Many news stories that write about sports highlight amazing victories,underdog comebacks or shocking defeats. Sometimes these stories even praise the actions of the players, but overall they rarely report the severe violence that occurs on the field and in the stands. The following essay will discuss the impact of violence on professional players,violence that occurs amongst the fans, and how violence has shaped professional sports.
Sports has been part of society for as long as time,such as the Mayan Ball Game which was the first team sport in human history and was played for over 3000 years, it was a test of physical ability and mental toughness. Sports was a way to prove that you or your team was the best, and was going to lay it out all on the field. Some sports have brought people together such as soccer being a world wide sport with almost every country participating in it. However, sports can also create bitter rivals and make a game mean something more than just a game, it means war. With more rivals this creates a warrior mentality and can lead to the mind set of completely destroying the opponent whatever the cost.
This cost can result in serious injuries. An article called “For too long, sports journalist glossed over football’s violence. I was one of them.” by Leonard Shapiro said that,
An investigation on the NFL’s longtime mishandling of concussions shows how the league for many years would not admit that on field concussions could lead to harmful consequences for players both during their football careers and afterward… many of the players listed in a lawsuit or their dependents said the former players are suffering from dementia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological ailments (Shapiro 2013).
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...ots in the streets because the lost or win of their favorite team and can harm other fans of the opposing team just because they wore the wrong kind of jersey. A writer named Mike Lopresti wrote an article called “Violence at American sports stadiums becoming all too common” which was about a Raiders and 49ers exhibition game and said “ The final statistics from the Raiders-49ers game included two shootings in the parking lot, and one severe beating in a restroom. Speculation is, the teams’ heated neighborhood rivalry might be a factor” (Lopresti 2011). These altercations amongst the fans over a game that is meaningless is shocking. Someone could have been killed given the circumstances, and this violence among the fans is not only limited to American football games, but also professional soccer games and violence with these fans can result in greater consequences.
Playing football comes with great costs, including physical and mental health deterioration, plus the amount of time spent prepping before game day. Which can pose several questions, “Why suffer for a game, is it worth the money? Is it worth the fame? How great is the cost?” I believe that football, should have stricter regulations for the treatment of injuries, along with informing players of just how devastating a concussion can be, along with the other major injuries that commonly occur while playing football.
Throughout history in the NFL, head injuries and fixing those problems have always been hidden from the athletes because of the NFL striving to make a large profit instead of caring for the players. With this being an ongoing problem between NFL players and the NFL itself, many past and current players are digging deeper to find the truth and statistics continue to show how serious this problem actually is. When the lawsuits first began to come known to the public, the NFL agreed to pay over seven hundred million dollars to compensate former players suffering neurological injuries. Many believe the NFL offered this so quickly, hoping to avoid a potential public relations nightmare. The NFL, a ten billion dollar annual business, couldn’t take any type of guilt, or legal discovery, which some inside and out of the industry expected could have caused a fatal blow to the game’s future (Thiel). The settlement may have prevented the public from learning much about the past, but the issue of head injuries is a danger to football and won’t just go away because NFL wants it to (Waldron).
Football is a very violent sport. There is a lot of concern over the risks posed by hits that injure the head and potentially the brain. The players say they have suffered one or more brain injuries. They want the NFL and helmet maker, Riddell, to set up and pay for medical monitoring and treatment programs for all former, current and future NFL players. Liberals are big supporters of the respect for human dignity. In that case, the NFL tentatively agreed to pay $765 million to past players with health problems that can be caused by concussions. Although research and progress within the scientific and medical communities is understandably slow, the same could be said about the NFL's response to concussions and the dangers they pose to new research reveals new findings. However, some liberals believe that it has taken to long for the NFL to respond to the perceived crisis and its attempt to regulate the concussion treatments which could eventually lead to players ...
