Violence In Sports Essays (2386 words) - Sports Business

Violence In Sports VIOLENCE IN SPORTS Steeler running back Rocky Bleier, whose war time experiences, not so oddly, offer some insights. To Bleier, there are interesting parallels between survival in war and survival in the NFL. ?The experiences with war injuries and football injuries are quite the same,' he said.? (Casay) The injuries that are accumulated during sports are rapidly increasing to the point that there are injured players on every team in each game that is played. This is especially true in the most physical professional sports, i.e., NFL and the NHL. Most of these injuries are directly related to the increasing violent nature of pro athletes. ?`The cost of the aggression -- the punishment -- has to be greater than the benefits,' said Dr. Brenda Bredemeier, sports psychology consultant at the University of California-Berkley. The latest outbreak of violence occurred in Bredemeier's back yard, Oakland, where (Latrell) Sprewell attacked Coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice and, according to published reports, threatened to kill him if he wasn't traded.?(Detroit Press) Pro athletes are committing criminal acts and the law for the most part is letting them get away with crimes. Another case of violence by a pro athlete happened recently. Ray Lewis was initially charged with murder along with two of his friends for an altercation that happened in Atlanta after the Superbowl on January 31, 2000. The three men got into a fight with two other men and killed them. ?Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and Superior Court Judge Alice D. Bonner sentenced Lewis to 12 months' probation, the maximum sentence for a first-time of fender.?(CNNSI) This case made me think to myself, ?Would a man facing murder charges with two of his friends be able to walk a free man with no jail time at all and still be accepted by society Pro athletes receive star status by the public and the media, encouraging law enforcement officials to look the other way whenever they break the law. Our judicial system in turn hands out less severe penalties for criminal offences committed by pro athletes than the average criminal offender. Violence in professional sports is seen in the actions of one player against another, but is now rapidly increasing outside of the games to where the players are now being deemed as criminals as well as athletes and tarnishes their image as role models to kids. Athletes in pro sports are paid outrageous amounts to play, which gives them more incentive to be violent. Some argue that the athletes deserve these wages. These enormous amounts of money that pro athletes are making are ridiculous. ?The average earned income in major league baseball is over $800,000 a season?(Fizel, 83), and some of these players just sit the bench all year. These high salaries are beneficial in making the athletes more violent. How is it fair that a man that can hit a ball four hundred feet to send a baseball out of the park make $30 million a season? Barry Bonds is truly a great athlete, but to be paid that much he should be able to hit home runs with his eyes closed. Michael Jordan is the greatest man to ever walk across the hard wood floors of professional basketball, but to be paid $63 million in one season is almost sickening. Football players aren't any better but are a little different when it comes to why they are paid so much. They have a lot more at stake when they go out on to the field to do battle. They have to consider the possibility of getting injured at any time because of the violent nature of the sport. They are paid to be big, mean, fast, and ruthless out on the field against men just as big and ruthless as themselves. Kevin Green, a defensive linebacker said ? It is true that we are getting paid outrageous amount for what we do out on the turf, but we are the most likely to get hurt in all professional sports. We want to make sure we get what we need before we get out of the league.?(O'Hara, 12) That is the typical mindset of pro football players. The signification of