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Sports Related To Crime?

The term 'jock' in US lore has come to mean the super 'person' because they are athletically above average. Does it also mean criminal in the making? Sports and crime seems to go hand in hand at the adolescent to college age level. Is it that too much testosterone is entering the system? What are your thoughts?

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There have been scandals in the athletic world as long as there have been college sports. Maybe it's just the acts in question that have changed. For many years, and to this day, recruitment is fertile soil for violations. The recruit who is slipped a little spending money, or free clothes, or even a free car. Or sex. All of that, sad to say, is not new. Now attention has been focused on Colorado. There are now at least six women who have alleged rape by football players, including a woman who was on the team. Adding to the controversy, a statement by the coach who used the occasion to disparage the athletic ability of the woman who had been on one of his teams. Of course, and this is standard too, he said that his remarks had been taken out of context. I have two problems with that. First, when you speak before cameras, people get to see your remarks for themselves. Secondly, what context might have made those remarks acceptable given the issues involved? He is now on paid leave, and it is unclear if he will keep his job.

But there is no shortage of other problems. One of the best high school players this year, and one of the most highly recruited, has been arrested ten times. It's interesting, I read a newspaper article about him signing with a university, and what a great player he is. That article did not mention his arrest record. Is it time to drop the charade that college sports is really for amateurs? This is a big money industry, and big money at stake has a way of softening the rules, at least for some. Can the NCAA really do anything about all this? Do the colleges really want things to change? Correspondent Jim Wooten will report on the sad state of affairs in college sports, and Ted will be speaking with the presidents of Stanford, Penn State, and Tulane. For the record, and for a variety of reasons, the presidents of many other colleges declined our invitation to appear tonight. You don't have to be a sports fan to care about all this. If you are in college, or have a child in college, this will affect you directly. I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington D.C. bureau

Crime Related Sports

I don't think it has anything to do with hormones at all.

I think there are two big reasons for this (maybe more, but two that I can think of). First, many of those recruited for college sports come out of the inner cities. Why that is, I am not sure, but I know that it is often the case. This is especially true of basketball and football. In these cases, these guys grew up in an environment where crime was the norm. Statistics for crime are much higher in the inner cities. The general sense of right from wrong is formed by what their childhood experiences are. The fact that a highly recruited teen has been arrested several times as a teen is probably due to the crowd with which he hangs and what is acceptable to him and his peer group for behavior.

Another reason for bad behavior, and especially, I think the rapes that occur have nothing to do with from where they lived, in my opinion. In these cases, I think it has more to do with the entire recruitment process and how they are treated while in school. Their bad behavior is constantly excused or swept under the rug. At a relatively young age (17-22) they are being taught that they can get away with whatever they want as long as they continue to excel in their chosen sport. Look, they are admitted to most schools with lower requirements than the average student would need to meet academically. They are given money, cars, sex, etc., as rewards for their athetic ability. They get a very strong message delivered to them, that says whatever they want, they are entitled to have. So, they take it!

Edited: tenaheff on 11th Mar, 2004 - 3:32pm