Aggression and Violence in Sport Essay Example

end up in player suspensions and fines but nothing too drastic because usually in baseball bench clearing brawl don’t amount to much maybe a punch or two being landed.The worst brawl of late didn’t involve two teams it involved it involved Frank Francisco of the Texas Rangers and an Oakland Athletics fan. A fan had been heckling the Rangers bullpen the whole game and said a racial slur and Francisco threw a folding chair into the crowd and hit the fans wife. Francisco was suspended for 16 games for the incident. (Pitcher Wants to Limit Carryover, 2004) In the NBA the biggest display of aggression and violence ever occurred in 2004 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. A game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers was coming to an end with the Pacers leading 97-82 with 45.

seconds remaining when Pacers forward Ron Artest fouled Pistons forward Ben Wallace hard. Wallace was upset about being fouled so hard in late in a game that was already over and shoved Artest. Then several players from each team joined in. The focus of the on-court scuffling gradually moved away from Artest. He then climbed up on the scorer's table and laid down on it.

Angered by Artest taunting him and pretending to give a radio interview while lying on the table, Wallace threw an armband at him. A spectator, John Green, then threw a beer cup at Artest while he was lying on the table.Artest responded by charging into the stands and confronting the man he mistakenly believed was responsible, triggering a violent response from nearby spectators. A fan then proceeded to throw a cup

of water on Artest. After the cup was thrown, Stephen Jackson ran to the fan and punched him.

(Pacers-Pistons brawl) Several spectators engaged in fights with Pacers players, including Green. Others threw cups of beer and soda at Pacer players. Two spectators angrily walked onto the court. One of them, A. J. Shackleford, confronted Artest, who was making his way back to the court.

Artest punched him, which started another melee that eventually included several Pacer players, most notably Jermaine O'Neal, who was shown on video slide-punching another fan who had trespassed onto the court floor, later identified as Charlie Haddad. (Pacers-Pistons brawl) The Pistons announcer, John Mason, called the game with 45. 9 seconds remaining, and the Pacers were awarded the 97-82 "win" without the game finishing. More beer, soda, ice, popcorn, clothing, and even a chair were thrown at Pacer players and other personnel as they were escorted from the court.

No players from either team spoke to the media before leaving the arena.It was estimated that nine spectators were injured, though none of the injuries were thought to be serious. Two of the injured were taken to a local hospital. (Pacers-Pistons brawl) Two years later there was the brawl at Madison Square Garden when New York Knicks rookie Mardy Collins flagrantly fouled Denver Nuggets J.

R. Smith as he was on a fast break for a dunk or layup, by reaching around his neck and throwing him to the ground. Smith and Collins immediately began arguing aggressively as Knick guard Nate Robinson ran up and pushed Smith, although Robinson was trying to break up the fight.The three were surrounded by many Knicks and

Nuggets players, as well as officials. The fracas further escalated when Carmelo Anthony grabbed Robinson's neck.

At this point Smith, who was being held back by Knicks player David Lee, broke free and charged at Robinson, who wildly slammed Smith into the courtside seats behind the basket, forcing some spectators and photographers to move away. More fighting ensued, involving several of the players on the court at the time. Order was eventually restored, with the main participants in the altercation being restrained by teammates, coaches, and officials. Suspensions Total 47 Games from Knicks-Nuggets Fight, 2006) Despite the fact that the fighting was apparently coming to an end, Anthony punched Collins in the face, Collins fell to the floor and then Anthony backed off to the other end of the court as Knicks forward Jared Jeffries, Nate Robinson and some other Knicks immediately chased after Anthony the length of the floor to avenge their teammate.

Order was eventually restored, and no further fighting occurred. Jeffries later stated that "You have to do what you have to do when your teammate is sucker-punched. (Suspensions Total 47 Games from Knicks-Nuggets Fight, 2006) College football two years ago had its worst showing of aggression and violence since Coach Woody Hayes punch an opponent during a game. During a game between the University of Miami and Florida International University a brawl broke out in the middle of the third quarter.

With 9 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Miami H-back James Bryant caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyle Wright, making the score 13-0 Miami. After scoring, Bryant pointed at the FIU bench and bowed to the crowd.During the

ensuing PAT attempt, FIU cornerback Chris Smith wrestled Miami holder Matt Perelli to the ground after the kick and appeared to punch him in the chin. Another FIU cornerback, Marshall McDuffie, Jr. , kicked Perelli in the head. Miami players, including Calais Campbell, came to Perelli's defense, separating Miami and FIU players.

FIU's Lionel Singleton punched Campbell in the back of the helmet, which was quickly followed by retaliation from both teams, escalating the fight to a bench-clearing brawl. Miami's Anthony Reddick swung his helmet at FIU players and Miami's Brandon Meriweather kicked an FIU player.FIU's A'Mod Ned, who was injured, came onto the field and swung at Miami players with his crutches. The fight lasted five minutes, and Miami-Dade County police had to come on the field to restore order. Ultimately, 13 players were assessed 15-yard penalties for fighting and ejected from the game (eight from FIU and five from Miami).

