Module 8
Violence, Deviance, & Future Trends
A. Rule Breaking
In order to participate in a sport, you have to learn the rules of the game. In
basketball, for example, you can’t dribble with two hands, walk more than two steps
while holding the ball, or hit the arm of an opponent who’s shooting. In soccer, you can’t
intentionally touch the ball with your hand, run into an opponent without trying to play
the ball, or commit a foul in the penalty box without giving up a penalty kick. And in
tennis, you can’t touch the ball with your body or clothing, reach over the net, serve from
inside the line, or throw your racket in frustration.
No matter your age, if you participate in sport, you quickly find out that there are
plenty of rules to learn, understand, and follow. Types of rule include rules of play, team
rules, school rules, and league rules. Athletes who ignore the rules of play risk being hit
with a penalty, suspension, or even dismissal from the sport. Professional athletes and
other high-profile athletes also risk drawing the ire of the media and fans for behavior
that is socially deviant.
When athletes and coaches break the rules today, they often do so unintentionally
or because they’ve concluded that doing so may advance them toward their ultimate goal.
For example, an offensive lineman in American football may risk a penalty for holding to
keep the opposing team from flattening and possibly injuring his quarterback. Similarly, a
defensive back may intentionally hold or knock down a receiver who has outrun him in
order to prevent giving up a touchdown. In these cases, a player is willfully and rationally
breaking a rule, accepting the penalty because the alternative would be more harmful to
his team. Most of us would agree that these are not examples of cheating but rather of
rational rule breaking.
Another reason that more people seem to be following the rules these days relates
to the rapid growth of organized youth sport. A coach’s primary role in youth sport is to
teach young athletes the rules of the game and help them learn to abide by them. To aid
in that work, organized programs such as the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance have
sprung up around the United States to promote good sporting behavior. Other national
programs—backed by universities, youth sport organizations, or national governing
bodies—also publicize good behavior and reward players who demonstrate it.
Major deterrents and punishments for breaking the rules have evolved over the
years, particularly in college sport. The 2014–2015 NCAA Division I Manual includes
426 pages of rules, explanations of rules, and examples of decisions in response to rule
breaking. Believe it or not, the manual used to be even bigger, peaking at nearly 500
pages, but officials intentionally shortened it by eliminating some rules. This still-hefty
compendium is a document that school athletic officials and coaches are expected to read,
understand, and live by. Similar manuals are available for NCAA Divisions II and III,
and they check in at 398 and 278 pages respectively.
The purpose of the NCAA rules is to protect the rights of honest athletes and
coaches and to eliminate cheating. In the last 30 years, all collegiate athletes, coaches,
boosters, and athletic administrators have been charged with the responsibility of
understanding and obeying the NCAA rules. Given their complexity, however, this is no
simple task, and schools now hire specialists in rule enforcement to guide their athletic
personnel and monitor actions to prevent both unintentional and intentional rule breaking.
A college that discovers a rule violation is advised to turn itself in for sanctions before the
NCAA finds out on its own and comes to investigate.
Finally, there is the issue of athletes serving as role models for youth. In spite of
the widely quoted claim of star basketball player (now TV commentator) Charles Barkley
that he “ain’t no role model,” the facts show otherwise. The reality is that kids look up to
their sport heroes and imitate their behavior. For example, when Michael Jordan ruled
basketball, many kids wanted, in the words of a famous advertising slogan featuring
Jordan, to be “like Mike.” Perhaps we should not expect professional athletes to be
heroes, but shouldn't they at least follow the rules of sport, both written and unwritten? If
not, it may be time to stop claiming that sport produces citizens of good character and
just accept it as a childhood diversion.
B. Emotion and Sport
The human emotions experienced through and within sport add flavor to our
experience of the world. For the most part, we are taught to keep our emotions in check
during daily life, and males in particular are often pressured to subvert strong emotions as
a requirement of culturally sanctioned masculinity. In sport, however, we are free to
express emotions—as long as we do so within reason. An athletic contest that goes down
to the wire generates a level of excitement that, for most of us, is unusual in daily life.
While such excitement is energizing, it is also sometimes stressful. Indeed, the stress of a
sporting event may cause us to experience a feeling of nervousness, perspiration, clammy
palms, a headache, and clouded thoughts. The more important the event, the more
exciting and stressful it may be. Once the outcome is decided, the ecstasy of victory or
the agony of defeat takes over. It may be hours or even days before the strong feelings
subside and full equilibrium returns.
Anger is a normal emotion that often gets a bad rap. In and of itself, it is neither
good nor bad. No one has ever gotten in trouble simply for being angry, but that may
change if a person is unable to control that anger or channel it productively. In fact, anger
can be a very positive emotion if it is used to fuel outrage at a social injustice or unfair
treatment of someone. Athletes can also use anger to help them work and compete harder
at high levels of intensity. For example, in a contact sport such as American football, an
angry lineman who is rushing the passer might be very tough to block.
Spectators are also affected by the emotional excitement. For many people, the
traditional pregame cocktail party, tailgating, and consumption of alcohol have become
synonymous with sport. Many students seem to view big-time college football games as
an excuse for binge drinking, and by halftime some fans are barely able to function. In
fact, some families are so put off by the crude behavior exhibited at college football
games and many professional sport events that they do not feel comfortable bringing their
children. Colleges and professional teams have experimented with limiting the number of
drinks sold per customer, stopping alcohol sales after halftime, and restricting alcohol
consumption to pregame tailgating. An increasing number of venues are banning alcohol
outright, though of course some fans smuggle in their own supply.
Lest you think that such behavior is limited to the United States, let’s take a peek
at the behavior of fans at soccer games around the world. Soccer seems to inspire passion
like no other sport, and because it is played worldwide and frequently matches country
against country, people sometimes make a huge emotional investment in the game.
Particularly in countries where the fan base consists largely of poorer or less educated
people, the behavior may be even worse than anything typically seen in the United States.
For instance, the hooliganism of British soccer fans has been a tradition for
several hundred years. Usually, the label hooligan is applied to working-class men who
disrupt soccer games with antisocial behavior. They may direct their aggression against
referees, opposing players, team owners, or other spectators. They may drink excessively,
exchange insults, destroy property, and even interrupt the game. In fact, the incidents
become so pervasive—with fans running onto the field, throwing beer cans, pitching
stones, and generally frightening other spectators—that the British government got
involved in an effort to control the growing violence.
While hooliganism per se has been primarily a British phenomenon that has
gradually faded, a somewhat similar group of fans referred to as “ultras” has emerged in
some European countries and in North Africa. Ultras are fanatical soccer supporters
whose acting out may take the form of hateful chants, racist and abusive remarks
intended to intimidate opposing players and fans, and in some cases violence. Ultras have
been prominent in Italy, Egypt, and Turkey, and their rise has sparked similar groups in
Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Unlike hooligans, whose main purpose is to
physically fight hooligans of opposing clubs, ultras primarily support their own team and
tend to display their team colors proudly, carry signs, and sit in reserved sections of the
bleachers.
