This season the NBA released new guide lines for "anti-flopping" in the game. Flopping can be loosely defined as a player falling over, flailing out, or pretending to be hurt, faking a very physical play, where in real life nothing of that intensity really happened. The reason for a player 'flopping' is to hopefully be able to get the ref to make a foul call in their favor, which results in benefiting his team through gaining possession for his team, or extra free throw shots. The punishments for players who 'flop' are as follows: violation 1 = warning, 2 = $5,000, 3 = $10,000, 4 = $15,000, 5 = $30,000, and 6 or more could lead to suspension. Clearly the NBA believe 'flopping' to be a shameless act that take away from the honor and hard work that comes with playing in the NBA. Vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson quoted "Flops have no place in our game -they either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call". Although I first thought this new rule to be excessive and unnecessary, I now think that it is a good idea because it does take away from the prestige that comes with playing in the NBA. Players playing in this league are talented enough and are getting payed large amounts of money to display their talent at their fullest potential. When players try to fake these calls, it shows that they are not able to utilize their talents alone to try and win games. 'Flopping' to try and win games is unfair to the opposing team who are playing with the game with hard work and honor! This new rule reminds me of the functionalist view and how it values the positive characteristics that can be learned from sports that can be carried over to everyday life to positively contribute to the stability of society. 'Flopping' is not a positive characteristics that can be learned from sports as it works to fake our refs and fans into thinking that something happened when it really didn't. This type of action would not benefit society. Hopefully, creating these fines will influence players to be more aware of their actions and not let their desire to win affect how they carry themselves on the court, and instead have them continually focus their efforts on bettering their skill to positively contribute to the game and positively influence the game for years to come!

Matthew Tong KIN 332