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Violence in sport influences
Negative effects of violence in sports
Violence in sport influences
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Bench clearing brawls in baseball, bloody hockey fights, soccer mobs, post-game sports riots, and increasing injuries are all images of today’s sports that are familiar to us. In recent years players and fans alike have shown increased aggression when it comes to sporting events. One of the most disturbing trends in sports is the increasing frequency and severity of violence. Injuries and deaths among participants are on the rise, as are injuries and deaths among fans and spectators. Violence in sports is an important issue because sports themselves are an important aspect in our lives and the society we live in. Their importance, however, should not be greater than our concern about preserving the values and aspects of our society. The problem of sports violence has become a worldwide phenomenon, that is an unacceptable, growing social problem. Sports violence can be defined as behavior by a player, coach, or fan that is intended to inflict pain or cause injury (Berger 8). Sports violence causes harm, breaks the rules of the game, and is unrelated to the competitive objectives of the sport. Leonard identifies two forms of aggression in sports: Instrumental aggression, which is non-emotional and task-oriented and reactive aggression, which has an underlying emotional component, with harm as its goal(165). Violence is the outcome of reactive aggression. There are three major theories of aggression in sports: The biological theory, psychological theory, and the social learning theory(Leonard 170-171). The biological theory sees aggression as a basic, innate human characteristic, in which sports is seen as a socially acceptable way to discharge built-up aggression(170). The psychological theo... ... middle of paper ... ...ect for authority, but that we have lost respect for each other. Our society’s preoccupation with winning has caused sports stars to play with the intensity of emotion, which leads to violence. While most occurrences of violence come from players, others, including coaches, parents, fans, and the media, also contribute to the increasing violence in sports today. Fans seem to emulate the violence they watch in sports and spectator violence is increasing as participant injuries rise(Yeager 11). Mass media contributes to the acceptability of sports. It provides exposure to sports-related violence via television, magazines, newspapers, and radio, which provides many examples to children who may imitate such behavior. Also it often glamorizes players who are controversial and aggressive. Reading this, I couldn’t help but think of the honorable Mike Tyson.
To understand this phenomenon we must go back to March 13, 1955. On this date, the Montreal Canadians were playing a game in Boston against the Bruins. One of the opposing players, Hal Laycoe, high-sticked Maurice Richard, injuring him to the point of requiring eight stitches on his scalp. Richard retaliated by smashing his own stick over Laycoe's head and shoulders and slashed him with another player's stick until it splintered. Becoming annoyed with the official's interference in the fight, Richard then turned and punched him. Since hitting an official was the least honorable thing to do, Richard was expelled from the game (2000).
Defined as verbal or physical actions grounded in an intent to dominate, control, or do harm to another person, aggression will now be discussed (Coakley 2001). I felt the entire game of Rollerball was played in an aggressive manor. At no time did I witness finesse in the sport, only hitting and taking out players. There were also several verbal references such as: “drive their jaw into their head”, “hit the little fellas”, “bash in their faces”, and “feelin’ mean”, to name a few. Furthermore, there were aggressive acts outside of the game. For example, Johnathen choking Dapheny and even Johanthen and Swoop wrestling for fun.
Reinforcement is one of the root cause of violence in athletics. Athletes are reinforced to be highly aggressive while competing either in the field or the track by the coach and captain. Their desire to be successful athletes also contribute to the aggressiveness. Sometimes, this aggressiveness may spill over into their social lives. When these athletes exaggerate their aggressiveness and direct into to their opponents, this leads to violence. The aggressive behavior in the filed or tack might sometimes be carried into other areas outside the sports arena. This can be a public place, the place of work or the domestic environment. When the athletes transfer their hostile behavior into these avenues, it is termed as violence many legal action can be taken against them.
March 8th, 2004 was supposed to be nothing more than a competitive and action packed regular season hockey game between feuding rivals, the Colorado Avalanche and the Vancouver Canucks. The game slipped away from the Canucks, with the Avalanche up 6-2 heading into the third period. The heated contested already had its fair share of fighting majors, but an incident that happened late in the third period shocked the more than 18,000 fans in attendance at Rogers Arena, the hockey community, and North America. After failing to instigate a fight with Avalanche forward Steve Moore, Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks grabbed the back of Moore’s jersey, landed a vicious punch to the back of Moore’s head, before slamming him face first on the ice and falling on top of him. Moore had to be helped off the ice on a stretcher, and has never returned to the NHL. Bertuzzi, on the other hand, was suspended for 20 games by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and is still playing in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings. This is one of many examples of deviance in sports, and how a win-at-all costs mentality can drive athletes to act in extreme manners. As a result of the growing commercialization of sports, athletes are socialized at young ages to believe that winning is everything, and that stopping at nothing will help you succeed. Athletes will do almost anything to gain the upper hand in their respective sports, whether it is through engaging in excessive on-field violence or through the use of performance enhancing drugs, excessively committing themselves to their sport, or by violating league rules and policies. In sports, deviance is viewed in a different light than in the outside world. As professional athletes strive towards conforming to spor...
