How responsible should professional athletes be in conducting themselves? Should we treat them as a regular working person, or should we treat them as role models for developing youth? Should professional sport organizations handout out punishment to athletes that mess up outside of the game of play, or should they take a neutral stance when they break a law and leave it to the courts? I started this thread with the recent DWI of New York Jets receiver Braylon Edwards in mind, but this is not an isolated incident across any field of professional sports. Thoughts?
Honestly, the increase in negative behavior in pro athletes should be expected. Here you have a man or woman who's probably been told since they were 10 how great they are. On top of that, actually rising through the ranks and making it to the pros pretty much cements in their mind that they're the best. When you're treated better than everyone else, you tend to believe the rules no longer apply to you. I say as long as we keep hyping them up as if they're gods, then we should expect them to behave like they are.
I don't think they should be held to higher moral standards because of who they are. They never asked to be role models, its that persons fault for looking up to someone because of their athletic ability. That said, if you are an athlete, you know you are an role model. They don't have to act that way, but they should. I think the leagues should punish players for off-field misconduct for two reasons. One, for their own image. The players are paid to win, the league is made for fans though. You're not going to lose fans by punishing players, but you might for not punishing "immoral behavior." Two, for the players safety. The leagues have a responsibility to their employees to keep them safe. Giving teenagers millions of dollars is going to lead to some bad shit...the league needs to make incentives to keep this at a minimum, so players are hurt or killed needlessly.
Above is from the NFL thread. They absolutely chose to become role models as soon as they signed that contract. What somebody does in their private time is their business, I don't disagree with that. But when it becomes a public spectacle you can't deny that it affects young children that may look up to them. They may not have ever wanted to be a role model, but that is the nature of the game. People don't say, "I'm going to be a role model now", but they need to recognize that they are one regardless if they want to be or not. If a player gets caught with an illegal weapon but gets off of any charges (granted, extreme case) because he is a pro athlete, that sends the wrong message to children. Even though I think Vick is a great athlete, I have mixed feelings about if he should have ever been let back in the league. He did a terrible thing in the dog fighting, and I know he served his time, but the NFL takes him back like it's no thing while regular people that may get a felony are fucked for life. That shit just doesn't sit well with me.
Kind of off topic and old news, but I still think he Vick thing was overblown. What he did was wrong, and I'm glad he got punished for it. But as compared with what some other players have done, this is not a huge crime. Dante Stallworth killed someone drunk driving and got 30 days in jail. I don't care that it was unintentional, he was driving drunk, which as we know, leads to people getting killed. Ray Lewis might have killed a guy. And you;d better believe a lot of these players commit crimes and aren't caught. Vick acted immorally, but as compared to someone who's taken a human's life, it is a small crime. I'd kill 10,000 dogs if it meant saving one man's life.
No, the media chooses to make them role models. It's like going to the local McDonald's and picking a worker and dissecting his life. It's the same damn thing, just cause some one is in the spotlight doesn't mean they're gonna change. The media can put feathers up these players asses all they want, but that doesn't make them chicken. They're just people, and people make mistakes, and people live the way they want to. Sure it effects children that look up to these players, but don't blame the players for being human, blame the media for trying to make them seem more than human.
Ok, I can see some logic in this. But, sports players have always been icons. That's just something that comes with the game. They should know better than to do things that may be detrimental to their own image, and their team's image. Because it is an image, I don't care which way it gets spun. We blame everybody else for "being human", why should they be above that? We condemn every other morally reprehensible action that humans do, why should we not condemn them? Some sports organizations seem to EMBRACE this kind of behavior (NBA, I'm looking at you) and I don't think that's right. These people should be punished for socially unacceptable actions, not given multi-year, millions of dollars deals.
Who cares if it's an image, you have to remember these guys have LIVES, and I don't know about you, but I'm not one for conforming my life just cause people are watching me. And if you wanna look down on them that's your prerogative, but I just assume let them live their lives, and I'll worry about my own.
So by "living their lives" you mean receiving an almost nil punishment for putting peoples lives in danger by driving drunk? Or, by being inhumane and fighting dogs? How about killing people, is that "living their lives"?
Yes, I have made mistakes. Mistakes that have cost me jobs, but apparently that's not an issue in pro sports.
Yeah, and I've made mistakes such as being high and getting in a wreck while delivering pizza, but I didn't lose my job. You don't see anyone bitching and moaning about dominos not punishing their employees do you?
Yes You can say sports players as role models. nice example is ''Madona ''. He is role model of Football.