Aggression is simply a form of behavior directed toward another person; it is not
an emotion or attitude. By definition, it is a forceful action of attack intended to dominate
or master something or someone. It is intentional, and that intent may be either good or
bad, depending on one’s perspective. Good aggression in sport creates high energy or
initiative— for example, when a basketball player goes hard after a loose ball or a tennis
player charges to the net in order to seize the point with a winning shot. Therefore, in
most sports, an athlete who displays aggression is praised and rewarded for his or her
behavior, especially in contrast to exhibiting behavior deemed passive and defensive.
Good aggression is often well learned in sport, and it can be carried over into life
at large and into the workplace in particular. It is often referred to as “assertiveness,” and
we often spend hours training workers to be more assertive in both professional and
personal life. Assertiveness enables people to stand up for their beliefs and rights without
injuring others. Among avid fans, aggressive behavior is often directed at fans of the
visiting team just because they root for the other side. Consider the widely publicized
case of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow, who was savagely beaten by two Dodgers
fans in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium after a 2011 baseball game. Stow, now 45
years old, is brain damaged and disabled and requires care 24 hours a day. His attackers
have been sentenced to prison terms of eight and four year.
C. Violence in Sport
Violence pervades some sports because of their nature and the athletes they
attract. The violence that takes place during an athletic contest may carry over into
violent behavior off the field, and then both athletes and society suffer the consequences.
Young athletes may also use the athletic arena to test their masculinity and to establish
acceptance by peers.
U.S. society seems to be confused about the place of violence in sport,
particularly when the sport itself promotes aggressive play and physical abuse of an
opponent’s body. For instance, American football is a collision sport, and a number of
other sports—wrestling, boxing, ice hockey, and lacrosse—all require violence just to
play the game. Even high-performance basketball and soccer involve heavy body contact
and physical intimidation, and baseball can be violent when collisions occur at a base or
at home plate.
Traditional masculinity is often rooted in bravery, willingness to risk bodily harm,
toughness, and personal aggressiveness. These traits are often exhibited in the role
models that boys grow up with, and boys are typically accepted by their peers if they
mimic these traits in order to prove their worthiness as men. Failure to do so can result in
labels such as “sissy,” “wuss,” or worse.
Violence in American football is not always directed against opponents; it can
also threaten teammates. Consider the 2006 case of Northern Colorado backup punter
Mitchell Cozad, who brutally attacked starting punter Rafael Mendoza in an attempt to
obtain the starting role. Cozad stabbed Mendoza in the knee of his kicking leg and was
found guilty of seconddegree assault and sentenced to seven years in prison. One of the
more bizarre examples of violence in sport occurred in a boxing rematch in 1997 that
became known as the “the Bite Fight” when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear and
was penalized by means of a 2-point deduction. The referee was ready to disqualify
Tyson, but Holyfield wanted to continue. Tyson then bit Holyfield on the other ear,
tearing off the top and spitting it into the ring. This time Tyson was disqualified.
Hockey is known for frequent physical altercations—so much so that a commonly
told joke talks about going to a boxing match and seeing a hockey game break out. Many
fans seem to love the fights, and broadcasters are happy when their ratings go up due to
fights. The NHL also thrives in part on other forms of violence that generate drama and
elicit emotion, including cross-checks to the throat, heads slammed into the glass, and
punches thrown toward a player whose back is turned.
As women’s sport continue to become more competitive, and as female athletes
sometimes imitate their male counterparts, violence is bound to occur among female
athletes as well. In 2009, University of New Mexico women’s soccer defender Elizabeth
Lambert was suspended indefinitely for rough play, which included tripping, kicking,
rough tackling, and delivering a forearm shiver to the back. But the coup de grace came
when Lambert yanked Brigham Young forward Kassidy Shumway to the ground by
yanking her ponytail, images of which quickly appeared on YouTube and led the sport
news for several day.
No sport body sanctions unnecessary violence, but legions of fans still exult when
a fight breaks out. Even though altercations rarely last long or produce any benefit, some
people clearly just get excited about watching grown men tussle like schoolyard kids.
And in sports that have a high incidence of physical contact, an occasional fight is
probably inevitable. For spectators who love to watch dangerous sports, the attraction
derives in large part from their fascination with the physical test of courage and mental
and emotional toughness.
Sport at all levels, and in particular the youth level, is the scene of growing
concern about the rising incidence of concussions, as well as the treatment protocols used
for athletes who have suffered one. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that
changes the way the brain works. It results from a blow to the head and involves certain
symptoms that can appear either immediately or some time later. The symptoms may
include blurred or double vision, seeing stars, sensitivity to noise or light, headache,
dizziness or balance problems, nausea, vomiting, trouble sleeping, fatigue, confusion,
difficulty remembering or concentrating, and loss of consciousness.
Violent acts within sport shorten careers, permanently disable people, and reduce
the earning power of the victims. In professional football, particular attention has been
focused in recent years on the practices of delivering blows to an opponent’s head and
spearing an opponent by leading with the helmet. In addition, quarterbacks are
particularly susceptible to a blindside rush, and the concussions suffered by prominent
quarterbacks have crippled some teams and forced some great athletes into premature
retirement.
Most professional athletes who suffer an injury either try to keep playing or return
to play too soon. As a result, they often exacerbate the injury; in other cases, their body
overcompensates for the previous injury and thus predisposes them to other problems.
Why do they do it? Most view it as a badge of honor to play with pain and injury—as
something that tough guys do. The sad result is that more and more athletes live the rest
of their lives with a bad back, bad knees or shoulders, and a host of other complaints.
Football players who carry the ball are literally running targets, and they have the shortest
careers in the NFL—on average, just three or four years.
It is not clear whether on-field violent behavior leads to off-field violence.
Common sense suggests that people who become accustomed to using physical
intimidation and violence in sport might naturally revert to such behavior when facing
conflict outside of sport. In addition, athletes who hang out at bars, restaurants, or clubs
are often treated as targets for other tough guys, who bait them with insults and
disrespect. In such situations, the athlete, who feels his manhood is being challenged,
may struggle not to respond with physical force.
At the same time, even when athletes do respond physically, the cause is not
necessarily sport. The athlete may simply be reflecting his natural disposition, his
upbringing, or a cultural attitude established outside of sport. Indeed, such factors might
be what led him to choose a violent sport in the first place. For example, as discussed in
chapter 14, young males from lower socioeconomic classes tend to embrace sport in
order to prove their masculinity. As a result, any challenge to their manhood may leave
them feeling compelled to respond or lose face in front of their peers.
The National Football League receives more negative publicity relating to
players’ behavior than any other professional sport. That fact is due in large part to the
extreme popularity of the sport and the media attention it generates. Since Roger Goodell
became NFL commissioner, he has made efforts to improve the image of the league’s
players, which had suffered mightily. In the years since, player run-ins with the law have
continued at a similar pace to that under his predecessor Paul Tagliabue although there
are signs of improvement such as a steady decline in the number of arrests from a high in
2006 to the present day The National Football League receives more negative publicity
relating to players’ behavior than any other professional sport. That fact is due in large
part to the extreme popularity of the sport and the media attention it generates. Since
Roger Goodell became NFL commissioner, he has made efforts to improve the image of
the league’s players, which had suffered mightily. In the years since, player run-ins with
the law have continued at a similar pace to that under his predecessor Paul Tagliabue
although there are signs of improvement such as a steady decline in the number of arrests
from a high in 2006 to the present day.
