AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > December > 23 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBad behavior’s the nature of sports beast
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
They’re trying.
Whatever that means.
In other words, no matter how often those who run sports leagues deliver the strongest of rules, fines or suspensions to end thuggish behavior, the knuckleheads will roll their eyes and throw another punch or three. For instance: One moment, Carmelo Anthony is joining drug dealers in a video called “Stop Snitchin.’ ” The next, that same star of the Denver Nuggets is turning fantasy into reality by seeking to become Suge Knight on the court.
Which means all of this madness is just in these knuckleheads. Not from birth, but from the aggressive nature of competition, especially at the highest levels, and from the detrimental contributions of many who have been in their universe.
Don’t take it from me, since my college degree is in economics instead of psychology. Listen to Dr. Patrick Devine, the Braves psychologist throughout the 1980s, who also is in his 27th year as a professor in the psychology department at Kennesaw State University.
“Men are aggressive. There’s no doubt about it, because we have the testosterone and the hormone systems built up to do it, so we don’t need a lot of encouragement to go to that violent level, because it is naturally there within us,” said Devine, before getting to those growing number of knuckleheads. “Is this [athletes becoming more violent in action] something that is inherent in the individual? No. I think that we, as a society as a whole, have allowed things to get this way.”
What things? Well, just this week, NBA commissioner David Stern suspended Anthony long enough to lose $640,097 in salary for his sucker punch during the NBA’s latest brawl. Earlier this season, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Albert Haynesworth to get lost for an unprecedented five games after he used his 300-something pounds to stomp on the head of an opponent. Even the NHL’s Gary Bettman is trying to do the right thing with knuckleheads, and his sport ranks fighting along the lines of breathing.
Remember Todd Bertuzzi’s thuggish act two years ago against Steve Moore? Not only did Bettman suspend Bertuzzi indefinitely, but the commissioner slapped Vancouver Canucks with a $250,000 fine for “failure to prevent the atmosphere that may have led to [the incident].”
With apologies to soccer moms, their sport isn’t immune, either. Need we go further than the World Cup last summer, when France’s Zinedine Zidane charged and rammed his Italian opponent with his head? Zidane was upset because he said the other guy was saying nasty things about his his sister. Although Zidane later retired, he was suspended three games, fined $6,000 and asked to perform community service by the FIFA folks.
None of these episodes has decreased the knuckleheads. In fact, they’ve increased them in some cases.
“Kids idolize these guys, and those types of behaviors get modeled at very young ages, and it gets into their system as the way to behave,” said Dr. Paul Fair, an Atlanta psychologist in stress and anger management. “People love to see replays of a great move in a football game, for instance. But you also get to see replays of basketball or football players beating up on each other. So guess what? Obviously, the viewers — the fans — like that. If you have a steady diet of that for years, it’s going to eventually affect you.”
Combine that with The Authoritarian Coach becoming a dying breed at all levels, and you really have a mess. Said Dr. Devine, an offensive lineman during the 1970s at John Carroll University, “With a Tom Landry or a Bear Bryant or a Vince Lombardi, there was a sense of discipline and decorum. Today, we’re too afraid to enforce the rules, because we’re afraid we’re going to offend somebody’s individualism. This philosophy has worked its way up from the Pee Wee level to the pros. Now the ketchup has spilled out of the bottle, and we’re not going to be able to get it back in there.”
Not for a generation. Even if we go back to the future right now.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves / MLB, Falcons / NFL, Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore, Thrashers / NHL
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By ICEMAN
December 23, 2006 05:09 PM | Link to this
Terrance Moore,
I agree with your assessments. Unfortunately, what bothers me is the disproportionate number of African Americans who are magnetically drawn to sports. Because of the already sometimes barbaric attitudes involved in sports, we apparently see no problem overly indulging it. Indulging it in terms of participation and support. If we had an ideal or similar balance in representation in other fields, such as science, business, medicine, or law, I would feel more comfortable. Right now we live in the age of the Black man in a black Bentley going to jail.
