Competitive Instinct: New Orleans Saints Bounty Scandal Essay

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” Jessica Statsky argues that younger children should not be involved in overly competitive sports. Statsky wrote that organized competitive sports were to the disadvantage of children both physically and psychologically. In youth athletics, some parents and coaches put their own dreams in front of their children 's’ well-being by stressing winning. Statsky concludes “all organized sports activities” to be remade as a more enjoyable game regardless of each athlete’s ability and athleticism. The author states many issues that kids have when they are forced to play a sport just to win or that they don’t enjoy. Some kids just don 't enjoy sports, but their parents force it on them. Certain organized sports programs promote winning over physical skills and self-esteem. Statsky brings up valid points that early childhood shouldn’t involve intense physical competition, which is associated with the risk of injury to the body and mind.

In the essay “The NFL’s Head Cases”, the main issue is wondering how to enforce the rules of safety for the players. The commissioner for the NFL gave out fines to

Among the terms of the agreement is that the settlement is not to be regarded as an admission of guilt by the league." The NFL knows of the dangers the players are in. The rules change but the equipment increased. Without more or better equipment the players are still in danger. In a PBS Frontline documentary about injuries in football Dr. Robert Stern said," In football, one has to expect that, almost every play of every game and every practice, they're going to be hitting their heads against each other. That's the nature of the game. Those things seem to happen around 1,000 to 1,500 times a year. Each time that happens, it's around 20 g or more. That's the equivalent of driving a car at 35 miles per hour into a brick wall." The players in the NFL know the risk of playing but it is up to the NFL to make the sport safe for the players. Many people may argue that since the players know the risk and they are paid for their athletic performance is ok. However you cannot put a price on a person health. There is no way of rationalizing the behavior of the NFL. Yes, the athletes are paid to perform, but it is up to the NFL to make the sport safer. The NBA has increase rules and is aggressively making the sport less physical. In a Radio interview with XTRA 910 a Phoenix, AZ, Former NBA player, Robert Horry said, "… If you

The spectator of this sport has an obligation to the players of the sport, to make sure that the organization is protecting and looking out for them. Yet not only should the viewer be held accountable for the lack of communication in consequences between the player and the pro scene, but the organization of the NFL needs to make sure that their players have a full understanding of what is going on and how they need to protect the players. The current situation that is understood, contents contain implied knowledge that all parties of this table are in uniform knowledge and agreement to what comes of playing football. Finally, this should also happen at the youth level when kids are just getting into the sport, as it would better inform the parents and the kid if they understood the full

Though this NFL conduct is in the light, it is unnecessary because the U.S. criminal justice system has the ability to end the professional sports careers of society’s worst criminals. Everyone asked themselves how could such a successful, talented person throw their opportunity away like this? Crimes from the past always catch up and come to light in the justice system. The NFL from now on is trying to prevent incidents like this from happening from making their off field standards stronger, and making consequences stronger that come with

This paper will discuss the NFL Concussion Scandal and analysis of the ethical issues regarding the scandal. American football has always been defined as a contact sport. Individuals know before playing the sport that they take on the risk of physical harm to their bodies. However, concussions and other repetitive head-blows could end in death and permanent damage. Also, American football has been shown to be the cause of chronic traumatic encephalopathy(CTE), which can lead to suicidal thoughts, memory loss, and dementia. With players undergoing a lot of physical harm without the proper care, many may see the NFL as an unethical business.

Imagine a person fresh out of college getting fined thousands of dollars. This happens all of the time in the NFL. The bad thing is they’re not even breaking the law. Players are breaking the rules in the NFL and get fined. The reason behind all of this is to keep a fair game between the franchises. Yet these people make thousands and thousands of dollars anyways. Does fining even make a difference to them anyways? Some say the NFL fining its players is a good thing.

