After
reading Crouse’s article about some of the domestic violence issues within
professional sport, I was surprised to learn about the many cases that were
never brought into the public spotlight and never lead to any real punishment.
In fact, I was previously unaware about 8 of the 12 cases that Crouse discussed
in the article. Crouse focuses on the Ray Rice incident in the article but
proves the point that his case really is an outlier when it comes to domestic
abuse suspects continuing to play. Ray Rice and Julio Mateo were the only
athletes who received a substantial punishment for their domestic abuse cases.
Crouse even mentions that a few of the athletes actually started in their next
games immediately following the domestic abuse incidents.
I
found the article to bring some awareness to some of the unacceptable behavior
regarding punishment for professional athlete’s domestic abuse cases. The Brett
Myers example says how “the Phillies said they never seriously considered
benching him…because he was their best pitcher” (Crouse, 2014, p. 3). Clearly,
some organizations are not taking the matters of domestic abuse very seriously.
One reason this is an issue is because they are providing society with the idea
that domestic abuse cases should not be taken very seriously. The article also
states that “changing culture takes a while. But you have to start somewhere”
(Crouse, 2014, p. 2). Professional organizations are a great place to start because they have a big impact on society
so they have an opportunity to prove just how important these cases of domestic abuse are and how they
should be handled.
Kaleb Kuzma
Kaleb,
ReplyDeleteThis is a nicely written entry on the Crouse article. I agree with you that it does not appear to be taken as seriously as it should be. I did not count the number of cases that did not have any consequences but that is difficult to understand. I know that Roger Goodell said he did not get it right the first time. Hopefully the NFL will lead the way in showing other leagues how to deal appropriately with domestic violence.
Good job on this entry.
Dr. Spencer
I think you made a good point that the issue of domestic violence in professional sports is not taken seriously. A lot of players got suspended for unlawful actions such as Gilbert Arenas, J.R Smith and Chris Anderson from the NBA for using drugs and carrying guns. In my opinion, domestic violence is no less harmful than the actions I mentioned above, but most players got away with it. The professional leagues should step up and take serious actions. If players will get punished for carrying guns and using drugs, then they should also get punished for committing domestic violence. This not only can increase the leagues’ reputations, but also is a step to caring more about women rights. Like you mentioned, professional organizations are great places to start because they have a big impact, and I totally agree with it. The exposure should alert a great number of people in society.
ReplyDelete--Haoyan Gu
I think domestic violence cases in professional sport is one of the most hidden and under dealt with issues in sport today. I actually did a research project on domestic violence in the NFL for my research methods class last semester and we found that only 3 out of 10 people actually could name more than 3 cases of domestic violence that an NFL player has been charged with. When in reality there were hundreds of cases within the past ten years that have been covered up or dismissed. Domestic violence issues in all sports need to start being more exposed and organizations need to start taking responsibility for their players actions. The organizations themselves are obviously not going to take action themselves though so action needs to be taken by a higher power. This is the only way a change will be made.
ReplyDelete