him, I charged him to challenge his shot. Given that Cheek lost his dribble, I charged him aggressively. Absent-mindely, he again dribbled once and my knee hit his mid-upper-thigh. Cheek went down immediately and whithered on the ground for 10 seconds. Then, he got up and said, "Sorry, I traveled."

Later, Cheek told me that the way I accidentally hit him with my knee is actually a detainee control technique. You hit the guy with your knee in a certain place and he is down for the count.

There are several sensitive points throughout the human body. Cheap Flagrant Fouls in all sports should not be tolerated.


PS: I once was on the receiving end of a particularly badly placed elbow to my face in a pickup hockey game. Kind of the "funny bone" of your face. The doctor said it was serious for me to not play sports for 3 months.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I didn't get to see the final, so I just read up a bit. If the Italian did in fact take a dive, it was a brilliant dive, and Zidane was a moron for letting his temper get the best of him. What a twit.

My hat is off to the Italian player who, whether it hurt or not, did the smart thing and let Zidane hose his own team.

I TOTALLY agree with your sentiment here.

I really believe that the Italian player that was hit was as surprised as anyone else. I watched it live on ReplayTV and watched it several time replayed back.

Zidane just showed his real character.

I also watched the frog forward dive of 5:00 many times. The French should never have had a goal in that game at all.

For rkzenrage to watch the whole game and see the frog dive goal and then accuse the head-butted italian guy for a dive is a complete travesty and utter ignorance.

[Elspode]

I wouldn't say that, exactly. Different strokes, different opinions. I read opinions going both ways (Fox excerpt was something like "I've seen worse in peewee hockey games").

The point of the game is to *win*. You do what you can do within the rules to accomplish the point. Italy did that masterfully, and France should learn something.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by Elspode

I wouldn't say that, exactly. Different strokes, different opinions. I read opinions going both ways (Fox excerpt was something like "I've seen worse in peewee hockey games").

The point of the game is to *win*. You do what you can do within the rules to accomplish the point. Italy did that masterfully, and France should learn something.

Sorry, but I saw the game and you didn't. France was the divers/foppers AND the flagrant foulers.

France got their bogus goal masterfully thru a forward flop in the box for a penalty kick. So lame.

Let's say you are up against Michael Jordan in the NBA finals in Game 7 in Overtime. Do you really expect him to head-butt you and possibly get ejected from the game?

When the NHL went from 1 referee to 2, some veterans were caught with their "hand in the cookie jar". I remember Rick Tocchet sucker punching a guy during a faceoff when he thought the ref was not looking at him. Whoooops, the Second Ref rang him up for a 5 Minute Major Penalty for fighting. Whooopps.

Zidane was just soooo arragont that he thought he could get away with a hurtful flagrant foul, and you know what, he can't. Fuck him, swine frog. May his dead career never find peace.

[lookout123]

i watched it live and that was real. i play in a soccer league and, while there are some good players, no one is pro material - but the headshots have tremendous force if done correctly. done correctly right into the sternum? that's a dropper.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Chuck Norris would have killed him.

[Griff]

Maybe being on the same planet as Chuck is what took the Frenchman down in the fifth minute.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Ibram

And I mean look at the way he crumples once he's down... that fuckin' hurt, man....

They do that even when there's no contact, though.

I'm waiting for the rollerball league to start.

Right.
I'm talking about overall and not just that one hit.
If you get brushed and fall you are a pussy and don't deserve to play the game.
Just because it is "for the team" and about the "rules" is bogus and you know it.
There used to be such a thing as honor and the game used to be about teaching kids about being men and women and learning how to act, a microcosm of the world.
Watching a bunch of pansies twist the rules to cheat the real reason they are there and throw their honor out the window is a travesty.

[Rock Steady]

You are right. In basketball, the "taking a charge" defense where you plant your feet a microsecond before the dribbler commits is a farce. 250 lb guys shouldn't be flopping. It's gotten out of hand.