[Bleep] fills the World Cup mailbag

SEOUL -- Hello again from the World Cup in South Korea, from where I'll answer a few of your e-mails about the tournament and my views on some of the issues it's raised so far.

Earlier this week I wrote a piece criticizing the rash of bad acting from players who've been falling down like pins in a bowling alley seeking fouls or trying to get other opponents booked or sent-off. I suggested it's a blight on the game and needs a reform of the rules, whereby any player enforcing a stoppage for attention following a challenge should be forced to stay off the pitch for two minutes, unless the challenge that resulted in his "injury" warranted a card.

Here's a few of your reactions in no particular order.

Rob of Burke, Va., is not my biggest fan.

First of all, you don't know bleep about soccer. If you did, you know that faking a foul is part of the game. You are a fool, who just like every other American, doesn't know bleep about soccer. You said you have been hit in the face with an elbow while playing football. You wear a helmet with a face mask, that makes that almost impossible. You don't know bleep, therefore shut up.

Thanks for your polite well reasoned observation, my friend. But may I point out a few minor chinks in your rhetoric? Firstly, I'm English not American, so when I refer to the game as "football" I mean "soccer" -- not the gridiron American game. You claim that I should know that "faking a foul is part of the game," which is exactly the point I was making. Faking a foul is too much a part of the game, an unsavory part, and should therefore be outlawed and punished more severely.

Also, for your information, I've played the game since I was four-years-old, and achieved a decent enough standard during my youth to train with a top-flight English club. Ultimately, I didn't make the grade as a professional, but I did continue to play at a level where there was money in my boots at the end of the game. In addition, I've also spent more than 20 years covering football/soccer, including four World Cups, three European Championships, plus numerous domestic league and European games, and the Olympic soccer tournament. I don't profess to be an encyclopedia on the game, or to have all the answers, but perhaps if you didn't have bleep on the brain, you might have realized that I must have some credentials to do this job, or CNN wouldn't have hired me to do it.

Entirely agree with you about this idiocy of "diving" which is plaguing the World Cup. These wussies are dropping like they've been shot much more often than they drive through a challenge or attempt to maintain or catch their balance to pursue a play. It's absolutely sickening and rots the integrity of this otherwise most wonderful of sports. Your remedy is a good one and easily applied -- I like it. I think part of the problem (besides lack of pride) is the severity of the punishment. The proper call is a foul and caution, which is the same call for a reckless tackle or elbow, kick, etc. Therefore, the referee tends to hold back on making such a harsh call. Likewise, the expulsion is very severe in its penalties, having the same consequence. What is needed, (but we'll likely never see) is a softer card (say a blue card) for less severe or non-physical penalties, such as diving and fabricating injury, delay of game, encroachment, dissent, etc. Say 2 blue cards equal a yellow and a third another yellow or some such thing. This coupled with a solution such as yours I do believe would eradicate the plague of sissiness among "professional" soccer players.
--E W Carnegie of Pittsburgh, PA.

You see, this what I like, a rational creative suggestion. A blue card sounds like a great "middle ground" solution. Let the punishment fit the crime.

Thorpe from Dallas, Texas, believes "play-acting" is a cultural thing.

Mailbag

Terry Baddoo will answer questions from CNNSI.com users in his mailbag periodically. If you'd like to submit a question, please enter it below.

Your name: Your E-mail Address: Your Hometown: Enter Your Question:

As an 18-year-old in 1990, I played in youth soccer tournaments in Sweden, Denmark and England. The first thing we learned was that if you elbow, bump, nudge or make any type of contact with most the European players, in an area of the field which gives them an advantage, they go down screaming in agony. Where, the American players play on, such action not even crossing our minds. To me, it was clearly an example of our sporting cultures. Americans grow up watching American Football, where you never show you are hurt, or fake an injury. Europeans grow up watching soccer, where faking an injury can only benefit your team.

I'm not sure the "noble American" theory holds up in practice, Thorpe. Have you seen the NBA lately? Shaq only has to look at someone the wrong way and they're flat on their back claiming a charging foul. I agree there's a problem in soccer, but I think most professional teams have fielded their share of drama queens at some time, whatever their nationality.

Chad Lamb of Salt Lake City, Utah, believe these B-movie actors have no shame.

While I do believe some of the hits hurt, these players are seen grimacing on the field in extreme pain, then the moment they are carted off to the sideline they jump up and act as if nothing happened so they can get back into the game. Don't you feel it is an embarrassment to the individual to be carted off on a stretcher to the sideline?

It's a FIFA rule that an injured player is carried to the sideline if he needs treatment, so I don't have any problem with the stretcher. My concern is with players who go down like a block of flats when the wind blows. They often don't need a stretcher, or even a Band-Aid for that matter. Yet they hold up the game with their amateur dramatics and receive no punishment for it -- hence my suggestion of mandatory "recovery" period.

Paul from Austin, Texas, thinks the lack of consistent refereeing is to blame for some players over-acting.

Most players know that they have to "help" the ref when they get fouled by going down, otherwise they will constantly be hit without a call. The problem is when the players do more than just fall down. I still respect a player that does not stay on his feet after getting fouled, but it is disgraceful to go beyond that with the play-acting, especially if done to draw a card.

