Wooball;858943 wrote:Baseball has no physical contact. Your telling me that in the NFL or NBA that if a player shows up his opposition he isn't going to take a hard foul or "get the business" in the bottom of a pile?
In the NFL (or any level of football), retaliation is the ultimate taboo because it's usually seen and it's always 15 yards (and sometimes an ejection). Also, the only players who really possess the means to show up an opponent are peripheral to the middle of the field; a receiver or a quarterback is unlikely to actually end up in a pileup.
You show up your opponent, you take the chance that they will try to pay you back.
That's why picking on high-strung opponents is so fun. I played hockey for about 10 years (in addition to several years of football and baseball), and I got more guys kicked out of games than I took penalties. I got four guys booted, and took three penalties. I remember in a game one time, I made a bad defensive play and got turned around; next thing I know, the puck's in the net. He actually stuck his tongue out at me (lifted the visor to do it too) and said "Nice play, asshole". I did nothing. When I got back to the bench, the coach asked why I hadn't done anything. I said "I'm not taking a penalty on something that dumb after I already cost us a goal. And he'll get his anyway."
A few minutes later, he's in the vicinity of the crease, so I begin trying to extract him. By that, I mean I pressed the toe of the blade of my stick into the back of his knee. It's not a penalty, it doesn't look like a penalty, but it's painful if you apply enough pressure (which I did). This guy goes nuts, first cross-checking me in the face (I had a cage on), then throwing his stick down and jumping on me. He got 5 and a game, and I got nothing. We scored 3 power play goals and ended up winning, with that being the turning point.
Would I have done it even if he hadn't been a prick earlier? Absolutely. I took their best player off for half of the game, which I'd been trying to do since the puck dropped anyway.
Do you get all bent out of shape if a guy would give a hard foul in an NBA game to "send a message" in an NBA game because the 2 free throws negatively impact his team?
Yes. In a close game, those two points can be enormously detrimental and can cost your team the game. And if it's not a close game, it can escalate substantially. That's to say nothing of the chance that that player gets ejected and suspended for doing something stupid.
Showing up an opponent is a selfish play. Reacting to jackassery in any way that can be detrimental to the team is even more selfish.