Two well-known cases of professional athletes being accused of sexual assault
involved basketball player Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and football player
Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both players admitted to having a sexual
relationship with their accuser, but they maintained that the encounter was consensual.
Essentially, the cases came down to the proverbial “he said versus she said” without
definitive evidence on either side. A more recent example is that of former NFL player
Darren Sharper, who was an All-Pro and then an on-air analyst for the NFL Network. He
has been investigated for rape and other sexual assault charges in five states, including
California, Arizona, Louisiana, Nevada, and Florida. In each case, Sharper is accused of
spiking a woman’s drink and then sexually assaulting her, although he claimed the sex
was consensual. In 2015, he pleaded no contest in Los Angeles and guilty in New
Orleans.
Similar incidents have occurred at the high school level, including the widely
publicized case of two football players in Steubenville, Ohio, who were found guilty of
gang rape by a juvenile court. The two young men, then 16 and 17 years old, were judged
guilty of digital penetration of an intoxicated 16-year-old girl at an alcohol-fueled party
and later texting pictures of the girl naked. Both teens were classified as sex offenders,
and they were sentenced to juvenile detention of one year and two years, respectively.
The Steubenville City School superintendent was charged with tampering with evidence
and obstructing justice and was eventually forced to resign. Three other employees were
also implicated in an attempted cover-up.
Campus sexual violence cases that involve athletes seem to follow a pattern: a
woman admires a man for his athletic performance, becomes friendly with him, and, after
consuming alcohol, finds herself in an unsafe environment where her protestations of
“no” go unheeded. Too many young male athletes see women as the “spoils” of being a
jock. In some cases, a group of athletes egg each other on and later claim that the victim
was simply “asking for it” in the way she dressed, behaved, or consumed drugs or
alcohol.
African Americans such as Satch Sanders, who helped the Boston Celtics win
eight world championships, are outraged by the portrayal of African American athletes as
prone to violence. Sanders and others point to the millions of dollars that famous athletes
donate to schools, charities, and youth foundations. Indeed, most professional athletes are
solid family men who respect their wives, mothers, sisters, and women in general. Joyce
WilliamsMitchell is former executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition of Battered
Women’s Service Groups and an African American woman who hates the violent image
of athletes. She says, “It is a myth! Most batterers are men who control women through
their profession, and they include police officers, clergymen, dentists, and judges.
Athletes get the headlines, though, and an unfair public rap. Men from every profession
(regardless of race) have the potential to be batterers”.
As stated earlier, we need more research before coming to any conclusions about
violence and sport. Rather than rely on sensational examples from the media, we need
solid data with which to compare rates of occurrence across groups. Drug and alcohol use
should also be noted, since in some cases they—and not sport—may be the cause of
violence. No one is helped by sensationalized reporting or hidden facts. The attention
given by the White House to the issue of sexual violence on college campuses sends a
clear message that there will be repercussions if such behavior does not change. Perhaps
professional sport leagues need to take similar action to reduce or eliminate such
behavior by their athletes. There are still too many athletes whose behavior is overlooked
if they can play the game well; meanwhile, victims and family members pay the price for
our failure to respond decisively to violent behavior.
Earlier in the chapter, we discussed the stringent standards that NHL has imposed
since 2005 to reduce on-ice violence. Clearly, NHL officials had decided that changes
were necessary in their athletes’ behavior. As this effort illustrates, violence can be
significantly reduced if those in charge of a sport agree that doing so is a worthy goal.
The National Football League has recently become a de facto leader in studying the data
on brain trauma, modifying rules to reduce the incidence of such injuries, defining and
teaching safer methods of play, and exploring equipment modifications to increase safety.
Team owners have an investment in their athletes and can’t afford to lose star players.
Families don’t want to see their kids injured or sentenced to a life of physical disability.
League officials need to protect their superstars so they can continue to market them to
potential spectators. Almost everyone in sport has a financial investment not only in the
productivity of athletes but also in their health and well-being; therefore, everyone stands
to gain by protecting them.
Society at large must also address the issue of violence. Violent acts in the sport
world may grab headlines, but such acts also pervade businesses, professions, and the
world of education. Passionate discussions about gun violence consume U.S. society, and
all agree that the results are tragic, but consensus about methods for solving the problems
seem to escape us. When linked to social class and race, violence raises uncomfortable
discussions that some people would rather avoid. But according to the U.S. Department
of Justice, African American men have a one in three chance of spending time in prison.
Yet in comparison with previous generations, today’s sport participants seems to
engage in less rule breaking, thanks to better officiating and to well-organized youth sport
programs where players learn the rules of the game. In addition, rules have been modified
over the years to make them clearer and easier to interpret consistently. Moreover, video
replay technology allows everyone to observe infractions (in slow motion), which makes
it difficult to argue with an official who has the clear evidence at his or her fingertips.
Finally, the immediacy of the electronic media allows observers to critique athletes’
behavior on the field so that rule breakers are publicly chastised and embarrassed.
D. Performance Enhancement Through Drugs
Perhaps no sport-related issue has received more attention in recent years than the
use of drugs and other performance-enhancing substances. This is not a new topic, nor is
there convincing evidence that drug use is more prevalent today than in the past. The
difference lies in the media’s reporting, the increasingly aggressive drug-testing
programs, and the sophisticated methods that abusers use to mask their actions. One of
the earliest mentions of performance-enhancing substances was made by Galen, a Greek
physician who was born in AD 129 and practiced sports medicine. Reports from the early
Olympic Games indicate that athletes used herbs, animal proteins, and mushrooms in
their efforts to improve performance. In the 19th century, French athletes reportedly
drank a concoction of wine and cocoa leaves in an attempt to reduce sensations of fatigue
and hunger.
Modern athletes use three distinct types of drug: (1) prescription and over-the-
counter medications, (2) stimulants, and (3) anabolic steroids. Prescription drugs and
over-thecounter drugs promote healing from sickness or injury or mask pain to allow the
athlete to return to competition. Although elite athletes who mask their pain to continue
competing may be at risk for long-term disability, they argue that it is their personal
decision whether to risk the early return. Many athletes realize that a quick return is
essential if they want to keep their place on the team. Moreover, fans and the media
applaud the athlete who guts it out after an injury, even though the athlete may be
masking the pain with medication. Decisions to use restorative drugs should be made
with honest medical advice. Young athletes should involve their parents in the decision
rather than rely on their coach, trainer, or team medical staff.
According to the suit, team doctors administered the drugs without using
prescriptions, keeping medication records, or explaining the potential side effects. The
players also say that they were not told of injuries they had suffered and were urged to
return to play. Plaintiff J.D. Hill, who played for seven years in the 1970s, says that he
was supplied with “uppers, downers, painkillers, you name it while in the NFL. I became
addicted and turned to the streets after my career and was homeless. Never took a drug in
my life, and I became a junkie in the NFL”.
