I saw a soccer game recently where lots of players rolled around on the ground for minutes and minutes at a time, faking injuries for sympathy foul calls, and it took up a large portion of the game. After awhile, the referee got tired of it, and left them to roll around alone without blowing the whistle anymore. And so it was that they would act like they were dying for a while, until they realized it wasn’t working, or until the ball came their way; and then they leapt back up upon their feet and went bounding across the field again, until they decided to fake another injury. It seems like soccer players are doing this a lot these days, and it’s kinda pathetic. When they’re really hurt, that’s understandable; but lots of times, we can see from the video replay that they didn’t even get touched at all, and they pretend to be mortally wounded anyway.
This made me think it’s perhaps simply so ingrained in them as a habit, that they just do it automatically without even thinking about it. But that raises a question: If it’s an automatic habit with soccer players, do they do it off the field as well? I have to wonder.
So when they’re walking down the sidewalk, and someone bumps into them, do they fall on the ground and automatically start rolling around in mock pain until a policeman arrives and arrests the guy who knocked into them? Or when they're at home alone and they glancingly stub their toe on a piece of furniture, do they fall to the floor and roll around in artificially agonized histrionics for hours, even though there's no-one to witness it, and no possible benefit to gain from such a theatrical performance (except perhaps acting practice)? Or when they’re hiking down a nature trail by themselves, and they trip over some root or stick or whatever, do they fall into a heap in the underbrush and start wincing and grabbing their ankles in fake agony, even though nobody is around to see it? Are they hoping perhaps Mother Nature will punish the tree whose root tripped him, and give it a yellow card (or leaf)? I’m just curious.
