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 offender.”(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...