The “sport scandal” has practically become apart of the norm in American sports. Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, adultery, or rape, there is no denying that it’s prominent in sports and media coverage today. Media bases their stories over what we, as fans want. In today’s society we want the drama, the gossip, and the rumors. You can deny that you have no interest in this aspect of professional sports but unfortunately for the majority it has. When searching youtube for the best sports plays you see videos with about 300,000 page views, but when you type in best sports fights, the first video to pop up has over 3 million views. Interesting right?
Although it may not be intentional, sports and scandal is something that the majority have become entertained by, but it has also become an issue in society. Sports media coverage is about the sports information along side the entertainment we want as well. With this entertainment aspect being at such a high value it can be said that media frames the scandals they think should be covered. Do you think that this reflects the integrity of the professional sports world? In the Handbook of Sports and Media, chapter 31 on “Criminals or Media Construction,” it state,
“Those responsible for the mayhem chronicled on these pages are no ordinary criminals. They are perceived as heroes. Rather than being stigmatized like cons, these pros are cheered, idolized, and highly paid because they bring us thrills. We are not talking about just a few bad apples here (524).”
Criminality and scandal in sports has become a spectacle and what I believe to be a serious problem in sports. As it states in the text “20%, or 1 in 5, of the members of the NFL have been charged with a serious crime (524).” The worse of it all is that the media develops the story line that we believe.
An example of this is the recent story, which involves Metta World Peace, formally known as Ron Artest. Almost every media outlet has covered this story within the 24 hours since it happened. In yesterday’s (4/22) dramatic game, World Peace was celebrating his third dunk of the game when he took a hard elbow swing to James Harden’s head leaving him in pain on the ground. Take a look at the clip if you had not seen:
The media is leaving this up in the air if it’s intentional or not? The story
line reads, “Metta World Peace reverts back to Ron Artest”. Here is a link to
this story written by The Bleacher Report: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1155451-metta-world-peace-reverts-to-ron-artest-in-a-short-but-and-violent-outburst.
The article starts by saying “it takes years to rebuild a reputation and seconds
to destroy it (bleacherreport).” This is all tied back to a sports scandal that
has happened almost a decade ago. This scandal was involving Ron Artest and the
“Malice at the Palace,” or otherwise known as the scariest day in NBA history.
World Peace was suspended for 60 games after these events in 2004. Now, he has come back to play. It seems that with this play that happened late last night that the media is promoting World Peace as a crazy athlete that can literally explode at any moment. With the high popularity that the Malice at the Palace has for sports fans we understand why this is brought back up. Does it make it right? Is it worth the suspension or perhaps a lifetime ban?
Aside from this recent scandal, we have found that there may be a decrease of interest in sports scandals. What I mean by this is that the recovery for an athlete is much easier than it ever was before. As we discussed in class, Michael Vick, who was charged with dog fighting and killing dogs is now back playing AND had one of the top selling jerseys after he was back. This goes along with this thought stated in the text, “…crime epidemic within American sports is the idea that society ‘awards them with special attention and privileges’ (525).” Do we award these athletes that do wrong? Are some athletes that engage in fights and other such things seen as more masculine? Can Metta World Peace or Ron Artest come back again without being held to the standard of being a hot head?
Sports scandals are something that will never go away. As we discussed in class, if an actress or a musician did something wrong, would the media cover it as much? Would we really even care? I believe the answer is no because in our generation we have learned to accept these notions, whereas sports is still held to a higher ideals. There are rules in sports that need to be followed, there is a sense of fairness that we honor in professionals sports, yet the scandal gets more coverage than the fair play.
Christina, I think you really hit the nail on the head when you suggest our society holds athletes to a higher standard than other celebrities and public figures. How many political scandals do we hear everyday now during election season? It seems expected that a celebrity or politician will come out with some cheating scandal or DUI, and we usually brush off this information. Media loves sports scandals, fights and controversies. Athletes also seem more resilient in the eyes of the fans and sports audiences. As you said, after Michael Vick returned from the NFL it seemed everyone forgot the reason he ended up in jail. The media also loves to highlight and sensationalize violence. Sportscenter and other sports shows often show reels of hockey fights and any other sports brawls. The most recent one from the former Ron Artest was appalling, it was not as brutal as his incident in 2004. Personally, if I was the NBA commissioner I would have suspended Artest permanently. That behavior just looks so bad in the media, for the NBA and for the fans.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL, as you mentioned, is laden with criminals and arrests. The statistic of 20% of NFL players being convicted of a crime is not acceptable. A criminal should not gain as much publicity and support that NFL players receive. A regular citizen who was arrested would be shunned from society and would have a lot of trouble finding employment. There needs to be more severe repercussions for these crimes by athletes.
Jess,
DeleteThanks for your comment. I'm glad you agree. You are absolutely right. It's not acceptable for 20% of NFL players to be convicted of a crime. Unfortunately, we push it aside for an athlete, especially one that is loved and known to be the best. Repercussions need to be determined for the ethics of professional sports to change.
I actually somewhat disagree with Jess's comment about Michael Vick. If you noticed, when he officially came back to football and signed with the Eagles, I felt the media did a great job showing how some fans wouldn't go to an Eagles game because of what Vick had done. Those stories were everywhere when he came back, so that notion that what he had done was forgotten is one that I can't say I agree with.
ReplyDeleteAs for Artest -- I refuse to call him Metta World Peace unless I encounter him in person and don't want to be punched out -- I feel has always had that reputation, even dating back to his days at St. Johns. He's always been a physical player, which is great for him and his team. It's those times like what you've brought up when he goes over the top that is bad for him and the rest of the league.
I agree with PJ on his point about Michael Vick. When he was first signed by the Eagles fans scrutinized him and despised him. It was until Vick came out and began to start and play well that fans all over began to forgive him.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting topic of discussion because the second Vick became successful again the media ran with the story of how he had paid his dues and was a great story once again. The media has the ability to sway fans opinions about a person by how they portray a person and I think the media did that in Michael Vick's case.