Drama at its worst

Is it just me, or is this scene getting a little shopworn?

Watching the close finishes of all those NCAA Tournament games, last week, I saw something I’ve seen, oh, a few hundred times before. It goes like this: Player makes dramatic game-winning shot, player throws up arms or pumps fist and is mobbed by teammates. Meanwhile losing team has one or more players who (a) fall to the ground and cradle their head in their hands and (b) cover their head with a towel, as if to block out the outside world.

I understand the exulting on the part of the winners. But what I can’t handle is the losing theatrics. I don’t ever remember John Stockton or Karl Malone falling to the ground in grief after a last-second loss.

I sympathize with tears after a loss. It’s a sudden flood of emotions. But the falling down and head-draping seems a bit overdone to me, the sort of thing reserved for loss of a loved one (if that). I get a little tired of the long wait on the floor, the slow rise, the staggering off the court.

I don’t see coaches falling on the floor or draping their heads.

What do you think? Is it an expression of true dejection or mostly posing for the cameras?