10 Best and Worst Recent Sports Flops
There are a wide variety of flops as it pertains to the sports world. Many of them can be downright hilarious to behold depending on your point of view.
Take Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics for example. Smart was responsible for an absolutely ridiculous flop during an NBA playoffs matchup against the Atlanta Hawks in April. It is a small miracle that Smart managed to not hurt himself and also not launch himself into orbit on the play, and one can only hope that the embarrassing moment that occurred on national television will help Smart learn a valuable lesson.
The sport of soccer has a reputation among some American fans for producing laughable dives during matches. Jamie Vardy, who has become one of the best overall sports stories we have seen over the past 12 months, was guilty of such a crime in the spring. As flop-tastic as Vardy was plunging into the penalty area, his flop was outdone by a Real Madrid star while playing in club football's biggest tournament.
Physical acts of desperation are, of course, not the only kinds of flops in sports. Teams and also events that were supposed to be impressive but that ultimately disappointed can also be categorized as flops.
Chelsea FC proved to be a massive Premier League flop after many analysts believed that the Blues would retain their league crown for another season. Michigan State failing in the first round of the 2016 NCAA tournament affected more than just the Spartans. The Philadelphia Eagles were disastrous in 2015 before the club hit the figurative reset button in December.
One thing we know about every recent sports flop is that it will be matched or outdone by a future performance. There will eventually be a different National Basketball Association player who will cause us to forget about Smart's theatrics. NFL fans will have a team not in Philadelphia to take jabs at next fall.
The flops will keep on coming, and we will keep on laughing.
2015-16 Chicago Bulls
1 of 10
The Chicago Bulls, per ESPN staff writer Nick Friedell, were looking for a "change in approach" when the team parted ways with successful head coach Tom Thibodeau in May 2015. A different approach is what the Bulls had under new head coach Fred Hoiberg, as a franchise that had been known for playing meaningful April and May basketball failed to make the postseason this season.
It is not as if everybody predicted last summer that the Bulls would fall apart under Hoiberg. Sam Smith of NBA.com believed that the Bulls would finish second in the conference standings behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers. Five different analysts from BasketballInsiders.com predicted that the Bulls would end the campaign second behind the Cavs in the division standings.
So what happened to land the Bulls on the outside looking in at the start of the postseason?
As Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago.com put it after the end of the season, practically anything that could have gone wrong for the Bulls did. Hoiberg seemingly didn't connect with members of the Chicago locker room as did Thibodeau. Joakim Noah, a force underneath and also the emotional heart and soul of the Bulls, was lost to a shoulder injury in January (h/t NBA.com). There was also, as described by Goodwill, the perceived behind-the-scenes power struggle involving Jimmy Butler and Derrick Rose.
That the Bulls flopped from January through early April is disappointing enough for Chicago fans. The real gut punch is that this past season could prove to be the beginning of the end for these Bulls. There will likely continue to be whispers (h/t FoxSports.com) of the Bulls dealing Butler or Rose at some point during the summer months.
The Chicago faithful can now only wonder what might have been had the Bulls stuck with Thibodeau.
Jamie Vardy
2 of 10You have to be a cynic or a Tottenham Hotspur supporter (I feel your pain, fellow Spurs fans) to not love what Leicester City have managed to accomplish during the 2015-16 Premier League campaign. You have probably seen the stories of how Leicester were 5,000-to-1 odds at the start of the season to win the league. Leicester are, as of April 29, one victory away from clinching the title.
Jamie Vardy has been a revelation in the English top-flight this season, notching 22 Premier League goals in 34 appearances (h/t ESPNFC.us). As important as Vardy has been for Leicester, he failed to cover himself in glory during a match against West Ham United earlier in April.
Vardy and Angelo Ogbonna of West Ham were tussling for possession of the ball inside of the penalty area when Vardy took a step to his right, seemingly to initiate contact with Ogbonna. Vardy then appeared to launch his own body outward and then down toward the turf, a move that sort of resembled a young child diving into a kiddie pool for the first time.
