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violence7

violence7 Sports Violence a Never-Ending Controversy 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 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 theory states that aggression is caused by frustration and is situational(170). In sports, frustration can be caused by questionable calls by officials, failure to make a certain play, injuries, heckling from spectators, or taunts by coaches and players. The social learning theory maintains that aggressive behavior is learned through modeling and reinforced by rewards and punishments(171). Each of these theories could play a role in the increasing violence in sports. Athletes may be seeing sports as an outlet to vent there frustration and anger. Young athletes often take sports heroes as role models and imitate their behavior, which may lead to children imitating such aggressive behavior in their own sporting activities. Many continue to argue that sports have always been violent and that today things are no better or worse than they were years ago. However, according to Berger, evidence contradicts this and sources show there are more serious injuries and violent acts on and off the field in today’s sports than there were in the past(9-10). Violence in sports is not a new concept, but it is more prevalent and harmful today than it was in the past(Yeager 126). There has been an increase in the frequency and seriousness of acts of violence, which is most prevalent in team contact sports, such as ice hockey, football, soccer, rugby, and even basketball. This is likely due to the increased competitiveness in sports. The strive for competitiveness starts in youth sports and only escalates in college and professional sports(Berger 12). The greater the importance placed on winning, the more violent the play is likely to become. From experience of my own, I can vouch that the bigger the game the more emotion that’s put into the game. With higher stakes players are more physical and aggressive often causing problems when people on opposite teams Emotion is another element of sports that can easily turn into violence. Competitive sports are emotional events and when emotions get out of control violence is inevitable. Through personal experience I can say that emotion often gets the best of players and can turn to aggression. According to Aaseng, most of the violence in modern sports happens not because of the nature of sports, but because society does not value the control of emotions held by the code of sportsmanship(35). In sports, as in other aspects of our lives, the problem is not so much that we have lost respect 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 Bibliography:

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