The second class of drug used in sport is that of stimulants, such as caffeine,
cocaine, Benzedrine, Ritalin, and Methedrine. Stimulants have been used rampantly in
professional sport for decades. Players use them to get hyped up before competition and
to heighten their arousal level. Indeed, amphetamines (often referred to as “speed”) are a
fact of life in professional baseball, football, and basketball, and high-performance
athletes feel pressured to use them just to stay competitive.
The third category of drugs in sport comprises anabolic steroids and related
substances that increase muscle size, decrease fat, and produce secondary male sex
characteristics. Anabolic steroids are faster and more effective than any physical training
program in increasing size, strength, and speed. As a result, they have been used to help
produce apparently miraculous performances by weightlifters, track-and-field athletes,
football players, and baseball players. Evidence points to chronic steroid use by some
athletes in virtually every high-performance sport.
Steroids increase an athlete’s muscle size, speed, and power; they can also
enhance masculinity, aggressiveness, sense of well-being, and sexual prowess. For
decades, sport fans dismissed reports of drug use in sport. In the United States, fans
preferred to accuse Eastern Communist countries, led by East Germany, as the main
offenders in the Olympics. When evidence of illegal drug use became well publicized
after the fall of the East German government, U.S. observers merely nodded and assumed
that the bad guys had finally been caught. In reality, however, U.S. Olympians had been
quietly adding performance-enhancing substances to their own training regimens.
The small country of Jamaica has long been known as the home of the finest
sprinters in the world, both male and female. As a result, the world of track and field was
stunned in 2013 when it was revealed that six Jamaican athletes had tested positive for
banned substances. They included Veronica Campbell-Brown, Asafa Powell, and
Sherone Simpson. Subsequently the head of the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission
revealed that only one outof-competition test had been carried out in the five months
leading up to the 2012 Olympics. As a result, the commission’s entire board resigned,
and the commission was reconstituted by the country’s prime minister.
The new agreement also toughens the league’s testing regimen, increasing the
number of inseason random urine tests from 1,400 to 3,200, including at least two for
each player. Offseason tests also increase, from 250 to 350. In addition, 400 random
blood collections will be conducted to detect human growth hormone in addition to the
mandatory single test for each player during spring training.
Drug testing in sport is complicated by debate about cold medicines that are
banned but still taken, perhaps by an athlete who simply contracts a cold just before a
championship. Wouldn’t the average citizen do the same if he or she caught a cold and
needed to go to work? In Vancouver in 2010, Lubomir Visnovsky, a Slovakian ice
hockey player, was reprimanded after testing positive for pseudoephedrine, which can be
used as a stimulant at high doses. Visnovsky told officials that he had been taking Advil
Cold & Sinus medication. Similarly, before the Games began, Russian ice hockey player
Svetlana Terenteva tested positive for tuaminoheptane, which she attributed to using a
cold remedy.
Controversy can even accompany athletes’ use of everyday vitamins, which of
course are consumed daily by many people around the country. Are such vitamins illegal
for athletes? Is it illegal to use Gatorade, sold at grocery stores, to aid hydration and fight
heat exhaustion? In addition, at U.S. health food stores, you can find and read the claims
of thousands of agents that are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). Thus the questions about drug use in sport seem to be unending—and sometimes
so confusing that no solution seems possible. There are signs of progress, however, both
in drug testing and in educational programs that combat the use of performance
enhancers by athletes at all levels. Some high schools are even drug-testing all students in
cocurricular activities, although the expense to do so appears to be prohibitive in most
areas.
The IOC continues to lead the world in drug testing and can be relatively nimble
in adjusting its policies because it does not have to secure approval from a players union
before taking action. For the same reason, NASCAR was recently able to install a
relatively stringent program. Even so, of all of the U.S. professional sports, baseball has
the most complete policy due to the scrutiny and negative publicity it received during its
steroid era. As for other major U.S. team sports, both professional football and basketball
randomly test their athletes several times a year, both during the season and in the off-
season. Only ice hockey limits testing to training camp and during the season.
The media can also help by exposing doping in sport in a fair and unbiased
manner. Blaming specific athletes is not useful if they are simply the victims of the
situation. Coaches, sport administrators, officials, and sponsors must accept their share of
the blame and face the need for change. For their part, parents can band together to insist
on consistent policies that ensure fair competition for their kids. Educational programs on
doping should be made available to families and athletes should be required to participate
in them.
Finally, sport participants themselves can think carefully about the value of any
practice that may threaten their well-being. If athletes who love sport and value fair
competition join together to restrict drug use in sport, they can catalyze powerful change
in the sport world. The alternative is to withdraw from high-performance sport and move
toward a society that values participation in sport regardless of the level of performance (
E. Eating Disorders in Sport
One example of overconformity in sport involves athletes who develop eating
disorders that are either caused by or related to their sport. Athletes who are highly
competitive often go to extreme lengths to maximize their chance for success. In some
sports, maintaining a lower body weight is clearly advantageous, whether for appearance
or for performance itself.
Athletes in sports that focus on physical appearance are at high risk for
developing eating disorders. These sports include gymnastics, dance, figure skating,
diving, and cheerleading. Other athletes are also at high risk in sports that reward
leanness or have specific weight classes for competition, such as cross country, wrestling,
martial arts, horse racing, rowing, and swimming. In contrast, power sports that rely on
strength or body mass are less likely to encourage eating disorders, though cases do occur
in every sport.
The three most common eating disorders found in athletes are anorexia nervosa,
bulimia nervosa, and compulsive exercise. Anorexia is exhibited by people who starve
themselves in order to achieve what they perceive as an ideal body weight; no matter how
thin they are, they may still regard themselves as fat. Bulimia involves binge eating
followed by purging. Compulsive exercise is characterized not by undereating but by
overexercising. These disorders may become so serious that they lead to death. They may
be preceded by more benign behaviors, including diuretic or laxative use, dieting, fasting,
eating certain foods in rigid patterns, and consuming inadequate protein; being
preoccupied with food may be another precursor.
The continuing problem of eating disorders has been confronted by national
organizations, health professionals, coaching educators, and parent educators. These
people have helped raise public awareness, and health professionals are now trained to
recognize possible signs of an eating disorder. Coaches and parents also need to look for
these warning signs and seek help at the first indication of a developing problem.
Treatment of the triad often requires a team approach that includes a nutritionist, a
physician, and a psychologist, along with strong support from family members, friends,
teammates, and coaches.
F. Hazing in Sport
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS),
hazing is “any action or activity which inflicts physical or mental harm or anxiety, or
which demeans, degrades or disgraces a person, regardless of location, intent or consent
of participants” (2006). Hazing usually takes the form of a rite of passage that one must
endure in order to gain acceptance into a particular group, such as a fraternity or athletic
team. While hazing is not new, it has captured public attention as hazing practices have
evolved from actions that were mostly annoying to actions that threaten physical or
psychological harm. Activists who fight against hazing liken their cause to that of ending
sexual harassment.
All athletes are at risk for hazing, which can involve excessive alcohol
consumption (the most common hazing behavior); excessive physical punishment;
assignment as a personal servant to others; sleep or food deprivation; actual or simulated
sex acts; consumption of disgusting food combinations; prank phone calls; stealing and
shoplifting; and restrictions on associating with certain people. More serious, even life-
threatening hazing rituals include being violent toward others, being paddled, being
kidnapped, and being abandoned. Men are much more likely than women to be
threatened with extreme or harmful behavior.