Injury was added to the insult of not getting the desired call when Vardy was shown a card by the official. Unfortunately for the Leicester star, Vardy was already on a yellow when the referee approached him. Vardy was thus sent off after receiving a second yellow.
But wait. There's more.
Vardy, visibly upset about the call, let the referee know of his displeasure. This landed Vardy a two-match ban for improper conduct (h/t SkySports.com), meaning that Vardy may be a spectator when Leicester clinch the Premier League title.
Whoops.
Pacquiao-Bradley III
3 of 10
Maybe this is an instance of karma coming back to bite and bite hard, or perhaps boxing fans merely sent a message about what they consider these days to be a "big fight."
The story of the third fight involving Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, a bout that occurred in April, goes back to June 2012. It was then, as described by Rafe Bartholomew of Grantland.com, when Pacquiao seemed to dominate Bradley during their first encounter, only for Bradley to be awarded with the split-decision victory.
Bartholomew offered the following conspiracy theory on the matter: He suggested that the judging was not on the level so that a future Pacquiao-Bradley rematch could be booked. Both fighters are represented by Top Rank promotions CEO Bob Arum, meaning that Arum and Top Rank would not have to split the pot for any match involving the two athletes.
Whether or not things were on the level in June 2012, fans literally were not buying what Top Rank was selling earlier in April when Pacquiao and Bradley met inside the ring for a third time.
ESPN senior writer Dan Rafael explained on April 21 that Pacquiao-Bradley III "generated between 400,000 and 500,000 HBO PPV buys," according to Arum. Rafael then explained that Arum may have actually overestimated the amount of buys:
"Some in the industry say they think Arum is being optimistic and that when everything is counted, the fight might not even reach 400,000.
Either way, Arum said the fight, for which the main event alone cost $24 million ($20 million to Pacquiao and $4 million to Bradley), lost money.
"Yes, it loses money," Arum said. "It was not one of our big successes. It happens. We're big boys. Do I feel good about it? No."
"
Arum, per Rafael, blamed the low amount of buys on anti-gay comments made by Pacquiao before the fight (h/t ESPN.com) and that the Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight that took place in May 2015 was a letdown in the eyes of many.
Whatever the reason, Pacquiao-Bradley III was a financial flop.
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James Harden
4 of 10We have to admit that we are a little concerned about Houston Rockets superstar James Harden. Harden is a tremendous talent on the court, no question about it, but he also has had issues with keeping his feet during games. Maybe Harden should have his equilibrium examined?
We ask because we care.
We are not alone in noticing Harden's knack for taking spills during contests. Jason Leskiw of SFBay.ca wrote about this phenomenon during the Houston-Golden State Warriors postseason series:
"Harden flops like a dog runs when they hear kibble clinking into their food tray. It’s natural. Almost expected.
And to his credit, he’s led the league in free throw attempts for the past two years. He’s good at it. And it helps carry his team, without a running clock, and while the oldies on Houston can catch their breath.
It’s smart, in a way. But equally pathetic.
"
While we could have picked a Harden flop from the playoffs for the purposes of this piece, we instead went with one that occurred this past March, a dive that was featured on SI.com.
Kent Bazemore of the Atlanta Hawks was guarding Harden on the perimeter when Bazemore's forearm made contact with Harden's torso. Harden responded by spinning clockwise, losing control of the basketball and then crashing to the floor.
Maybe the incident isn't as bad as it looked. Perhaps Bazemore is actually Kryptonian and able to knock Harden down with the slightest of touches. Remember that one Smallville episode when Clark got overly excited during a high school football game and accidentally injured an opponent?
We're keeping our eyes on you, Mr. Bazemore.
Chelsea
5 of 10
All signs last summer pointed to Chelsea repeating as Premier League champions.
The Blues suffered no significant loss during the transfer window. What was the best squad in all of England for 2014-15 remained intact. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho had built his ideal starting XI, a side filled with talent and one that also had team chemistry.
