Unintended Consequences Of Professional Sports

In today’s modern world professional sports have evolved into one of the most influential aspects of human culture. The unscripted nature of competition, combined with larger than life athletic figures, has inevitably prompted fans to associate sportspeople with being superhuman. However, this unintended consequence is the where the controversy surrounding professional athletes arises. Fans, who confuse athletic superiority with a sense of righteousness, have subjected professional athletes to unreasonable moral and physical expectations. Consequently, this has led sportspeople, who fail to meet these unrealistic standards, to come under tremendous public scrutiny. Athletes like Tiger Woods, who was admired for over a decade for his athletic prowess in golf, have recently been outcast and ridiculed by the public for choices that they have
With the help of the internet and television, organizations like the National Football League have been able to establish enormous fan-bases. Just to put this growth into perspective, the NFL estimates that approximately 17 million people tune in to watch each of its regular season games (“Impact Of Television” 1). With that being said, the growing popularity of sports has also had some unintended consequences. For instance, with it being easier than ever to receive news about teams and players, every aspect of an athlete’s life inadvertently becomes public knowledge. Therefore, while there have always been instances of player misconduct, made evident by the 1919 Black Sox scandal, the difference today is that social media has a tremendous impact on how quickly the actions of star athletes spread and influence the perspectives of others. As a result, some people have begun to question whether the influence associated with being a professional athlete obligates sportspeople to promote positive