Sports violence shown on T.V.

There is a lot of violence shown on television, by some of our biggest role models, professional athletes, who have some of the poorest displays of sportsmanship, and get into some of the most widely promoted violence on television. Could this cause children who look up to these professional athletes to act violently in their own sporting events?

The image to the right, is a picture of the Detroit Piston's and the Indiana Pacers brawl back in November 2004.
http://img79.exs.cx/img79/3953/brawl.jpg
These two teams made national headlines when the pacer's Ron Artest was hit with a cup of beer charged the stands, with numerous other Pacer's, who then began attacking numbers of the fan's. Many of the people involved where treated with minor injuries. Only, one week later, several other sporting brawls happened. A brawl between Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, arose and was found difficult to control by the police officers. Then, a pitcher, Frank Francisco threw a chair into the stands and broke a woman's nose, after being hassled by the fans.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/bask-n23.shtml

In my opinion, this shows children and other athletes that violence is a proper way to deal with their problems, and emotions during sporting events. It may even influence spectators to be violent due to the possibility of publicity. People may just be tempted to get on the T.V. The only thing that happens to these athletes when they fight, is they lose a little bit of money, they have to pay a fine or two, they get suspended for a few games, and then have to apologize. A very small price to pay, when they are influencing generations of kids and athletes. To watch the video of the Piston/Pacer's brawl here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZmfeU9rSDs
How many kids are going to get into fights because "well, they do it on t.v."? By watching things on television and seeing it in the media, it eventually becomes socially acceptable.

History of Sports on Television

Hello everyone. My name is Ashley Mayry. I have decided to blog about sports on television, due to the fact that I play softball on a daily basis, and that I am constantly watching it on television. In American society, sports play a huge role in most's lives. I myself began playing sports (tee-ball) when I was five! Within pro-sports, there are millions of dollars spent on advertising, maketing, etc...., there are scandals, and alot of violence. One question that arises from this is, "Does sports media have an effect on society?" In my opinion it does. Kids see those athletes on television, and decide that's who they want to be, and then at times even try to be like their favorite athlete. And these athletes we see on television are not always the best role models.

So too start off my blogging, I am going to give a brief history of sports coverage in the mass media. The first actual televised sporting event was a college baseball game between Princeton and Columbia Universities in the year 1939 (Baran 1). Then, in 1944, the first network sports broadcast appeared by NBC's network, a boxing championship (Baran 1). To see more on the history of sports on television there is more on this link I have provided. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/sportsandte/sportsandte.htm

Today, television has a profound effect on the life of sports. I think without television, sports would have a hard time advertising. Television allows for people to stay in the comfort of their own homes, never having to leave to actually go to the event wherever it is being played. And, the advertising that television does allow, gets some of the people out there to the actual event. Just look at the major championships they put on television, the super bowl, world series, the NBA finals, and so many others. They pull in millions of dollars for advertisements, causing people to not only watch the event, but possibly buy that product. Sports have more effect on us than just the enjoyment of watching the big game, but possibly also on our decisions we make as consumers.