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Violence in Sports
Neanderthals have license," Dan Daly, The Washington Times, April 30, 2002.
To bring out the best in hockey and make it exciting The Washington Post's William Gildea writes: the NHL must impose consistently harsher penalties across the board for dirty play; sports television must stop glorifying violence -- using it, in effect, to promote their own telecasts; and rinks need to be made wider to open the game for "its best skaters, its best passers and its mobile defensemen." See "Pure Hockey Deserves A Fighting Chance," William Gildea, The Washington Post, April 30, 2002; Page D03.
Former Cleveland Browns football great Jim Brown is serving a five-month jail sentence for vandalizing his wife's car. He was also charged with—but found not guilty of—making terrorist threats against her. It was his fifth brush with legal authorities on charges of domestic abuse, yet he states, "The issue isn't about the safety of women.''
This, writes USA TODAY's Jon Saraceno, is from one who is known for advocating personal responsibility and self-control in his long-standing activism for African-American empowerment. Ironically, instead of accepting responsibility for his own actions, he characterizes himself as a "political" prisoner and shifts blame to, in the most recent instance, his wife's menstrual cycle. See "True manhood eludes Brown," Jon Saraceno, USA TODAY, April 10, 2002, Page 3C.
On the subject of violence against women, what does Jim Brown need to do to bridge the gap between what he says are his belief and value systems and how he acts?
Sven-Goran Eriksson, Swedish coach of England's soccer team, excluded Jonathan Woodgate from a friendly match against Italy essentially because Woodgate failed a character test. Woodgate had been convicted of fighting in the beating of an Asian student in January 2000, and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. He also was fined by his club for drunken behavior.
In keeping him off the team, Coach Eriksson reasoned that if England's soccer fans are banned for three years from traveling internationally to watch their team play when they have been convicted of a serious criminal offence, a player should suffer similar consequences.
"What a concept," writes sports columnist Cam Cole. "Accountability, in sports." Sure," he says, "it's opening up a whole new can of worms, subjecting sports figures to character scrutiny, but it's a can that ought to have been opened a long time ago, before the standards of acceptable behavior got so deplorably low." See "Over the line?" Cam Cole, National Post, March 27, 2002.
Imagine you coach, manage or own a sports team. Suppose one of your players is guilty of misconduct off the field. What would you be willing to do to hold the athlete accountable? How would your thinking be different were your team collegiate, high school, a youth group, or professional?
As a fan, what action are you willing to take to hold athletes accountable for their misconduct?
Does failing to hold an athlete accountable for wrongdoing show hypocrisy or lack integrity for not acting in accord with stated beliefs? Or does it show compassion [next page]