Soccer: Stop the Diving!!!

I am not a huge Soccer fan by any stretch of the imagination. I respect the sport because it is the most popular sport in the world and it does have a certain element of gracefulness and beauty when it is played at the highest level. What turns me off the most about the game is the diving the players do. These players are supposed to be world class athletes and the World Cup is their biggest stage. To see these players barely get hit and go down like they've been shot by a firing squad, roll around in what looks like severe pain, then get up moments later like nothing happened is a disgrace and embarrassment to the sport, in my opinion. I have a hard time respecting any athlete that does that. If you get slid into, or knocked down, get back up and keep playing. I have not seen too many instances in this World Cup where a player has gotten severely injured. In the United States-Ghana game today, a few Ghana players went down and stayed down, especially in Extra Time, to milk the clock. These guys were not hurt at all. The referee did very little to speed up the game or call any of the players for diving.

If Soccer is going to get me to be a regular fan, these athletes are going to have to act like men and suck it up out there on the pitch. They need to stop acting like they are out there looking for an Academy Award nomination instead of playing for the sports most prestigious trophy, the World Cup. I admit though, I could be missing something, maybe it's my ignorance of the sport that doesn't give me the understanding as to why they dive like that. Regardless if that's the case or not, for these athletes to earn my respect and my interest in their sport, they are going to have to act like athletes and not actors. Soccer can be a very beautiful and graceful sport to watch, but there is nothing graceful about grown men falling in fake agony trying to get calls. That, in my opinion, is something Soccer officials need to take care of before the next World Cup.

Soccer Dives