By Larry
December 23, 2006 05:45 PM | Link to this
Iceman,
You’re correct!
Question: Why is it that, seemingly, 99% of all Black male athletes only talk about their mothers or have their mothers—or grandmothers at times—in the stands to support them?
Solution: Two parent families where you have a strong, confident and dependable father at home to tell their sons you do not need earrings, tattoos, and a crooked ball cap to be a real man! You can get a solid education and play sports too!
It all starts at home where BOTH parents are needed!
By Historian
December 23, 2006 06:04 PM | Link to this
Terence there’s an old saying that still holds true, “you’re part of the solution, or you’re part of problem”. Only you know Terence where you stand, but Bill Cosby, and National Public Radio commentator Juan Williams both tried to get the people to understand. You can’t be neutral about social issues. As long as people are not held accountable for their actions, they will not accountable. In other words too many kids are told from birth that they can’t be successful, because they are singled out and held back. When you here that long enough you believe it. Therefore the sports thugs are the harvest of the attitude that its not your fault, its someone elses. No it’s not the sport, the coach, or the institution, it is instead the up-bringing and values the society has taught these kids from childhood to manhood.
By TW
December 23, 2006 08:06 PM | Link to this
Mr. Moore - I salute you efforts in bringing this issue forward. However, I do feel you sell the idea of deterrence short. Anthoney should have been charged with assault, arrested and carted out of there in cuffs. Same with the soccer player. As long as the reaction to these incidents remains special, those involved will continue to think that they are. Perhaps, had Artest been given a prison sentence for his tantrum the Anthony action would have been absent - I don’t know. But I do know everyone’s attention can be gotten.
Having said this, I am well aware of the social implications contributing to the problem here in the USA. However, it is difficult to explain to my young son why ‘the man didn’t get arrested’.
By Tmac
December 23, 2006 09:42 PM | Link to this
I have have been witness to an athlete from the age of 6 years old to 18 years old. He has always been the best in the town and surrounding cities as well. The kid gets in trouble almost every other week. Yet he never accounts for anything. Instead, he is rewarded in a way that has him thinking that he can get away with anything. This passiveness comes from family, coaches and teachers. So it all starts at home.
By bboy
December 24, 2006 07:19 AM | Link to this
Just thugs on the sports field. Anyone want to bet what Balls grade will be?
By Coach
December 24, 2006 08:57 AM | Link to this
I think the modern athlete because of free agency and high salaries are harder to control than they were in the Vince Lombardi days. Athletes come from the most aggresive part of our society and as group have had a natural tendency to aggresive bahavior. The strong pro organizations still know that you can’t win the world championship without players who will sublimate their own interests to that of the team. You can sell tickets and be profitable, but if it important to ownership to give their fans a world championship, they will be carefull in the selection process to not only hire great talent, but unselfish people who which will be great team players, plus be a credit to the community and the fans that support them.
By Larry
December 24, 2006 09:27 AM | Link to this
Coach,
Touché!
You’ve just perfectly described many of the Atlanta Falcons without using their names.
By Gene
December 24, 2006 10:36 AM | Link to this
These are very stupid people who have a huge amount of money at their disposal. They believe that they live in a world without consequences. There is no excuse for their behavior.
By drmondo
December 24, 2006 11:11 AM | Link to this
TMac, I agree with your assessment. However, when children become adults they accept accountability for their actions. When the 12th grade bully tries to pick a fight with a nerdy guy in the real world he learns his actions have consequences (being arrested, criminal and civil charges, etc.). The court system doesn’t give him a free pass because he got away with it as a kid. I applaud the efforts of major league sports to get tough on “thuggery”, but sometimes they don’t go far enough. I remember an instance in hockey a few years ago when Marty McSorley cheap shotted a player and the city (not the league) talked about criminal charges. Haynesworth’s suspension should have been for a season. I understand its the business aspect of sports which limits what teams will do to punish unacceptable behavior. With better players coming out of the international scene in hockey, basketball and baseball those leagues have an opportunity to set strict league rules against cheap shots, fights, unsportsmanlike conduct. When’s the last time Yao Ming started a brawl? Suzuki? There’s a large body of football talent in this country. Would a team invest millions in a Haynsworth if they knew there was a good chance he’d miss a year or two during a 4 year contract? Parents who allow their kids to behave badly are bad parents. Schools who let their students get away with bullying should be punished. Teams which allow adults to act like 15 year olds are reprehensible. But ultimately its the adults responsibility to act like adults.
