Sports Violence in Relation to Preserving Values in Society Essay

Bench clearing brawls in baseball, bloody hockey fights, soccer mobs, post-gamesports riots, and increasing injuries ar all images of todays sports that are old(prenominal) to us. In recent years players and fans alike have shown increased aggression when it comes tosporting events. One of the most disturbing trends in sports is the increasing frequencyand callosity of violence. Injuries and deaths among participants are on the rise, as areinjuries and deaths among fans and spectators. Violence in sports is an important issuebecause 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 thevalues and aspects of our society. The problem of sports violence has become a worldwide phenomenon, that is anunacceptable, growing social problem. Sports violence can be defined as behavior by aplayer, coach, or fan that is intended to inflict pain or cause injury (Berger 8). Sportsviolence causes harm, breaks the rules of the game, and is unrelated to the competitiveobjectives of the sport. Leonard identifies two forms of aggression in sports Instrumental aggression,which is non-emotional and task-oriented and reactive aggression, which has an underlyingemotional component, with harm as its goal(165). Violence is the outcome of reactiveaggression. There are three major theories of aggression in sports The biological theory,psychological theory, and the social learning theory(Leonard 170-171). The biologicaltheory sees aggression as a basic, innate humane characteristic, in which sports is seen as asocially acceptable way to discharge built-up aggression(170). The psychological theo... ...ect for authority, but that we have lost respect for each other. Our societyspreoccupation 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,includi ng coaches, parents, fans, and the media, also contribute to the increasing violencein sports today. Fans seem to assume the violence they watch in sports and spectatorviolence is increasing as participant injuries rise(Yeager 11). Mass media contributes tothe acceptability of sports. It provides exposure to sports-related violence via television,magazines, newspapers, and radio, which provides many examples to children who mayimitate such behavior. Also it often glamorizes players who are controversial andaggressive. Reading this, I couldnt help but think of the honorable Mike Tyson.