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Censorship Of Professional Athletes

Decent Essays

Sports and Spectatorship
One learns from an early age the societal and communal importance of sports. Yes I say importance, because sports shape life and if one isn’t athletic, he or she risks being a social outcast. Kids bond over sports in the neighborhood, forcibly required to do sports through gym and recess at school, forced again to play sports in hopes to stay fit. Society places such an emphasis on sports they require you to take it for 13 years, kindergarten through grade 12—gym. On the other hand, arts do not have the same requirements besides the required art in elementary school. Which leads to the point that there are very little alternatives to playing sports. Society does makes exceptions for those who display an amazing talent …show more content…

Where some are convinced that professional athletes are roles models and worthy careers to aspire to, I believe that sports are simply entertainment, not a career goal. Essentially, a shift from should be made from athletics to academic.
Athletes do not conduct themselves in appropriate ways. They do not act in ways worthy of idolizing. Such an emphasis is placed on sports that often times athletes become role models. As Barash stated in his article, kids don’t value or place people as their role model based on “character, intelligence, compassion, decency, or creativity”(Barash). In other words, the role models have nothing an individual can look up to besides a lifestyle. Society’s priority of important characteristics is flawed. In addition to choosing unworthy athletes as role models, society also dismisses any bad behavior that athletes exhibit as part of the game or the nature of the sport. Araton blames the media for exposing the athlete’s negative actions, but the underlying fact is that the media did not force them to do the actions they did. He compares the Pacers-Pistons fight to the Kermit Washington and Rudy T fight, a fight much worse than. The fight resulted in the“shattered …show more content…

Children need to be taught to prioritize academics rather than sports. People should not stop participating in sports, but sports should be viewed as an activity. Sports give people false hope when academics can provide more definite results. Although some people are very talented and should aspire to be athletes, not everyone should. In conclusion, spectators should remain spectators rather than fantasying the lifestyle of athletes and pursing a similar

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