The researchers analyzed more than 11,000 individual survey responses and
conducted more than 300 in-person interviews. The findings indicated that 55 percent of
college students involved in clubs, teams, and other organizations had experienced
hazing. The most common forms of hazing included alcohol consumption, humiliation,
isolation, sleep deprivation, and sex acts. Among athletes in team sports, 74 percent of
respondents had experienced hazing—the highest percentage for any group, though
fraternities and sororities were close at 73 percent. The most common hazing behavior
was participation in drinking games, which was reported by 47 percent of athletes.
Historically, many athletes and coaches viewed hazing as a benign ritual that built
team unity, created camaraderie, and helped new athletes gain acceptance. However, as
the seriousness of hazing escalated, teams and schools have stepped in to ban hazing
practices. According to StopHazing, which monitors legal developments related to
hazing, most U.S. states have banned hazing; the exceptions are Alaska, Hawaii,
Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Wyoming. In addition, both the NCAA and
the NFHS have established written policies against hazing; they also publish literature
and sponsor educational seminars to combat hazing.
Hazing incidents produce a variety of outcomes. Sometimes, the victim dies, as in
the earlier example of Robert Champion and in the case of Chuck Stenzel, a student at
Alfred University whose death stimulated national research on hazing. Some incidents
end in lawsuits, such as one in which a California school district paid $675,000 to a
Rancho Bernardo High School baseball player who was sodomized with a broom handle
in the locker room after a game.
In another case, the tight-knit community of Sayreville, New Jersey, was rocked
by a scandal in 2014 that resulted in seven high school football players being criminally
charged with hazing and sexually assaulting four teammates in the locker room. The
veteran coach was suspended indefinitely from his tenured physical education position,
and the 2014 football season was cancelled after only three games. The Sayreville
community loved its football team, which had won three consecutive New Jersey
sectional titles from 2010 through 2012 and had made the playoffs 18 years in a row. One
year later—after much soul searching, discussion, and finger pointing—the
superintendent of schools announced that football would return to Sayreville in 2015 with
full community support
G. Gambling and Sport
Gambling on sport activities is nothing new; in fact, reports of the practice go
back for centuries. In early colonial days, gambling focused on horse racing,
cockfighting, boxing, and bearbaiting (Leonard 1980). As baseball gained popularity in
the nineteenth century, local ball clubs began to pay some players under the table, and
fans began betting on games. When the National League was formed near the end of the
century, baseball became an openly professional game enjoyed by the masses; as a result,
under-the-table payments became a thing of the past, but betting on games continued.
The general public became keenly aware of illegal sport gambling when the
infamous Black Sox scandal hit the headlines. In the 1919 World Series, the Cincinnati
Reds beat the Chicago White Sox in a disputed set of games. Investigations revealed that
eight White Sox players were guilty of “dumping” the series in return for a financial
payoff from gamblers who bet heavily on the Reds to win. The players were frustrated by
what they considered to be unfair salaries. During that time, players did not have the
option to declare themselves free agents and sign with another club for better wages.
Decades later, gambling came to the fore again in baseball, when Pete Rose, one of the
game’s all-time greats, was banned from the sport and from the Hall of Fame because he
bet on baseball during his career. He steadfastly denied the charges until it became clear
that he had no hope of reinstatement, at which time he admitted guilt.
Gambling has also touched professional basketball in the United States, where it
involved not a player but an official. In this case, longtime NBA referee Tim Donaghy
pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting
wagering information. He was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in 2008 and
served 11 months before his release to a halfway house. The investigation revealed that
Donaghy had a gambling problem, was in debt, and tried to recoup his losses by engaging
in more betting. His book Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal that
Rocked the NBA chronicled his dealings with organized crime and the “underworld” and
described how easy it is for NBA officials to affect either the outcome of a game or
whether the predicted point spread is covered.
Delaware formulated plans in 2009 to expand sport gambling on individual
professional games and collegiate sports. However, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit said that the Delaware plan violated the 1992 federal
law. The Delaware plan had been challenged by the NCAA and all major U.S.
professional sport leagues, who contended that it would harm their sports. The court,
however, did allow the state to continue so-called “parlay” bets, in which a bettor must
select the winners of at least three separate NFL games in a single wager.
A 2008 study of gambling and problem gambling among college students in
Florida showed that 77 percent of males and 60 percent of females reported gambling at
least once in the previous year. They gambled primarily for entertainment, to win money,
and to socialize. The study also revealed that about 25,000 college students in Florida are
likely experiencing gambling and gambling-related problems. In addition, nearly 15
percent of Florida college students were deemed at risk for gambling problems, whereas
that was the case for just 7 percent of Florida adults and 8 percent of Florida adolescents.
Moreover, the number of college students classified as pathological gamblers more than
doubled the number reported for adolescents and quadrupled the number for adults.
College athletes have a higher rate of problem gambling than nonathletes.
Athletes who are problem gamblers and in significant debt—especially to bookies and
loan sharks—are particularly vulnerable when approached to shave points or fix games.
According to the NCAA, in 2012, about 25 percent of male athletes and 5 percent of
female athletes admitted wagering on sporting events within the past year. Students who
were identified as problem gamblers were more likely than other students to be heavy
drinkers and regular users of tobacco and marijuana. Problem gambling was also related
to binge eating and greater use of weight-control measures.
Some progress is being made, according to a 2012 NCAA survey of student-
athletes (2013c) whose results were compared with the results of similar surveys
completed in 2004 and 2008. The most recent survey noted a decrease in frequent
wagering by Division I men’s basketball players—one of the target groups for education
about the risks and consequences of gambling. It also found a decrease in the incidence of
Division I men’s basketball and football players sharing information (such as injury
status) with outsiders. The survey found that men still greatly outnumber women as
social, frequent, and heavy gamblers in all three divisions. Indeed, up to 26 percent of
males compared with only 10 percent of females across all divisions reported that they
gambled on sport during the past year—a violation of NCAA rules. Perhaps surprisingly,
the highest incidence of gambling occurs among male athletes in Division III.
The strongest justification for legalizing sport gambling comes from those who
suggest that it can provide a bailout for local and state governments, which are searching
for new revenue streams. When the government promises to channel gambling profits
into education or youth sport programs, some public officials and many citizens are
tempted to embrace sport wagering as a revenue stream. Proponents point out that,
without legalized sport gambling, the profits generated by gambling go to illegal
operations and organized crime, whereas this money could be used for worthier causes.
New Jersey has been rapidly liberalizing its gambling policies in an attempt to replace
lost revenue caused by the failure of most of the large casinos in Atlantic City in the
wake of increased opportunities for gambling in neighboring states.
Drug use to enhance athletic performance appears to be increasing in spite of
strong actions to eliminate the practice. Doping has become more sophisticated, and the
various responses that combine testing programs with penalties for violators seem unable
to keep up with the creativity of athletes driven to excel by any means. In fact, some
observers think it would be more honest and fair to athletes to simply allow the use of
performance-enhancing substances and thus even the playing field because all athletes
could choose to use drugs legally. They argue that the current enforcement approach—
which trails the ingenuity of athletes, coaches, and trainers who choose to cheat—simply
rewards the cheaters in sport.