...to reconcile men to the loss of social power and the taboo in at least middle class society. Sport is seen to be natural, and it is seen to show males natural abilities and qualities, and aggression is seen to be a male characteristic, not something that can just be learned. So is sport allowing these types of males with these strong characteristics to practice aggression in a controlled environment? Evidence shows that violence in sport is something that can be learned, the aggression seen in sport is then projected outside of the sporting world.
When Indiana Pacer, Ron Artest, charged into the stands with forty-five seconds remaining in a NBA game, last November, between the Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, the shock waves reverberated immediately. Video clips showed Artest pummeling Pistons fans with his fists. Replays also revealed that it was fans, throwing a cup of beer at Artest, which sent the NBA superstar on his rampage. It was one of the ugliest incidents ever seen in American professional sports. Sports fans and non-sports fans alike witnessed the chaotic outbreak of violence from the serenity of their own living rooms. NBA junkies saw the scene unfold during the game's live broadcast on cable TV. Sports fans caught highlights of the melee on ESPN's SportsCenter. American housewives experienced the outrage as they watched their local ten o'clock evening news. For weeks this basketball brawl was not only headlines news on sports pages but it also became the focus of mainstream American debate. Everyone had an opinion on who was to blame: It was the players' who began the brawl on the court and then took it into the stands. It was the fans who provoked multimillionaire athletes into anger by throwing debris down on them. It was the Palace at Auburn Hills' security who failed to bring the situation under control. It was the NBA for encouraging such thuggish behavior from its players and then allowing their violence to take place on live TV. Opinion makers from all perspectives weighed in on the issue. Newspaper columnists and TV talking heads kept the brawl in the national spotlight. Some condemned the incident; some excused it, and some just wondered what all the fuss was over. In the end five Pacers players and seven Pistons fans were charged...
Fighting at the professional level sets a bad example for kids. Young players have tried to imitate the tactics used by professionals,
"Violence seems to be something everybody feels they can recognize when they see it, yet it is difficult to define unambiguously. Many different definitions are now in use, and there is much disagreement about them. (Wober 41)" Violent behavior is high due to the sale...
The world today has a variety of problems and violence is one of the most
.In addition young athletes have become more aggressive. Kids that participate in competitive sports are becoming more and more aggressive and competitive the sports have become themselves. Mitchell reveals "traits like bullying and the need to dominate their oppo...
noticing an increase in the aggression of their children as well. This brought about the assumption that the violence in video games has a large impact on the way children behave.
obsessed by those sports and by taking a sport away from them, could ruin their
I feel that the best way to control aggression in sports players is to control their emotions and thought processes. Thinking about previous wins and general thoughts linked to attributions to eliminate negative feelings. This will develop self-confidence, and in due course stop the player from being so aggressive as they will know there is no need to apply aggression to the opposite team because he or she will know they are physically and mentally prepared and skilled that the opposite players. That mental preparation can be done by mental rehearse and goal setting.
With the increase in society taking a stance against violence, sports has become an area where some feel that the violent acts such as the hitting and fighting that occurs should be eliminated. It is very difficult to change the way that a game is played because people have been playing it that way for years. The violence in sports needs to be eliminated because of the extreme cases that continue to haunt many of the leagues and the players themselves.
There are many casualties of violence and collisions/concussions in professional sports. The first common type of violence is body contact. The brutal body contact includes physical practices common in certain sports and accepted by athletes as part of sport participation. Examples of brutal body contacts in sports are collisions, hits, tackles, blocks, body checks, and other forms of physical contact that can produce injuries. In the NHL a hockey player on the Vancouver Canucks named Todd Bertuzzi hit unexpectedly a player on the Colorado Avalanche named Steve Moore from behind and then fell on him and pushed his head into the ice. Steve Moore received a concussion and he was motionless for ten minutes, and also fractured three vertebrates and facial cuts on Steve Moore’s face. The commissioner suspended Todd Bertuzzi