“Flopping, the art of theatrically “suffering” a blow from an opponent in the hopes of getting a favorable call from the refs, has long been a mainstay of soccer. It’s made its way stateside, and has become such an endemic problem in the NBA that the league has had to come up with rules, toothless though they may be, to try to prevent it.

Flopping is infuriating because it’s a grownup version of the kid crying to his parents to get his brother in trouble. It’s a total abdication of toughness, a roll-over-and-play-dead mentality designed to gain sympathy, not intimidate. And it requires no skill whatsoever.

Now, Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks and perennial thorn in the NBA’s side, has decided to take a closer look at flopping in connection with biomechanics experts at Southern Methodist University.

Cuban’s Radical Hoops Ltd. has awarded a grant of more than $100,000 to fund an 18-month study of flopping in basketball, soccer and other sports.”

Read the story: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/the-turnstile/mark-cuban-funds-smu-study-flopping-basketball-soccer-192008397.html