Athletes and Domestic Violence - Research Paper Example

?Introduction Athletes do not take domestic violence seriously, because professional sports teams and sports entertainment companies do not punish athletes involved in domestic violence. In fact, most teams and associations accommodate civil punishments for athletes charged with domestic violence. The performance on the field, ice, court, mat, or other sports arena is more important than behavior off the court. As a result more athletes accept domestic violence as normal. Excuses for these athletes range from the need to be aggressive on the field to brain concussions. Instead of finding proper medical treatment the professional sports teams and sports entertainment companies use temporary fixes that make the athletes more aggressive. Medicinal steroids, pain killers, and other medicines are prescribed to cover up the symptoms. As a result many athletes are ticking time bombs. The whole industry needs to take another look at their domestic violence policies. Sports Companies Response toward Domestic Violence An argument can be made that an employer or sports league, company, or entity cannot control behavior outside the job. This is totally false. Just like many non-sports companies, sports related companies have contracts. These contracts can dictate outside behavior. One report states: Across the four main professional sports leagues, “commissioners and/or presidents of the various professional sports leagues notoriously possess dominant powers in governing league matters.” In these sports leagues, the commissioners’ powers derive, in part, from league constitutions and bylaws. These general powers include the authority to punish athletes for criminal acts committed outside the scope of play. In particular, constitutions, bylaws, and collective bargaining agreements of the major sports leagues contain provisions granting commissioners the authority to discipline players for acts deemed not in the “best interest” of the sport. (Kim and Parlow, 574) The problem becomes what punitive discipline can be given to athletes? Most athletes receive fines. However, a $25,000 fine to someone making millions is nothing. The other option is putting them on probation or suspension. This is not an option taken frequently, especially if the guilty party is a starter. That would hurt the team and franchise. Thus the company would lose money. The whole issue of sports companies not taking domestic violence issues seriously comes down to the company losing money if they do. The NFL and other sports companies tend to separate on and off the field behavior. If the behavior is good on the field, then off the field bad behavior does not matter. One example: For instance, at the start of the broadcast of the 2008 NFL season playoff game between the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons, television commentator Cris Collinsworth stated that, in the week leading up to the game, Larry Fitzgerald’s girlfriend obtained a restraining order against him and Michael Turner was involved in a domestic dispute with the mother of his child. Fitzgerald and Turner were two of the most celebrated players on the field that day. (Withers, 148) As long as Fitzgerald and Turner had a good day on the field that is what mattered to the NFL and the respective teams. It takes a lot for an athlete to be suspended. A restraining order or domestic violence charge is not enough. Chris Henry was suspended from the Bengals for eight games, but: Henry was arrested several times after incidents involving assault, driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana possession, and he served multiple suspensions for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy. He served jail time for drinking in a hotel room with underage girls. (Battista) Henry served jail time, so the NFL did not have much choice. Excuses and Cover Ups for Domestic Violence Chris Henry died after a domestic dispute with his girlfriend. As she tried to leave, he jumped into the bed of the truck beating on the back glass with his cast. He was thrown out of the truck and died as a result of his injuries. Instead of the NFL denouncing his aggressive behavior, they glorified Henry. “The Bengals, in the middle of a season-long renaissance that mirrored Henry’s, will wear a decal in his memory when they face the Chargers on Sunday” (Battista). Like most sports entities, the NFL tends to protect their own. After Henry’s death many of his teammates spoke fondly of him. One player said: There was a lot of speculation about who he was,” Palmer added, “but the only guys that knew Chris and knew how good of a heart he had, how kind he was, how gentle he was, how soft of a heart he had, were the guys in our locker room, the guys who were close to him, his family. (Battista) Henry’s girlfriend was put on trial in the media. The blame was shifted from Henry to the victim. Chris Henry and girlfriend, Loleini Tonga (Miller) Many victims of athletes are frightened to come forward. Athletes have publicists, agents, and other individuals working for them that put a spin on their lives. One