(Suspensions Dished Out to 31 Players After Miami-Florida International Brawl, 2006) Researchers suggest that sports are good outlet to release aggression by athletes. The frustration aggression theory proposes the idea that as an individual grows more frustrated with someone or something, that person will e aggressive in order to purge themselves of their pent up frustration. This does not necessarily mean they will turn to violence but in the examples stated above the athletes took their aggression to far and it soon escalated into all out violence. In 1986 a group of recognized social and behavioral scientists meet in Spain to discuss the topic of human aggression. During their meetings they concluded that they the frustration aggression models were incorrect and that there

is no scientific data that supports the belief that humans are naturally aggressive.

The researchers then released a statement that read: It is scientifically incorrect to say that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature. Except for rare pathologies the genes do not produce individuals necessarily predisposed to violence... It is scientifically incorrect to say that humans have a “violent brain.

” While we do have the neural apparatus to act violently, there is nothing in our neurophysiology that compels us to do so... We conclude that violence is neither in our evolutionary legacy nor in our genes.So this would lead one to believe that aggression is then learned through one’s on experience. A major assumption of researchers is that individuals who observe idolized others, whether that is a parent, teacher, professional athlete or peer, exhibiting aggressive behavior in certain situations will lead to that individual responding to similar situations with the same reaction.

(Eitzen and Sage) These ideologies support the recent rise in aggression in youth sports. Over the past decade the stakes in youth sports have risen significantly and the pressure to win often outweighs the desire to have fun.Injuries in youth sports have increased substantially recently, while on and off the field aggression between players, parents and coaches is growing (Lench). In an age where hockey fights are cheered by fans and hard fouls on players are accepted as part of the game how are young children suppose to differentiate between violence and an act being just a part of the game. Things such as the World Wrestling Entertainment and mixed martial arts are becoming huge sporting

events in the world. These violent sports feed into the belief by children that aggression and violence from athletes is accepted.

This is where parents and coaches need to intervene and teach children that the violence is not accepted and it should not be a part of the game. This would be the first step in helping reduce violence in sports at a young age and hopefully having a lasting effect through the years, so that if the child makes it into the professional ranks they already know how to conduct themselves. Another problem for violence in sports is the rise in fan violence. Many fans are so dedicated to their teams that they take losses personally as if they were a part of the team.This can lead altercations among fans during and after games or with athletes during the games (Aguirre). In recent years fan violence has become a big issue at youth sports.

What does it teach our kids if parents are fighting with coaches because of play calls or playing time. The most extreme case of fan violence in youth sports was in Florida where a father of one athlete got into an argument with another parent and proceeded to pull a gun on him. All of these actions influence kids and play a role in how they handle situations later in life.The four examples, as first stated, are examples of how aggression and violence has grown in sports and how it has gotten out of control. I know that there are many more that I could talk about but those four are they key ones I think.

There are many reasons why

aggression and violence are in sports and I believe some reasons are players are getting paid too much money and players are getting younger and younger and don’t know how to control their emotions and aggression. Athletes right now are being paid the most amount of money ever in sports history.I believe that because of the absurd amounts of millions of dollars a year and athletes makes along with the pressure and stress of being in the national spotlight led to many of the violent outburst. I think that when athletes have these outbursts of aggression and violence they should be fined a lot more than they are now. Make the fines $750,000 instead of $50,000 and suspend them for a long period of time like they did Ron Artest he has stayed out of trouble since that 70 plus game suspension.

I also think it has to do with the age of player.Players in the NBA and MLB are getting to come up and play at a very young age starting at 19 if they are good enough. If you look at three out of the four situations 90% of the people involved in the brawls were young athletes in there early and mid 20s. I think that leagues and college sports should make all of their athletes go through a program on how to control their aggression and emotions when they first come into the league or university.

And after they complete the program their first year, then have yearly checkups on how they are doing controlling their aggression and emotions.Another reason for the recent trend of violence is the mounting pressure of

a win at all cost society that we live in. All these factors are contributing to the rise of violence in sports. Bibliography Pacers-Pistons brawl.

(n. d. ). Retrieved November 29, 2007, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pacers-Pistons_brawl Pitcher Wants to Limit Carryover.

(2004, September 18). Retrieved December 4, 2007, from ESPN: http://sports. espn. go. com/mlb/news/story? id=1884159 Suspensions Dished Out to 31 Players After Miami-Florida International Brawl. (2006, November 17).

Retrieved December 2, 2007, from USA Today: www. usatoday. com/sports/college/football/2006-10-15-suspensions_x. htm Suspensions Total 47 Games from Knicks-Nuggets Fight.

(2006, December 20). Retrieved December 3, 2007, from ESPN: http://sports. espn. go. com/nba/news/story? id=270122 Eitzen, Stanley, and George sage. Sociology of North American Sport.

7th. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2003. De Lench, Brooke. Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports. New York: Collins, 2006.

Aguirre, B. E.. "Sports Fan Violence in North America.

" Contempory Sociology 37(2008): 157. 8