While the standard of officiating will always be up for debate, I feel it's all too easy to blame referees for the ills in the game. As a player, your job is to play, not to referee. The rules say that the officials make the decisions about a foul, which means he shouldn't be preempted by a player, even under the guise of "helping." I realize I'm taking the moral high ground here, and that the modern game is less ethical than it used to be, but the logical conclusion to your suggestion is that we do away with referees altogether and let the players make the calls. The result of that would be anarchy of course.

Danny Fry of Dallas, Texas, feels the theatrics of some players are stunting the sport's growth.

This is not a question... this is a thank you for writing about simulation. If the sport is ever to be given any serious consideration in the U.S., the players have got to start acting like men, which means taking contact like men!

Neil Dallas of Minneapolis, MN, believes the pros are simply setting a bad example, not just in terms of football -- but for life in general.

I live in Brazil and can honestly say that bad acting is a disease down here. Players, coaches, and even fans regularly say that the smart thing to do when making contact is to throw your arms up and fall spectacularly in order to show the referee that you have been hit. This sad state of affairs is widely thought of as "good play" and the refs don't do anything to stop it. In fact, I would say that the "acting" strategy is often rewarded with a foul or card in favor of the "actor." I support Mr. Baddoo's opinion wholeheartedly. It's time we sent a message to young people that cheating an overreacting to things in the world don't get you ahead in life.

David Compton of Oklahoma City, OK, thinks I'm too negative.

Why do you have to make it even more difficult for soccer? I was watching a replayed game with my brother, a fan of every sport BUT soccer, and he was complaining about a Costa Rican player's simulation after a foul. He said "Look at that wus, can't even take a slide tackle. That's why soccer sucks." By focusing an entire article on one "wart" of soccer, and having that be the headline on the cnnsi.com homepage, you are playing into the hands of the "anti-soccer" attitude of most American male sports fans. How about a positive article pointing out the progress the U.S. team and soccer in the U.S. has made?

Firstly, my columns are supposed to focus on international issues, not solely on those affecting the U.S. Secondly, I've done an overtly positive piece on how the goals are flying in at this World Cup with the new ball. Thirdly, this was a positive piece -- it was saying stamp out the play-acting and let's bring more honesty and integrity into the game. Unfortunately, what I saw as a beauty spot, you chose to see as a wart.

Jim Neil of Tainan, Taiwan, says you don't get this "wussy" behavior in hockey.

I have played and watched ice hockey for several years. There is the odd "dive" to try and draw a penalty against the opposition, but rolling around after being hit, not likely. The only reason I watch football now is because it's the World Cup. The simulation and more importantly the lack of the football organizations to do anything about it I can't stand. Please pass my thoughts along.

Thanks for your support, Jim. Now if you could please pass along my objections to the gratuitous violence that seems to be part and parcel of the "gloves off" mentality of professional ice hockey, perhaps we could clean up both games.

Nicolae Carpathia of Detroit thinks I stated the obvious.

Do you really think you're non-significant opinion on this obvious issue is going to make a difference? Why don't you write something that's based on your unique position, not on what 99 percent of the world knows about. This is why CNN never be ESPN.

The word is "insignificant," Nicolae. And if the issue is so "obvious," why is it still tolerated? If we all thought like you, nothing would ever change. Maybe one person can't make a difference. But one person can get a few more people thinking, and they can get a few more on the case, and before you know where you are you've got a movement. Today CNN, tomorrow the world! Besides, I think this piece is based on my unique position in that I watch football and talk to players and coaches for a living. Incidentally, I'm not about to comment on the ESPN style, but I believe our two networks have different agendas when it comes to sports coverage, and you are entitled to make your choice.

Terry, I'm sorry, but you don't really know what soccer is. Your phrase "I played football at a fairly competitive level" is pathetic. Either you never played soccer or you played that weird and stupid thing you people in the U.S. call "football." The beauty of soccer is in playing it with no fouls. Once the other team fouls me, I'd make sure they get the hardest penalty they might -- yellow or red card -- so they don't foul me again. And, if to do it so I have to pretend or act a little, you bet I'll do it. The masculine world, my friend, is not divided as ["sissies"] and "machos," pals. But I do think that's too much to your understanding, isn't it?
--Fabio Kaiut Nunes, Curitiba, Brazil

You're so right, Fabio -- I haven't got a clue what you're talking about. Cheating is what the beautiful game is all about is it? If, as you say "the beauty of soccer is in playing with no fouls," isn't it contradictory to fake an injury or con the ref? Isn't that breaking the rules in itself? And who said anything about ["sissies"] and "machos"? The dispute is over honesty and dishonesty. Surely, you're operating on a double standard. You want a game with integrity but support corruption if it suits your ends. Something wrong there, don't you think? And, once again, I live in the U.S. but, I AM ENGLISH, NOT AMERICAN.

And finally, this age-old question from Joe in London:

"So let's stop this nonsense and encourage players to act like real men instead of Bambi." What is a real man?

I think you've got the wrong Web site here, Joe, you need Cosmopolitan.

Enjoy the World Cup.

Terry Baddoo is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN International. He will regularly contribute Postcards from South Korea to CNNSI.com during the World Cup.

 

Related information

Stories

Baddoo Insider: Put a stop to bad acting at Cup

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video