Eating disorders affect more female athletes than male athletes. People who
participate in sports that emphasize physical appearance—such as gymnastics, ice
skating, dance, and cheerleading—are at greatest risk for developing an eating disorder.
Others at risk include athletes in sports that favor leanness, such as wrestling, cross
country, and swimming. The most common eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia, and
compulsive exercise. Hazing in sport has burst into prominence in recent years due to a
number of widely publicized deaths, injuries, and humiliations suffered by athletes at the
hands of their teammates. Although hazing is not limited to athletes, researchers estimate
that more than 80 percent of college athletes are exposed to hazing; in high school, nearly
25 percent of hazing victims are athletes. The alarming trend of more frequent serious
hazing incidents seems to have slowed, due to wide publicity, educational programs, and
state laws against hazing.
H. Social Trends
Social trends are difficult to predict since we have no way of knowing how
societal influences will affect people’s state of mind, our economy, and our values. In
addition, worldwide trends, such as the rise in terrorism, may drastically affect our lives
in ways that are difficult to predict. For example, the shrinking of our world into a global
economy of interdependence has the potential to either bring our world closer together in
cooperation or split us farther apart in conflict.
In U.S. society, certain social trends seem clear. First, the population is rapidly
aging, and the proportion of the populace that is older than 50 years will continue to rise
in the immediate future. As a result, a large proportion of the population will focus much
attention on concerns about quality of life, health care, and the productive use of leisure
time after retirement. Between 2014 and 2050, the U.S. population is expected to grow
more slowly than in the recent past, and a modest decline in international migration is
also forecast. By 2044, more than half of all Americans are projected to belong to a
minority group. In fact, the Latino and Hispanic population is expected to triple and thus
account for 30 percent of the overall U.S. population; in addition, because this group will
be younger than other racial groups, it will also have a higher birth rate.
Second, the rights of all people—regardless of age, race, gender, sexual
preference, or disability—will continue to be protected, and discrimination laws are
likely to be strengthened in the United States. Thus the stage is set not only to protect the
rights of every citizen but also to enhance quality of life by opening up avenues for new
experiences and adventures even for those who may have been victims of discrimination
in the past.
Third, those who have benefited most from supporting performance sport will
fight to protect their investment in sport. In fact, rather than just protecting the status quo,
they will bring ingenuity to strategies for expanding the influence of performance sport.
This group will continue to strengthen the bonds between big-time collegiate sport,
professional sport, and the Olympic Games.
Fourth, the human tendency to push against barriers will result in development of
new materials and processes that produce better sport equipment, facilities, and training
regimens so that elite athletes can challenge the frontiers of athletic achievement. As
athletes benefit from scientific advances, records will continue to be broken. Another key
area of research will involve the ongoing effort to rid sport of performance-enhancing
substances that provide an unfair advantage to some athletes, create mistrust on the part
of fans and the media regarding great performances, and threaten the integrity of athletic
competition at every level.
Fifth, attitudes toward gambling in the United States have shifted dramatically in
the past 30 years, resulting in a proliferation of state lotteries, expanded casino gambling,
and online betting. If we consider only revenue from gambling, Americans spent more
money on gambling in 2009 ($92.3 billion) than they did on all live events, all movies in
theaters, and all forms of recorded music—combined (Rose 2011). Once considered a
moral issue that led to legal prohibitions, gambling now enjoys strong public support and
is bolstered by states that crave a share of the profits to fill their coffers.
Sixth, coaches will adapt to their athletes by increasing their coaching competence
and adjusting their coaching philosophy to meet athletes’ needs. At the same time,
athletes will pressure coaches to endorse a certification process that indicates coaching
knowledge, skill, and competence at various levels of coaching. The availability of online
coach training has already begun to eliminate the two most daunting barriers to
continuing education of coaches: time and cost.
I. Conflict Between Performance Sport and Participation Sport
There has always been keen competition between performance sport and
participation sport. The competition centers on publicity, funding, accessibility, cost,
facilities, coaching, and recruitment of players into one track or the other. During the past
century, performance sport has had the edge in just about every category. But things may
change in this century as a result of our changing demographics, the shift to an older
population, a potential national crisis due to rising costs in U.S. health care, and in some
cases lack of interest in performance sport. It seems more likely, however, that both
categories of sport will grow steadily—but perhaps for different reasons. Let’s look at the
potential for expansion of each.
The institutions that support performance sport are strong, well funded, well
established, and determined to perpetuate their roles. They include powerful
businesspersons, athletic directors, college presidents, and commercial sponsors who
have joined with the media to glorify the finest athletes in the world. The emphasis on
superior athletes storming the barriers of performance makes for a captivating story. We
love to see athletes run faster, jump higher, hit harder, and prove their power in sport,
especially if their success can be attributed to hard work, dedication, and the overcoming
of obstacles. Vicariously, their success becomes our success, and we rejoice in it.
Owners of professional sport franchises and league officials will continue to
convince cities to build more elaborate facilities to host their teams; indeed, city officials
will scramble to attract professional franchises in order to enhance their economy.
However, the trend toward publicly financed stadiums will slow due to recent economic
woes. Public officials are reluctant to add to the daunting financial challenges their cities
face by taking on long-term debt to build facilities that primarily benefit millionaire
professional sport owners. Therefore, rather than having the public absorb two-thirds or
three-quarters of the cost of a new facility, team owners will be expected to provide more
of the financing.
Despite these predictions, the outlook for performance sport isn’t all rosy. If
improvements are not made in drug testing and control of performance-enhancing
substances, the public could become disenchanted with professional sport as athletes
continue to use illegal substances in pursuit of exceptional performance. Led by the
Olympics and, more recently, Major League Baseball, significant progress has clearly
been made toward more comprehensive drug testing in all sports. Yet no drug
enforcement effort will ever completely eradicate cheating, because there will always be
athletes, coaches, and others who experiment and try to exceed the reach of testing
programs.
Youth programs will continue to struggle to provide development for superior
athletes who come from modest financial circumstances. In the meantime, some parents
will become frustrated with the demands made by performance-oriented programs and
coaches. Families who choose to expose their children to a wider range of activities will
find themselves left out of performance-oriented programs. In addition, kids who do not
excel early in their sport career may become discouraged and withdraw from sport before
they have a chance to blossom in it. The dropout rate for kids in performance sport will
continue to be high.
As Americans continue to struggle with health, people will begin to recognize
how important exercise and sport are to controlling body weight, enhancing energy,
resisting disease, improving physical appearance, and enjoying a better quality of life.
Leaders in the medical and health professions are doing a better job than in the past of
educating the public about the value of sport and physical activity, particularly in fighting
the alarming trends of obesity and overweight. Even the White House, under the
leadership of First Lady Michelle Obama, has joined the effort to help kids eat better and
be more physically active.
