Have you ever been in a public setting and you start to pick up on a trend? Maybe you see a couple of people wearing the same type of jeans. Or you notice that a couple of people are wearing the same hats. You then think to yourself, I guess that's the new "in" thing. And a couple of months later everyone has those jeans or that hat.
Tonight I caught some of the Duke - Virginia Tech game. Leon Washington, the athletic forward for Virginia Tech, flopped around the court all night. Unfortunately, this is common place in basketball today. A decade or so ago, Vlade Divac came into the NBA and started flopping to draw fouls. It was annoying then, but now it has gotten out of control. Want proof, I present to you:
Your honor, the prosecution rests!
Sure, some of this has gone on forever, but Vlade brought it to the mainstream. It seems that the "fundamentally sound" international players have copied the "Vlade model" and have had success with it. And it's no shock to discover where Vlade and his international brethren got this from. This type of thing is common place in soccer which most international players grew up playing.
So the question has to be asked, is basketball turning into soccer? Well, if players start celebrating as if they just cured cancer after every basket then we'll know we are there. Oh wait......
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