In Defense of Nicolas Batum's Crotch Shot

It might seem hard or ridiculous to come to the defense of an athlete for intentionally hitting another athlete below the belt, but I’m about to do just that.

The quarterfinal Olympics basketball game between Spain and France ended in controversy on Wednesday afternoon when France players became angered by the Spaniards flopping to draw fouls and in the case of France forward Ronny Turiaf’s foul on flopping Spain forward Rudy Fernandez a hard foul.

Incensed by the flopping by the Spanish team France forward Nicolas Batum decided that he was going to give Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro a parting shot that he wouldn’t forget toward the end of France’s 66-59 loss to Spain that would end their Olympic run. Near the end of the game Batum ran at Navarro and made a violent slapping motion toward his mid-section that caught Navarro in the groin. This action set off a slight incident between the two squads, but Batum was not ejected from the game.

Not only was the French team angered by Spain’s flopping, but they also felt that Spain had intentionally blown a 12-point fourth quarter lead in a game against Brazil so they could face France in the quarterfinals instead of a tougher matchup against the United States.

Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, would’ve most certainly received a fine and quite likely a game or two suspension from NBA commissioner David Stern had this incident occurred in an NBA game. However, I’ve got to say that I don’t have the slightest problem with Batum’s actions, even though Batum would later apologize for it.

Here’s why …

After the loss to Spain, Batum told reporters “I wanted to give him a good reason to flop.” Batum’s response is not only humorous, but also a fairly decent way to combat the shameful act of flopping. In my opinion, it’s not a whole lot different than a pitcher beaning a batter (which I approve of, as well) for admiring his home run a little too much in baseball. In sports athletes really have to police themselves and that’s what Batum was doing.

Flopping is a major problem in basketball. Fans know it. I’m sure if you polled fans it would be near the top of a list of biggest problems with NBA basketball. Players and coaches know it. NBA commissioner David Stern even knows it and has mentioned trying to figure out ways to put an end to flopping.

The league putting an end to flopping is something that would be hard to do. I have mentioned before that I would approve of officials giving technical fouls to players that they see as flopping, but like many other things in officiating it’s merely a judgment call and if officials are calling fouls already on these plays than they likely don’t view them as flops in the first place.

Players policing themselves like Batum did on Wednesday could be one way to end flopping. Hit a dude in the crotch enough times and I think he’ll probably get the message. After all, there aren’t many more things in this world that dudes are afraid of than getting hit right in the marbles.

Many people see what Batum did as a heinous act that deserves to be punished. I see it as getting a message across about another heinous act that should be punished.