Violence in Sports

There has been a disturbing rise in the violence level on TV, and surprisingly enough, it's not part of prime time. With the absence of hockey from the American Fall/Winter, it seems that the gratuitous violence has spread over to the other sports.

Just when law-makers are reviewing video games influence on the youth of today, it seems the better place to look would be professional sporting events. Compared to the action games on the hottest game systems, what are kids see on the news and while watching professional sports are far more disturbing. These are the guys that, when we were kids, were our heroes. While they are concentrating on providing the fans with an intense sporting event, they have a responsibility to behave in a way that sets the standard for our society. By no means do I excuse the actions of the fans involved, but between the sportsmen and arena security, the situation should never have blown up into the all-out brawl it became.

While extremely young children may have difficulty discerning the fantasy of a video game from the reality of life, when they watch professional athletes and fans go at it in the stands, that line becomes further blurred. Parents have the guidance of ratings on the games that they buy, but when million dollar athletes on broadcast TV are unable to control their emotions you have to wonder which is less dangerous to expose children to? While a child's education is primarily guided by the school systems, parents have an obligation to their children to help them become law-abiding members of our society.

Because parents can control what video games they buy and what games are being played in their house, perhaps we should establish a rating system by which to govern pro sports? Maybe we, as parents, should just spend a lot more of our free time with the kids?