Anger in Sports: A Look Back Over My Time

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

As a 25 year-old, I'd like to say that I've seen my fair share of sporting events.  I've seen the good and bad; the beautiful and ugly; the highs and lows.  I played up until I was 23, and I have taken note of some of the behavior that people around me and that of players on television have displayed, which brought me to my main question: Has anger in sports gotten out of hand, since my existence?

Anger is defined as a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong.  It's understandable that anger is a natural part of a human's ability to feel things and cope, but a person can be and often is judged by how they choose to handle their feelings.

More and more each year, sports become a huge part in the lives of males and females.  The vastly growing market of new media/and social media makes it very easy for younger people to view the negative behaviors of athletes and pick up on these negative actions of their role models.   Baseball, basketball and football are the main areas of focus pertaining to where a lot of these issues are in American society.

Football

Football would have to be one of the worst displays of anger in sports.  There is so much aggression learned and taught that it becomes a part of a player's behavior.  Thrown or slammed helmets, late hits, excessive profanity, thrown headsets and constant yelling are consistent factors in practices and games.  As a former player, I understand that it's a physical game with physical tendencies but there has to be a point where the line is drawn. Think back in 1999 when then Cleveland Browns offensive tackle shoved long-time NFL referee Jeff Triplette to the ground after being accidentally hit in the eye by a flag or former linebacker Bill Romanowski punching a teammate back in 2003, resulting in a fractured eye socket and a lost tooth.

Baseball

The game of baseball is much lighter on anger than football but still has questionable tendencies that should be discussed.  Broken bats, balls thrown at the body and mainly the head, charging the mound and the famous profanity-laced tirades of managers when calls don't go their way.  There was an incident a couple of years back when minor league player Izzy Alcantara drop-kicked the opposing team's catcher after he was called out for three strikes(Here's the video). How could we forget the incident involving Roberto Alomar spitting in the face of the umpire.  (The aftermath)  Now that I think of it, baseball sounds much worse than I initially thought.

Basketball

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