By ShadyGrady
December 24, 2006 11:28 AM | Link to this
Whoa, whoa, whoa. All of you that want to point the finger at the melanin endowed man of the sun need to back off. Violence does not belong to any one class, color, creed, race, or sex. This sh!t is pervasize throughout the human condition. It was not black males or hispanic or asian males that shot up Columbine Highschool. It was to cute little WASP boys. Bless the little smart angels. World War 1 was entirely a white blood bath. In fact, all major conflicts on this globe have been initiated by melanin deficient beings. So let’s not get all bright and intelligent and say that African-American males are the boogey man. Guiltiness rests on your own conscience. The man just pointed out violent acts perpetrated in different sports by clowns from a myriad of backgrounds. But all you idiots see is the most frightening powerful, strong black man revolting. Get some counseling.
By TheSouthernJackAss
December 24, 2006 12:10 PM | Link to this
It has nothing to do with black or white, nor whether or not daddy was around when growing up. Most children aren’t paying much attention to mommy or daddy as far as being their roll models anyhow, they’re watching the pro athletes as their examples in life. I know many children, black and white, who grew up without one or both parents, and they didn’t feel the need to rob or murder anyone because of it.
The problem is personal accountability, few people want to accept responsibilty for their own actions these days. Little or no morals or character, along with selfishness and lack of personal accountability, and you have the makings of a person just waiting for an opportunity to fail. Then the catalyst that sets it all off is to pay these people ridiculously high salaries, salaries larger than the GNP of most small countries, and they absolutely don’t know how to handle life anymore. Dirt poor yesterday, filthy rich today!
Major sports can only do so much to help repair the lack of morals, and the character deficiencies of our society today. However, if they want to get serious about repairing the “thug” problem in sports, and since most rich athletes seem to just laugh off menial fines, when the person exhibits bad behavior and commits any act worthy of being suspended or fined then suspend him for an entire season without pay, if he comes back and still wants to be a thug, ban him for life!…
By Ken Stallings
December 24, 2006 03:25 PM | Link to this
Spot on, Terrence!
The issue is a lack of discipline on the part of the adults who are supposed to enforce the concepts at the earliest levels. I also blame the media. As you said, ESPN runs those highlights. What would be the result if ESPN made the editorial decision to never again show a thuggish act on its highlights show, SportsCenter?
Would their ratings go down? No, they would not. Moreover, it would be a highly effective social effort. Frankly, I hope you send your column to the senior producers at ESPN. They deserve to have their culpability thrown in their face for helping to build this adverse culture.
By Vandy
December 24, 2006 07:42 PM | Link to this
All Falcons fans in southwest Atlanta need you as our voice to Mr. Blank. PLEASE point out to him that if he has the audacity to raise ticket prices for the 2007 season after putting an inferior product on the field in 2006, it would be the ultimate INSULT to our intelligence. His thinking that we are that stupid would be incredulous! He, Rich McKay and More need to be held accountable for such an abomination this season. Terrence we need your voice to make it clear to Mr. Blank, that, as customers, we WILL stop buying what he is selling!
Merry Christmas.
By ICEMAN
December 24, 2006 09:02 PM | Link to this
ShadyGrady,
No one is blaming Black males for everything. We are simply stating that there is no accountability for those who do commit crimes, stray away, set bad examples, etc. and those things disproportionately affects us more than they do the examples of other groups you have named. No one seems care or want to do anything about it. Your head in the sand reactionary emotional response is proof of that.