Violence in Sports

Essay by simivballer May 2005

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Violence in sports has been a controversial topic for a very long time now. With the increase in society taking a position against violence, sports has become a topic where some people feel that violence should be taken out. On the other hand people feel that you should not take away violence in sports because it is apart of the game.

John Schneider believes that violence in sports is due to six theories. "The violence in sports mirrors the violence found in society today, violence as a result of economic incentives, the influence of crowd behavior on player violence, a genetic cause for aggression, learning theory and player aggression, and psychological stress and player aggression". These theories of sports mirroring society, violence as a result of economic incentive, and the influence of the crowd are theories I believe are the reasons for increased violence in sports. When people are in highly stressful situations most people resort to violence to resolve their differences.

Why should we expect anything to be different in sports?

When leagues such as the NFL or the NHL are asked to try to remove violence from their sport, they are hesitant because it is not what the fans want. Studies show ratings go up when there is more violence. " Bryant and Zillman report that TV viewers enjoy NFL plays more when they are rough and violent." Why should these leagues remove the violence if they are making money and keeping people employed? Most fans think that eliminating the fighting would hurt the sport. Even former NHL president, Clarence Campbell, felt that violence taking place in his sport was called for and would not remove the fighting because he wanted what the fans wanted.

It is better that the violence take place between two willing...