Cheating – Should Players Get Away With It?

The Liverpool player N’gog is a cheat and an actor worthy of nomination for this year’s Oscar for Best Simulation on A Soccer Field. His dive extraordinaire, earning his team a converted penalty in Liverpool’s Monday night Premier League match up against Birmingham City, will stick in the memory of opposing fans like superglue on a toilet seat. Like celebrities heading for liposuction, many are calling for soccer to suck out the simulation that is killing the heart of the game.

Why do people like N’gog play soccer when he would have been better off around a diving board or taking acting lessons at the local dramatic society? OK, he wants his team to win but like that? It’s not going to do Liverpool any favors. Watch the next legitimate penalty claim from Liverpool being turned down by a nervous referee keen to avoid the humiliation inflicted upon their colleague by the phony N’gog. Cheating comes at a price.

Diving practice has always had a following in soccer but today it is reaching religious levels as the hubris of some players run amok. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, blessed by God as his divine soccer son, is nailed to the flopper’s cross. With pout and glower on his immaculate face, he converts dives into penalties and free kicks, from whence he scores. Millions follow and worship him. As everyone knows, Maradona thanked God for his diabolical handball goal in the Mexico World Cup in 1986. He was supreme enough to blame the hapless English goalkeeper Shilton for coming off his line. Far from being crucified as a cheat, El Diego was carried to the Temple of the Gods.

So cheating –  is it OK to get away with it?