The brute force of the game is what draws millions of people around to the world to come and watch. However, what millions of Americans don't see if the consequences of what makes the game how great it is today, the hits. With players getting bigger faster and stronger it only leaves players in more danger of getting injured. Concussions are one of the most common injuries among NFL players mainly because of the constant contact, and how the design of the helmet is to protect against major head injuries, not concussions. CTE is common in many NFL players, and most former NFL players. A study by the national institute for Occupational safety and health found that, “the brain tissue of 59 of 62 deceased former NFL players tested positive for CTE” also when studying, “the causes of death of 3,439 former NFL players concluded they were three times as likely as the general population to die from degenerative brain diseases,such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's”(Karaim). However there has been remarkable facts on how CTE has been found in NFL players more commonly than any other sport the NFL refuses to acknowledge that there is any correlation between player who played professional football and CTE. Because of this direct correlation of football and CTE many players are unable to work of fully function after their career as a professional
Head trauma can lead to brain disorders and mental health issues. One in three former NFL players have had five or more concussions and three in four still suffer symptoms today (Jenkins and Maese, 6). A study shows that NFL football players who have sustained three or more concussions are five times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment- a condition connected to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (Hadhazy, 1). NFL football players who were surveyed who had sustained three or more concussions were three times more likely to develop clinical depression compared to other players who had not suffered concussions (Hadhazy, 1). Nine in ten former NFL players reported suffering from concussions during their career, six in ten players reported having three or more concussions, and two in three of the former players who had concussions said they...
The number of concussions in professional and amateur football has been rising and has sparked much controversy in recent years. These concussions are most likely linked with disease and even the deaths of some pro and semi-pro football players. New research is attempting to solve the problem but the issue is still prevalent in football today.
Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.
Coakley, J. J., & Donnelly, P. (2007). Violence in Sports . Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed., pp. 198-199). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
When situations occur when the fans and the athletes get into confrontations, both the athlete and the fans involved must be held responsible. Too often fans get too rowdy and incite confrontations, by throwing cups of beer, chairs, fists and at times even screaming racial slurs. In almost every case of player/fan altercations, the athlete is viewed as the perpetrator in the eye of public opinion. In the view of many major media outlets such as ESPN and various network and cable news segments, and as well as in those of sportswriters, the fans have leverage because their tickets, concessions, and their contributions in television ratings collectively pay for the salaries of these athletes. In other words, the fans pay the bills of the athlete, so it’s almost as if they can do no wrong. However the flaw in this logic is that too little blame is placed on the fan and management’s lack of control of their behavior. In the case such as the one which the riot occurred in Detroit, fans should be held just as accountable as the athletes and justice should be served not only within the jurisdiction of the NBA, but also of the law.
The National Football League (NFL) has come under fire for the long-lasting medical consequences of players’ game-related head injuries. The question that arises is; is the NFL to blame for the deaths of former players such as Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher, Ray Easterling, and/or O.J. Murdock? The medical and scientific factors in addition to legal liabilities in regards to brain injuries will be outlined in this paper.
The roaring of the crowd on November 17 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC finally fell silent late in the fourth quarter after star linebacker Luke Kuechly was slow to get off the field after a huge hit to the head. American’s live to be entertained, and the football field is one of the main sources of enjoyment for many. Immediately after Kuechly’s hit, it was quiet in the stadium for the first time that day. The fans watched in fear, waiting to see if their star player could finish the game and bring out the win. However, they all became disappointed as Kuechly shed tears while being carted off the field, not because they were worried about the player and his head but because they feared about losing the game. Americans want excitement,
Coakley, J. J. (2007). Violence in Sports . Sports in Society: Issues & Controversies (9th ed., pp.
Now some people that don’t understand the “hype”, or the passion that football provides fans, and tend to see the negative possibilities while shading out any of the positive outcomes. A common example of negative views includes the perception that all fans are violent and aggressive. They smash objects which are sometimes important and valuable, scream, yell, and sometimes riot when their favorite team loses. If a football fan destroys items when their team loses it most likely means that they’re bandwagon fans, or might have a problem that’s not caused by
The news story that will be discussed will be about the National Football League and how many people felt that kneeing during the national anthem was disrespectful. The National Football League teams are made up of players from all types of cultures from around the world. As football is the most observed and popular sport in the United States that people watch. The players have a platform in which they can use to help make change to social issues. The players of the National Football League have 15 million viewers easily that watches the game during a single season, which could help promote change. The payers were not going against America in any way; they were still offering respect along with promoting change in an encouraging way. Therefore, this paper will provide more insight as to how this is affecting ethical, moral and social responsibility of organizations to their fans.
In order to full understand the subject of sports violence we need to know the full definition of it. Violence in sports is defined by M.D.Smith as, "a physical assault or other physically harmful actions by a player that takes place in a sports context and that is intended to cause physical pain or injury to another player (or fan, coach, game official, etc.), where such harmful actions bear no direct relationship to the rules and associated competitive goals of the sport." This definition suggests