Quote:Written Task: What do you think of embellishment calls and diving in the NHL? Do you think they're called too much? Not enough? Is it a necessary evil to make sure the referee actually sees that something happened? Even if it wasn't that bad? Do you think there are players with deserved reputations for diving? Maybe undeserved reputations? (150+ words)

I would say they're disgraceful acts but, really, they're only part of a hyper-competitive setting that enables such actions to be felt as fair and proper in the mind of some (though not all). Even diving in its own right has some circumstances that could qualify it as a justified action. Namely when playing against a vengeful opponent very keen on abusing the nature of the sport to guarantee an opportunity to injure someone they dislike, a dive would then be an easy way to avoid the actual contact while still calling the referee's attention to the situation in play.

Given that most sports work with the idea of athletes participating in their peak performance, diving may be fair but you need to keep that context in mind and it's obviously hard to call it. Personally, as a person that was once an aspiring referee as a kid, I think any diving needs to be called upon but I'll personally admit that the context can be hard to get or hard to act upon.