Most youth sport programs attract large numbers of children between the ages of
6 and 8; however, more than half of them drop out of sport by age 14. And when they
reach high school, only a fraction of those who did continue in youth sport will make
their high school varsity team. The system has a built-in rejection mechanism because of
the focus on performance rather than participation that forces the majority of young
people to drop out of sport. Possible solutions include expanding the number of athletic
teams sponsored by schools and instituting no-cut policies, at least in certain sports.
Another possibility is to field teams with different ability levels and training intensities;
this system has been used successfully for generations by private schools that require
every student to devote time each day to athletics and exercise.
Another possibility is to sponsor complete intramural programs within schools to
attract the masses of students who do not play varsity sport. At the college level, an
increasing number of students are drawn to sport clubs, which are much less intense than
varsity teams yet still offer competition against teams from nearby schools. In fact, some
traditional varsity sports are good candidates for conversion to club status in order to
reduce out-of-control athletic budgets. The key is to find the money and facilities to
support expansion of intramural and club teams. One way to address the problem of
inadequate facilities is to establish lighted athletic fields that can be used for longer
hours; this model may soon be followed by high schools.
Young people aren’t the only ones participating in sport. As health costs continue
to climb, health insurers and employers will explore the benefits of encouraging physical
activity among employees in order to minimize health risks, loss of productive work
days, and financial burden on health insurance programs. As the number of older adults
approaches 100 million —of the total U.S. population of about 300 million—their
influence will be felt in every facet of society. In this environment, sport provides
opportunities for regular exercise, social interaction, and enhanced self-image—all
important contributors to healthy living for older adults.
As with performance sport, participation sport also faces some obstacles. The first
obstacle is simply lack of interest in sport on the part of those who played as children but
dropped out. These adults need to be wooed back into sport with the offer of a different
kind of experience. At the same time, leaders need to commit to increasing physical
activity among young people, creating a change in consciousness among parents and kids
through consistent marketing, and waging publicity campaigns about the value of sport
programs based not on winning but on participation.
A second major obstacle is the competition for money and facilities with
traditional performance sport programs. Advocates of participation sport need to
overcome the ingrained bias toward performance sport by enlisting the support of the
masses; after all, they certainly outnumber the relative few involved in performance
sport. Ultimately, tax dollars support school programs, extracurricular programs,
community programs, and parks and recreation programs.
J. Effects of Social Changes
As the Latino and Hispanic population expands to become approximately one-
third of the population, girls and women from this culture need to be integrated into a
U.S. culture that values lifelong physical activity and sport participation. Latino and
Hispanic girls are introduced to sport later than other racial groups and also drop out
earlier. Inducing them to become more physically active is a challenge that affects the
overall health of the U.S. population, as well as the campaign to reduce overweight and
obesity.
Older women, too, will continue to have a significant effect on sport. Those who
love performance sport will prolong their careers with expanded professional,
semiprofessional, and community leagues that offer strong competition. However, the
vast majority of women who don sneakers and activewear are looking for a healthy
workout to maintain their physical appearance, control body weight, socialize, have fun,
and increase their energy for the demands of daily living. The influx of females in
participation sport requires calls for both new sports and variations on traditional sports;
examples include the recent surge of female participation in yoga, tai chi, and strength
training.
As mentioned earlier, the aging of the U.S. population may be the most influential
trend of all in sport. Age-group competition for older adults will continue to grow as
some seniors seek the thrills of competitive sport and the challenge of testing themselves
against other competitors or against the environment. Other older adults are more
interested in exercise simply to maximize good health, posture, energy, social interaction,
fun, and release from stress. In order to meet the needs of these older athletes, coaches
and program leaders will need to continue to tinker with the formula for sport. The best
approach for older adults seems to consist of more frequent but shorter workouts at less
intensity. This group also looks to socialize either during or after physical activity, and
opportunities to do so should be made available in a comfortable setting.
The Gay Games were founded in San Francisco in 1982, when they attracted
1,350 participants. Attendance grew steadily, and the 1994 edition in New York City
registered more than 10,000 athletes. Successive games in Amsterdam, Sydney, Chicago,
and Cologne have all surpassed that number. In 2010, competitors from 70 nations
competed in 35 sports, and the Games drew an opening-ceremony crowd exceeding
25,000 that was entertained by music stars Agnes and Taylor Dayne. Unlike other world
competitions, the Gay Games enable people from all walks of life to compete against
each other regardless of skill level, age, or physical challenge. The Games define winning
as achieving one’s best, and competitors are matched against others of similar skill.
The success of the Gay Games does not relieve traditional sport—competitive or
recreational —of its responsibility to welcome LGBT people to its facilities and
programs. Like anyone, LGBT people join local teams and clubs to enjoy physical
activity, meet new people, receive emotional support, and have fun—not to experience
mistreatment from the historically homophobic sport world. As public acceptance of
LGBT people grows, more athletes will have the courage to announce their sexual
preference and insist on equal opportunity. In a broader societal perspective, the majority
of the U.S. public now supports the rights of LGBT people to marry, build a family, and
claim the legal and financial status enjoyed by heterosexual citizens. Over time, the sport
world will increasingly reflect that attitude change and begin to integrate LGBT folks as
athletes, coaches, and sport administrators.
Special Olympics and the Paralympics have offered both performance and
participation sport to people with a disability at the national and international levels. In
addition, local communities and schools have gradually sought to add sport programs for
people with a disability and, wherever possible, to include these athletes in existing
programs. Some sports have been modified and others invented to enable participation by
people with a disability. The keys to sustaining the growth in opportunities for these
athletes are education, financial support, and effective training for coaches.
K. Effects of Spectatorship
Spectatorship has always been a double-edged sword for sport. Some marketing
studies have shown that increases in participation are attributed to increases in the
number of spectators and to the popularity of star athletes. Certainly, Michael Jordan’s
amazing basketball career and soaring popularity raised interest in basketball worldwide.
Yet soccer grew by leaps and bounds in the United States with virtually no heroes or stars
until Mia Hamm and her teammates captivated fans with their remarkable international
record. Clearly, then, a sport does not necessarily need to have transcendent players in
order to become popular.
Power brokers in sport will mount a vigorous campaign to attract spectators in
order to enhance their products. For them, participation is irrelevant; their revenue comes
from paying spectators, commercial sponsors, and media rights. One potential strategy
for power brokers is to press for legalized sport gambling in order to get fans more
actively involved in their favorite teams and players. Pressure will mount on local and
state governments to legalize sport gambling as the next step following the legalization of
gambling at Native American reservations and offshore locations. Taxpayers will be
faced with the dilemma of weighing suspicions about gambling interests against
inducements, such as allocating a percentage of gambling revenues toward education,
youth sport programs, or other popular social programs. Internet gambling, now legal,
will attract scrutiny as it grows and prospers.
More politicians are also looking toward approving sport betting in order to
combat mounting financial deficits in their states due to recent economic hardships. The
first state to challenge prior bans on sport betting was Delaware, which wanted to open
up sport betting in 2009. The National Collegiate Athletic Association and all leaders
from the major U.S. professional sports joined together to resist the efforts, and
eventually the courts ruled against Delaware. But the stage is set, and pressure to expand
sport betting will continue, as will debate about the right course of action.
