I and three of my daughters have serious problems with autoimmune disease: [View all]

[hedgehog]

Lupus, Fibromylagia, Sjogren's Syndrome and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. There are pallative treatments for these, but nothing that really gets to the root of the problem, and nothing that really addresses the more serious symptoms without side effects. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to hear of this:


Biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University have teamed with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to carry out a scientific study of the unsavory practice of player flopping in basketball and other sports.

Flopping is a player’s deliberate act of falling, or recoiling unnecessarily from a nearby opponent, to deceive game officials. Athletes engage in dramatic flopping to create the illusion of illegal contact, hoping to bait officials into calling undeserved fouls on opponents.

The phenomenon is considered a widespread problem in professional basketball and soccer. To discourage the practice, the National Basketball Association in 2012 began a system of escalating fines against NBA players suspected of flopping, including during the playoffs, “NBA announces anti-flopping rules for playoffs.”

The Cuban-owned company Radical Hoops Ltd. awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund the 18-month research study at SMU, Dallas.

http://blog.smu.edu/research/2013/06/07/smu-biomechanics-experts-team-with-mark-cuban-to-research-phony-falls-in-basketball/