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Violence in Sports
Sports Ethics Insights
Brawls should result in automatic ejection
Beanings and brawls make pitchers and hitters look foolish, writes SI.com columnist Phil Taylor, but, more important, there is too much potential for injury. Taylor suggests adding two rules: (1) Any pitcher who hits a batter in the face or head is automatically ejected from the game. Intent doesn't matter. (2) Any player who joins a fight is automatically ejected from the game, suspended from the next, and fined. See "Dumb and dumber," Phil Taylor, SI.com, June 23, 2003.
MLB will use bully pulpit to discourage brawling
Despite the spate of melees, writes USA Today's Rod Beaton, baseball doesn't see the need to employ the kind of fight-prevention rules that leagues such as the NBA and NHL have enacted over the years. For what MLB plans to do and what measures other leagues have taken, see "New wave of brawls concerns baseball," Rod Beaton, USA TODAY, June 23, 2003, and "How others handle fighting," USA TODAY, June 23, 2003, Page 8C.
Baseball's nonchalance about brawling questioned
"The fact of the matter is," according to Deron Snyder, who writes for Southwest Florida's News-Press, "baseball virtually condones the tradition of batters charging the mound, players clearing the benches and relievers sprinting in from the bullpen. In their heart of hearts, commissioner Bud Selig and his minions—and all of their predecessors—must secretly relish the occasional, mostly harmless, outbursts. They must believe it adds a certain machismo, an element of danger and excitement welcome by most fans." He opines that MLB "can stop them almost instantly and completely." How? Give any "joker" who steps foot outside the bullpen and anyone leaving either dugout an automatic, 20-game suspension. As for how to treat charging hit batsmen and plunking pitchers, see "Baseball, bash your brawlers," Deron Snyder, The News-Press, June 16, 2003.
Stopping sports terrorism will require ethics cops
Condemning sports terrorists, sports columnist Sam Donnellon writes, "Disguised as fans, almost always emboldened by liquor, they have managed with stupid and dangerous acts to frighten and endanger players, officials and fans, and to embarrass major cities worldwide. They need to be stopped. Now." As usual, when citizen indignity and disrespect prevail, we need to resort to legislation. The proof is in what Donnellon urges: "Let's create laws that make baseball a spectator sport again, so those looking to relax with a beer and a dog can do so, so those of us who would like to take our children to a game don't have to sit in a special section." For his suggestions, see "The Sports Terrorists," Sam Donnellon, The Philadelphia Daily News, June 13, 2003.
What does integrity go for?
Reacting to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' bargain signing of shortstop Julio Lugo, accused by Houston police of assaulting his wife Mabel Lugo, sports columnist John Romano debates the Ray's integrity and team ethics. See "Signing Lugo not the best of values," John Romano, The St. Petersburg Times, May 16, 2003.
Greater accountability needed to solve spectator aggression
"Sports organizations," says sportswriter Robert [next page]