All that those preparing the Premier League season preview for the Guardian were concerned about with Chelsea last August was the club possibly relying too heavily on strikers Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy. FourFourTwo.com also foresaw "back-to-back titles for the Blues."
It took only a couple of months for Chelsea to unravel.
Chelsea picked up a paltry 10 points from their first 11 league matches (h/t DailyMail.co.uk), and there was plenty of blame to go around for the club's horrendous start. A defense anchored by veteran and club legend John Terry had become a sieve. Cesc Fabregas looked like a shell of his former self in the first three months of the campaign. Diego Costa, who had been superb in 2014-15, notched one goal and one assist in his first six league appearances.
Mourinho and the club parted ways in December before the Christmas holiday.
Was the problem that Mourinho lost the Chelsea locker room, as Neil Ashton for the Daily Mail suggested in December? Should the club have done better to acquire reinforcements the previous July? Whatever went wrong, a team advertised to have the goods to win the Premier League and also make a lengthy run in the Champions League could realistically finish as low as 12th in the league table.
It's one of the biggest flops in recent Premier League history.
Joseph Blandisi
6 of 10It cannot be easy to be a local fan of the New Jersey Devils these days.
While the New York Rangers were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, the Rangers have been playoff mainstays for some time. The New York Islanders, meanwhile, have become the top hockey club in the region that is, as of April 29, still going in postseason play.
Not only have the Devils been a letdown on the ice, but they also have a player who was guilty of maybe the worst flop of the 2015-16 National Hockey League season.
Joseph Blandisi, 21, was in the middle of his rookie season in the NHL when he found himself involved in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers last February. Following a faceoff in the attacking zone, Blandisi was left standing to the left of the cage when a stick belonging to a Philadelphia player made contact with Blandisi's right leg.
Blandisi reacted by leaving the ice with both feet, arching his back and then crashing down to the ice, supposedly in pain. The referee, maybe after looking to make sure that Blandisi had not actually been brought down by a sniper, penalized the rookie for embellishment.
Hoping that Blandisi learned from this incident? You can keep on hoping, because Blandisi committed yet another shameful flop just days after his dive against the Flyers (h/t CBSSports.com).
Millennials. You can't teach 'em anything.
Michigan State Basketball
7 of 10
Michigan State was not only a lock to beat Middle Tennessee State in the opening round of the 2016 NCAA tournament. The Spartans were, per OddsShark.com, between 16.5- and 17.5-point favorites to defeat the Blue Raiders and move on in the competition. If that wasn't enough, over 61 percent of those who played the ESPN NCAA Tournament Challenge had MSU in the Final Four of their brackets, according to the SportsCenter Twitter page.
One way to describe what happened when Michigan State faced off with Middle Tennessee State would be to compare the game with the main-event fight in Rocky II. The only difference between the game and the movie is that it was the underdog that played the role of Apollo Creed from the opening bell.
Middle Tennessee stunned Michigan State and those of us watching by beginning the contest with a 15-2 run (h/t ESPN.com). The Blue Raiders then did well to answer three different Michigan State rallies en route to taking a 41-35 lead into halftime.
Just as in Rocky II, MTSU/Apollo continued to land blow after blow to the overmatched opponent. The Spartans, surprisingly the Rocky of this scenario, finally switched to southpaw and mounted a comeback to lower the deficit to within three points with 3:34 left on the clock. The score remained 79-76 with 68 seconds remaining when a decisive punch was delivered.
In this instance, it was Apollo and not Rocky who won by knockout.
Giddy Potts buried a jumper to put Middle Tennessee up by five points with a minute left to play. Reggie Upshaw then slammed home a dunk that, for all intents and purposes, floored the Spartans for the 10-count.
Middle Tennessee won 90-81, a deserved result for what had been the better side from buzzer to buzzer.
Marcelo
8 of 10Marcelo and Real Madrid were having a rough night in April when the Spanish giants were away to Wolfsburg for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal showdown. Real were trailing the hosts 2-0 in the 69th minute, and the club's recent victory over rival Barcelona was quickly becoming a distant memory when play was stopped because of a foul.