researcher “concluded that 150 athletes had domestic violence criminal complaints filed against them between 1990 and 1996, yet only twenty-eight resulted in convictions and the majority of cases were not prosecuted (Withers, 146). Victims are scared to come forward. They become the ones on trial. Spouses and girlfriends feel the athlete has all the power. One report states: "There is a machine behind athletics that prevents a lot of victims from coming forward," Redmond said. "They will dig into everything, leave no stone unturned in how they assassinate your character, and that is a significant issue. There is a chilling factor there. . . . There is a difference in treatment, and in the public perception, which leads the victim to think, 'I'm not going to win this. Even if the court rules, I still lose.'" (Jones) The victim loses faith in the justice system. The sports companies feel that if an athlete is not convicted, than why punish them. It does not matter that the companies funded and helped assassinate these women’s reputations. It comes down to a matter of legality not morality. An athlete’s star status intimidates victims. One example is Nicole Brown Simpson. Even when she is calling 911, Nicole seems defeated (Hi-Caliber Investigator). She wants help, but realizes that once again O.J. is going to beat her again. Calling 911 the first time did not help. He was not arrested after kicking her door in. Nicole Brown Simpson was killed with her friend Ron Goldman. O.J. was acquitted in criminal court, but convicted in a wrongful death lawsuit. Injuries Contribute to Aggressive Behavior When an athlete is hurt, full rehabilitation is not always pursued. Pain pills and medicinal steroids are prescribed. Sprains, breaks, stretched muscles, and other injuries are normally covered up with medicine in order for the athlete to still play. The medicines can create a more aggressive personality. The sports entities do not care. Their concern is if the athlete can play. If an athlete smacks his wife and children around but can still play, then the sports entity is happy. Many athletes receive blows to the head. Concussions are common in the sports arena. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy can only be diagnosed during an autopsy of the brain (Talan, 12). Recently a link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy has been established. Brain trauma can make a person act more aggressively. Since the long term damage of concussions and the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy are only determined after death many athletes go untreated. In Chris Henry’s case one can speculate “perhaps his death during a frenzied domestic dispute, maybe the driving under the influence and even his several other arrests and suspensions derived in part from the tau protein deposits stifling his neurological function” (Schwarz). The tau protein deposits were only discovered after his death. Another athlete that died during a domestic violence incident is Chris Benoit. When police went to a welfare check, “Officers found his wife Nancy strangled to death and their 7-year-old son Daniel appeared to have been suffocated. Bibles were found next to their bodies. Benoit's body was found hanging from a weight machine in the basement” (Nelson and Sherwood). This was a murder/suicide. Benoit killed his family and then killed himself. Benoit was a wrestler with the WWE. He had been wrestling since he was fourteen. During his twenty-six year career Benoit had many concussions. When the doctors autopsied Benoit’s brain they found "Chris's damage was extensive. It was replete across multiple areas of the brain," Bailes said. "It remains one the worst we have seen” (Nelson and Sherwood). The WWE did not care that Benoit had concussion after concussion. As long as he could wrestle the WWE let him preform. When the WWE found out the results of Benoit’s brain autopsy they released the following statement: It is natural that a father would try to come up with a reason why his son would tragically murder his wife and child, and then commit suicide. Based on the study by the Sports Legacy Institute that claimed Chris Benoit had the brain of an 85-year-old with dementia, Mr. Benoit asserts that head trauma was the cause of his son's aberrant, criminal behavior. However, common sense would dictate that this is impossible. Someone with the brain of an 85-year-old with dementia would be unable to keep a traveling work schedule, drive himself to arenas, and perform intricate maneuvers in the ring much less commit a methodical murder-suicide over a 48 hour period. The WWE wanted to cover up the fact that Benoit had been hurt doing his job. Benoit’s finishing move was to jump off the top ropes and land head first on his opponents head. Obviously Benoit was going to get concussions. The WWE did not care, because it made for a better show. If the WWE had cared more about Benoit’s health, maybe his family would still be alive. Covering up after athletes is what companies do in order to limit their liability. Benoit’s Finishing Move (Nelson and Sherwood) Too Little, Too Late In the