What a faker ...

So as I have whined here before several times, football referees are employed often to be drama critics of players taking dives ... and feigning injuries. Here are some highlights:



That last one looked like a fire safety video for "Stop, Drop, and Roll."

Well over this weekend there were a couple of college (gridiron) football matches that seemed to have some faking of injuries ... which similar to football ... serves to stop momentum of a team, and even in some cases preserve "timeouts" which are limited.

In the NFL however things have been interesting. There was a rash of such incidents of feigning injuries, one of which that was particularly blatant can be seen here.

So in 2013, the NFL came out and tried to put the clamps down on such activities by sending out a preseason memo saying the league would not stand for it. Only problem, it has backfired totally as there have been several players who have been actually really hurt, yet were "under investigation" from the NFL as if they had feigned the injury. See here, here, and from Dead Spin, here.

All credit to the NFL for taking the pressure off their referees and have the league do the work. We however have to judge for ourselves if a player is feigning or not.

Now, BE CAREFUL, as getting this one wrong can be costly. There are very few of us out there who are trained physicians or similarly skilled to diagnose an injury, so honestly, we shouldn't ... and even if an MD you can not discharge both duties at the same time.

There are times we have to take some things on faith, call a trainer (who may be in on the game) and get a player the attention they need ... or at least act like they need.

Now at any level except professional or international, getting help should be AUTOMATIC, and even in some cases for pros and internationals it should be automatic (e.g. head injuries). There is very little wiggle room for judging injuries wrongly ... as the NFL is discovering.

So make it easy on yourself ... and don't judge ... just get the trainer.