Marcelo then went to work.
The 27-year-old picked the ball up as he was approached by Max Arnold of Wolfsburg. As Marcelo went to stand straight up with the ball in his hands, the head of the Real player made slight contact with Arnold's chest. You would have thought that Marcelo had head-butted a concrete wall, as he grabbed his face and then slowly collapsed to the ground.
Give that man an Oscar!
Best of all, Marcelo then had the nerve to look toward the referee's assistant to see if he could buy a foul on Arnold. That did not happen, but Marcelo was somehow lucky to not receive a retroactive punishment for what Jack Gaughan of the Daily Mail referred to as "ignominious play-acting."
Per BBC.com, Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking failed to see the humor in the incident when speaking with reporters after the match:
""Marcelo is an actor," Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking told German media after the game.
"That annoyed me, because he has no need."
"
Philadelphia Eagles
9 of 10
Opinions on the 2015 Philadelphia Eagles varied per different analysts and respected experts during the preseason. ESPN staff writer Phil Sheridan wrote that he thought it was possible that the Eagles could win a playoff game. Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com believed that we would be saying that the Eagles were "among the NFL's elite" in February.
Last but not least is Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com, who gave the following prediction last September: "The Eagles are going to be really, really good, and when all is said and done, could represent the NFC in the Super Bowl."
Few, if any, believed that the Eagles would be blowing thing up on Dec. 29. That is what happened, though, as head coach and team head of football operations Chip Kelly was fired before the end of the season.
Following back-to-back 10-6 campaigns, the Eagles were sitting on 6-9 heading into the final week of the regular season. We now know, months after the fact, that one lackluster year and also several questionable roster decisions made by Kelly were not the only reasons that the Eagles parted ways with the man who had been handed the keys to the franchise's kingdom in January 2015.
Matt Lombardo of NJ.com explained in a post that was published on Dec 30:
"But a former Eagles player, who spoke to NJ Advance Media on the condition of anonymity, says Kelly likely was undone mostly because of a toxic locker room culture. There have been hints of that recently with lineman Jason Peters benching himself, and running back DeMarco Murray complaining to Lurie.
"I know there were reports that Chip lost the locker room this season," the ex-Eagles player said. "I can tell you, he never had the support of the team this year. It was a toxic situation from the moment I arrived. Those guys in that locker room almost universally despised him."
"
During his tenure as czar of the Eagles, Kelly made the following decisions: He traded All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso, he traded quarterback Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams for the often-injured Sam Bradford and he signed former Dallas Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray to a five-year contract (h/t CBS Philly).
None of those moves worked out for Kelly and the Eagles, and thus Philadelphia was one of the big flops of the 2015 season.
Marcus Smart
10 of 10There are flops and there are dives, and then there is whatever Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics was trying to accomplish during Game 3 of the playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks.
With 4:33 left on the clock, Smart and Atlanta's Kyle Korver positioned themselves underneath the basket to go for a rebound. Korver used his body to box out Smart, and the two hardly touched as the ball was retrieved by a different Atlanta player.
The play would have been a footnote of the game if not for Smart, who, upon feeling the contact from Korver, jumped straight up into the air, brought his knees close to his chest and then took a back-bump that would make a professional wrestler proud.
Let's explain the different possibilities before we criticize poor Mr. Smart. It is conceivable that Smart had his talents taken from him by the "Monstars" from Space Jam, leading to Smart losing all athletic skills that he had seconds before the contact with Korver. Maybe Smart saw a spider on the court, was legitimately freaked out and then acted accordingly.
Arachnophobia is no joke.
The NBA was not amused. Smart was fined $5,000 by the league for the flop (h/t BostonGlobe.com).
One day, some talented soul will be able to write a sonnet about Smart's majestic flop for the ages. We apologize that we could not provide you with such elegant dialogue here.
They should have sent a poet.
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