recent years teams and leagues have started punishing players for domestic violence, but have come woefully short. Since 1997: more teams have shown willingness to impose disciplinary action for off-field conduct such as domestic violence. Such was the case with Julio Lugo in 2003, Julio Mateo in 2007, and Alberto Callaspo in 2007. However, team punishment, like league punishment, can be undermined by arbitral review. For instance, although Callaspo was originally suspended and placed on the inactive list by the Arizona Diamondbacks after being arrested for felony criminal damage and misdemeanor assault, the Diamondbacks were forced to take him off the inactive list after nine days as a result of a grievance filed by the Players’ Union.116 After the grievance was heard, Callaspo was awarded his salary back for six of the nine days. Since the leagues have player unions, many players get off that way. A charge of domestic violence is not the same as a conviction. As explained above not many players get convicted due to the sports machine protecting them. By the time the player gets convicted than the league has forgotten the offense. More often than not most teams respond to domestic violence like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In May 2007, Dukes’s estranged wife, NiShea Gilbert, played a cell phone message for the St. Petersburg Times in which he threatened her life and that of her children; she also showed the newspaper a photo of a gun that he had sent to her cell phone. Even before this incident, the police had been called on four different occasions to break up domestic disputes at Dukes’s residence, and Gilbert had filed for two orders of protection against him…In addition, two other women have accused Dukes of domestic abuse and he has been arrested six times—two of those arrests on charges of battery. (Withers) Despite the proof of stalking and domestic violence, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays did not take punitive actions against their player. “President Matt Silverman called it “a complicated situation” and explained, “I don’t want to see him go to jail. He needs help. I really think this is going to help him” (Withers). Once again the league is covering up for a star player. Instead of helping the battered woman and her children, the team is interested in helping the player. The woman does not generate income for them, but the athlete does. Conclusion Athletes do not take domestic violence seriously, because professional sports teams and sports entertainment companies do not punish athletes involved in domestic violence. The reason for little or no punishments comes down to money. The athlete’s performance is more important. The athlete’s potential to draw fans in is more important than domestic violence. This creates an environment where more athletes accept domestic violence as normal. The sports companies mask symptoms with medications that make the athletes more aggressive. Instead of finding proper medical treatment the professional sports teams and sports entertainment companies use temporary fixes that limit their liabilities. The sports companies ignore domestic violence in favor of making more money. Bibliography Battista, Judy. “Bengals Receiver Dies After Accident.” December 17, 2009. The New York Times. Accessed 27 June 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/sports/football/18henry.html Hi-Caliber Investigator. “911 Call by Nicole Simpson.” 24 Jan. 2007. YouTube. Accessed 27 June 2011 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHf93uxgKBI Jones, Lindsay H. “Violent tendency, no penalty.” June 29, 2008. The Denver Post. Kim, Janine Young and Matthew J. Parlow. “Off-Court Misbehavior: Sports Leagues and Private Punishment.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology: Northwestern University Law School. Vol. 99(3). 26 Aug. 2010.http://www.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/backissues/v99/n3/9903_573.Parlow.pdf Miller, Carlin DeGuerin. “Loleini Tonga, Chris Henry's Fiancee, at Center of Storm; Homicide Detectives Look into NFL Death.” 17 Dec. 2009 CBS News. Accessed 27 June 2011 from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5990971-504083.html#ixzz1QbLXsQuX Nelson, Ethan and Roxanna Sherwood. “Chris Benoit's Murder, Suicide: Was Brain Damage To Blame?” 26 Aug. 2010. Nightline. Accessed 27 June 2011 from http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/chris-benoits-dad-son-suffered-severe-brain-damage/story?id=11471875 Schwartz, Alan. “On Linking Brain Damage and Behavior.” June 29, 2010. The New York Times. p. B10. Talan, Jamie. “New Report Links Sports Concussion to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Athletes Pledge to Donate Tissue for Brain Bank.” Neurology Today. 2 October 2008. Vol. 8(19). p. 12-13. Withers, Bethany P. “The Integrity of the Game: Professional Athletes and Domestic Violence.” Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law: Harvard Law School. Spring 2010. Vol. 1(1). Accessed 27 June 2011 from http://harvardjsel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/JSEL-Withers.pdf Read More