L. Effects of Technology
The relentless search for performance excellence, combined with the quest to sell
new products, will continue to spur research and development of new sport facilities and
equipment. For example, new technology will improve field surfaces, court surfaces, and
pool construction. On a smaller scale, it will also bring improvements in tennis rackets,
golf clubs, vaulting poles, baseball bats, footwear, and other sport equipment. One
positive effect of equipment advances will be the ease with which a beginning player can
learn a new sport or an intermediate player can improve. For example, the larger heads of
newer tennis rackets and golf clubs have added performance consistency to hundreds of
thousands of weekend warriors’ games. The story is much the same with adjustments in
the length and design of skis.
Technological advances will also enable high-performance athletes to move
faster, jump higher, hit harder, and improve their consistency. However, some advances
may also carry increased risk to the athlete’s body, which may not stand up to the
increased forces of movement. As a result, injury monitoring is critical in order to prevent
harm to elite athletes who embrace new technology. A good example can be found in the
rush to install synthetic turf on football fields some 30 years ago. Athletes could run
faster and jump higher on the artificial turf, but the rate of injuries exploded because
human joints simply could not withstand the force. As a result, athletes and coaches
forced a return to natural grass fields in order to protect athletes’ careers and health.
The prevalence of head injuries in contact sports, such as football and soccer, has
recently gained widespread public attention. We’ve become more aware of the long-term
effects of concussions and other head trauma, which have resulted in many fine former
athletes suffering for a lifetime once their playing career is over. The next few years are
likely to see more research, better equipment, and a more cautious protocol for treatment.
Drugs and other performance-enhancing substances will continue to be a hot topic. As
drugtesting protocols become more accurate and routine, some athletes will still attempt
to cheat. The question is whether sport organizers’ technology can keep up with those
who seek to circumvent the testing.
A final, far-reaching issue is that of genetic engineering to produce exceptional
athletes. The moral, ethical, and legal issues of this possibility will be hotly debated in the
coming years as science forges ahead in exploring ways to alter genetic makeup. Imagine
parents choosing the genetic makeup of their child—or even adjusting it during
childhood. For most of us, these questions are too complicated to comprehend, and it is
likely that the debate will rage for years.
As mentioned previously, fans will have a wider range of sport to watch on their
phones, tablets, and computers, which will also be hooked up to larger screens. The
action will be viewed on demand, so that people do not have to plan their day around
watching sport but can do so when it fits their mood and schedule. It is virtually certain
that fewer fans will watch the traditional big games that networks choose to feature,
because fans will now have access to all games. Anyone who supports a college team will
be able to see that team in action on any given day. In addition, fans of less popular sports
will be able to watch their favorites rather than just whatever network television
executives choose to present. Movement in these directions has already begun, and
consumers will gradually demand even more choices.
At the same time, athletes themselves will be more accessible to their fans
through online chat rooms and discussions. Where athletes were once hidden by game
uniforms and helmets and protected from contact with fans, the athlete of the future will
need to learn to be more open, accessible, and personable. Some coaches at both the
college and professional level encourage players to communicate with fans and
supporters so as to build interest in the team while others restrict such contact because of
instances of inappropriate or offending off-thecuff comments by athletes.
ESPN’s credibility is established; athletes trust it to get their message out, and
fans trust the reporting. But social networks and other digital media may cut into its
market soon. In fact, professional teams are now using their own digital channels to link
fans to each other and connect them to the team’s brand. Through these channels, as well
as social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, teams can connect their sponsors to their
fans, sell tickets, and generate profits. As stadium seats are priced out of the reach of
middle-class families (for example, the New York Yankees’ $1,000 seats), social media
can connect fans with their team even if they never attend a game. If fans feel they are
important to the team’s success, can access inside information, and can share opinions
with other fans, you may have hooked them for life.
M. Change of Sport
If you have any doubt about whether sport will change in the coming years,
simply look at the last 60 years. Since the 1950s, sport has expanded dramatically to
become a huge corporate moneymaker. Professional football, basketball, baseball, ice
hockey, tennis, and golf have made multimillionaires out of athletes and sustained the
corporate organizations that regulate and control these sports. We once thought that an
athlete who earned $10,000 for a single season of play was amazingly rich.
Those who follow functionalist theory would likely take the view that sport can
be changed from the inside by improving the current sport culture through better
marketing and promotion, presentation of athletes as role models, a fan-friendly emphasis
at events, and promotion of record-setting performances. This approach applies the
traditional conservative philosophy that holds to maintaining the status quo but
improving it by producing more of what currently exists.
Those who seek more radical changes in sport may use conflict theory to present
their case. They may envision a new model that opens up sport as a form of healthy
recreation and cooperative physical activity for all citizens. They reject the current
corporate structure, the emphasis on winning, the bottom-line mentality, and the
exploitation of athletes for the benefit of the power brokers who make millions from their
performances. In a conflict theorist’s vision, spectator sport would take a back seat to
participation in physical activity and sport for all citizens. As a corollary, public funding
should be spent on facilities for participation rather than huge stadiums that promote
passive viewing of a few superathletes. The welfare of athletes and participants would
take precedence over the financial interests of wealthy team owners and university
athletic departments.
Feminist theorists push to improve the number of women in coaching,
administration, media, and other key leadership positions. As women assume more
strategic roles in sport, their history and experience will alter future trends, for example
ensuring equal opportunity for all rather than a few privileged athletes. LGBT athletes
will become more comfortable in the sport world, and fans, teammates, and competitors
will embrace their presence and contribution.
Interactionist theorists see the changes in sport as coming from the bottom up.
That is, athletes themselves will force change that better suits their needs. Two groups of
athletes stand out as potential agents of change—youth and older adults—both of whom
are poorly served by the performance model for sport. Instead, these groups emphasize
participation, healthy living, cooperation rather than competition, and accommodation of
all skill levels. If changes in traditional sport are not forthcoming, it seems likely both
young and senior athletes will invent sport models of their own that better address their
needs and interests. Extreme sports have already made a mark among young people, and
perhaps similar changes will become popular with senior athletes.
Critical theorists might also affect youth and high school sport. If educators take
the lead in defining the value and place of sport, programs might look very different.
Intramural sports that include all students have the potential to grow in high schools, as
they have done in colleges, as students increasingly demand that facilities be available for
physical recreation rather than merely for a relatively few privileged athletes. Parents will
have to insist on a new approach to youth sport that supports participation for every child
regardless of economic level, ability, race, gender, or disability. To support such efforts,
critical theorists will exert pressure to shift significant funding from performance sport to
participation sport. The success of programs will be judged not by the win–loss record
but by the number of young people who participate and continue playing year after year.
Alternatively, will changes occur as a reflection of a society that continues to
adjust its values, economics, and political philosophies? Perhaps large coalitions of
citizens will find themselves on the same side of arguments and band together to bring
about change. Demographic analysis makes clear that U.S. society is heading quickly
toward a large population dominated by older adults. That group has money, time, and a
keen interest in sport as part of a healthy lifestyle; indeed, exercise for its own sake will
never be able to compete with the joy of sport or the social interaction that it encourages.
The fitness gym offers physical training benefits but lacks the universal appeal of games
and sport. In the near future, a large proportion of our population will look to sport for
help in blazing a new trail of longer, healthier lives.
