Deviance in Sports

What does it mean to be deviant? During the November 1^st lecture of my American Sport in the 21^st Century class we discussed what deviance means and also how it relates to sports. Deviance occurs when a person’s ideas, traits, or actions are perceived to differ from the societal norm (Coakley, 2010; p. 157).  In other words, deviance can be found in attitudes or behavior that differs from the acceptable social standards. Deviance occurs everywhere in society, and at some point we all could have been easily categorized as acting deviant. During the class lecture, all of us were given a note card and had to write our answer to the following question, “What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the term deviance?” After a minute, all of our answers were passed up to the front and read aloud. A good proportion of us, myself included, listed criminals as our answer. My reasoning, criminals are people who acted against society’s norms by committing a violation of the U.S. law that results in a crime. When the class was asked if pulling a weapon on someone is an acceptable action in society everyone responded with a “no”. Well, what if pulling a weapon was an act of self-defense or in war? Then the answer changes to yes, pulling a weapon in self-defense is acceptable. This shows how the circumstances of determining deviance change based on the situation; making it difficult to determine deviant actions.   

No matter where you look in society deviant actions are to be found. In everyday life violent and deviant acts occur, but it is the off-the-field deviance among athletes that attracts widespread media attention (Coakley, 2010; p. 173). The main question is, is deviance out of control in sports? All the time we hear on the news about athletes at big-time universities getting unfair and illegal benefits that violate the NCAA’s rules. We also constantly have to hear about how universities commit infractions in recruiting, and pro athletes who get into legal trouble. In class, we covered the extreme deviant actions that occur in both professional and collegiate sports:

Deviance in Sports

v  Academic cheating                                                 

v  Bounty hunting

v  Fighting

v  Gambling

v  Illegal recruiting practices

v  Performance – enhancing drugs

 

We all know that deviance occurs on the field of play in sports in the form of violence. In society it is not viewed as normal to have the intent to aggressively tackle or force another man to the ground. Despite this, most people watch and support this violent action every weekend while watching American football. The tough part is comparing the off the field deviance of athletes with non-athletes. I have displayed some research that makes a clear distinction in off-the-field acts of deviance.

 

Off-the-field deviance

Ø  Athletes do not have higher delinquency rates than those who do not play sports

Ø  Data on academic cheating is inconclusive

Ø  Athletes have higher rates of alcohol use and binge-drinking

Ø  Felony rates among adult athletes do not seem to be out of control, but they do constitute a problem

 

All of these reasons can be verified on pages 176 and 177 in Coakley’s Sports in Society. The information that my class discussed and that Coakley has provided on this subject all supports the claim that deviance is not out of control in sports, it is just a major problem. An ESPN article from this past July highlights the University of Miami (FL)’s current athletic violations problem. At the time of publish, head football coach, Al Golden was facing a new wave of recruiting and athlete benefit violations. Throughout the article a few University of Miami (FL) boosters have been accused of providing current players and recruits with money and improper benefits. A couple of men’s basketball players had to serve short-term suspension, while a couple of football players and recruits were under a close watch by the NCAA. Star safety Ray-Ray Armstrong was dismissed from the football team after it was discovered that he had violated undisclosed rules. This article highlights the act of deviance, known as illegal recruiting practices. The main message of this articles shows that even though deviance happens in sports, consequences are handed down for the violating parties. Deviance occurs in all levels of sport, but there is just as much of it in society which means that No, deviance in sports is not out of control.    

To read the full article go to: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8185297/miami-hurricanes-staff-broke-recruiting-rules-report-says