These lawsuits represented over 2,000 former players claiming that the NFL didn 't teach them the dangers of a concussion. On August 29, 2013, over a year after the lawsuits were filed, there was an agreement between the NFL and the players; the NFL agreed to pay $765 million to pay for medical examinations, compensation for the concussed athletes, and research towards concussions. Just as the NFL thought the lawsuits were over, on January 14, 2014, the agreement was declined by a federal judge because the judge believed that $765 million was not enough money (“NFL Concussion”). These lawsuits over the issue of concussions prove that the athletes have experienced a multitude of medical issues that resulted from multiple concussions. These former athletes are working hard to ensure that young athletes do not have to suffer like they do.

If any of these player safety rules have been broken recently, the NFL has come down swiftly and harshly against the culprits. These swift and efficient actions performed by the NFL have taken notice by the parents and fans of the sport. These forms of punishments come through fines, suspensions, and in extreme cases bans from the league for years or even indefinitely. Recently a defensive coordinator on the New Orleans Saints was found to have installed a “bounty program” on his defense. This program would fund the defensive players with bonuses for various actions in a game. Although this may seem okay, it is actually highly illegal in the NFL. This bounty program would fund the players for knocking out other athletes they were competing against. Injuring players was one of many forms of bonuses that players would be able to accrue. The problem with this in sports is because football is already violent enough. Now teams are actually “gunning” to injure others on purpose. The NFL’s quick and extreme punishments for the creation and participation in this bounty case definitely put the player’s safety aspect into the mainstream of what the NFL is worrying about these days.

All of the publicity that is attained by success, and the possibility of this success, places a great deal of pressure and stress on these young single-sport athletes. This stress and pressure takes the fun out of some sports. Youth sports are becoming serious and based more on winning than on having a great time and learning good sportsmanship. Adu points out the winning mindset of athletes in this day and age when he says, “Teams will do anything to win the game. My coach told me to expect that going in and that is exactly how it was. . .I felt like everybody was out to get me” (Goodall, 2003). This

With constrains from salary cap every NFL team have to think beside financial incentives to compensate players. Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots coach, altered his approach to incentivize players. He eliminated larger salary gaps among players, as he believed that it is hard build motivation in player being paid $350,000 where as other guy is being paid $10 million.

Whether it be baseball, football, soccer, or basketball, sports are appreciated not only in America, but all over the world. One of these sports that is particularly popular in America is Football. The immense crowds of people who sit at a stadium or on the couch to watch a game never fail to recognize every single play on the field; however, many fans pay little to no attention to one of the most important components of the game, the player-association relationship. When signing a contract with an NFL team an NFL player is effectively dedicating his life to his new organization. His duty is to play for his team in order to make the organization money, and money they make. In the NFL last year “each team received $226.4 million” (Brady 1).

In light of Jessica Statsky’s book ‘Children need to play, not compete’, she argued that, with the vivid increase of sporting competition lately in the United States, children have been exposed to the adults hard and rigorous training by devoted parents and coaches at their tender age making a game that is supposed to be fun and joy look hectic and strenuous to them due to the standard of training they are made to go through and also the belief that they must always win thereby making them lose the spirit of sportsmanship, and neither gaining satisfaction nor benefiting from them. In as much as sports are good for physical, mental and emotional growth, it should be organized in a manner that the youths will enjoy the game at the end of it rather than the fear of being hurt or defeated by the other competitors.

The first step on the road to redemption for the Steelers and hopefully soon the entire NFL, is to give back to the players. The Steelers, by making their contributions to the players public, can jumpstart a chain reaction with other teams in the league and they can follow suit to overall make the brutal game of football a safer endeavor. These retired players were once adored by fans and now serve as living legends and are still viewed in an incredibly high stature, so if the Steelers organization tries to push this aside and not give credit and compensation where it is due, it will make the Steelers look cheap and hard-hearted. In order to settle the case the

“Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser,” Vince Lombardi once said. This saying could be the unsung anthem of American sports for children and teenagers. Everyone loves to win. In sports there is always competition. Is there too much emphasis on “the win” for kids and teens? This issue is important because it essentially develops the way children and teenagers think and react; it will affect them later on in life. Too much emphasis on winning is a problem because there is extensive pressure from parents and coaches, and the consequences can be severe.