This text is replaced by the Flash movie.

Tony Pyland
Wingate University
College Winner

Our Abhorrence and Lust for Fighting in Sports

Baseball; America’s favorite pasttime. The smell of hot dogs, the feel of the sun tanning arms that have been hidden from the elements since the leaves began to turn signaling fall’s onset. The sound of the pitcher’s first punch thrown at a batter charging the mound after an errant pitch has connected with some part of his steroid-infused anatomy. What would summer be without baseball?

Super Bowl XLIII was an intriguing contest, despite the fact that the 9-7 Arizona Cardinals might be the quietest team to ever land in the big game. At the end of a fairly uneventful first half of play, the Steelers’ James Harrison completes one of the most athletic plays ever witnessed in a Super Bowl. A converted defensive end, Harrison awes with his athleticism returning a Kurt Warner pass 100 yards for a touchdown that gave Pittsburgh a commanding lead. But later, when the going gets tough for the Steel Curtain Defense, television screens all across America show Harrison mimicking a fight scene from The Dark Knight, as he pummels an Arizona Cardinal (who had stopped blocking), resulting in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Society has spawned the trainwreck that is fighting in modern sports. In an era where ACC and SEC commercials preach sportsmanship, we see more and more examples of fighting in professional sports. Who’s to blame? You are. I am. Admit it; we all buy into the Sportscenter stories about the baseball brawl, the NASCAR pit row showdowns, professional football’s most heated rivalries. We love it. We can’t wait to see the Yankees and Red Sox square off, because we know that a fight might be sparked by the slightest flick of a pitcher’s wrist. No we don’t condone fighting, yet we fund it. Ratings are higher for a program featuring one of these heated rivalries. The fights dominate sports coverage by local and national media, so if you’re an NFL or MLB exec. what do you really say to the players responsible?

Who suffers? That’s the irony of it. We do. Our children see the way we covertly glorify fighting, see the attention paid to the skirmishes, tussles, and battle royals in sports, and they think it’s right to exercise violence when things don’t go their way. They can lash out too, and everyone will love them for it, right?

Sportsmanship is still very present in the games we all know and love. Just watch the end of any NFL game. Watch the players interact, winners and losers, and you’ll see mutual respect rum rampant. The media actually criticized the Philadelphia Eagles for being too nice after their loss in the NFC Championship, so I’d say the landscape is changing, and that change is athlete-driven. Soon, those of us who like to kick back, drink a cold one, and watch a boxing match ensue during the ballgame will be hard pressed to find ample entertainment. And we’ll eventually be thankful for it.