Athletes’ rampages must be stopped

Professional athletes have such a hard life. They practice hard every day and compete on a regular basis for several months of the year, traveling huge distances on a very quick-paced and high-energy schedule. They pour out their heart and soul on the field every single game, giving 110 percent and engaging in feats of strength and endurance that would leave any ordinary person in cardiac arrest. And what do they have to show for their long hours, hard work, and unfailing dedication? Millions of dollars and evidently, an incredibly irritable disposition.

We are in the middle of a streak of cases of professional athletic misconduct, most recently including Dallas Cowboys’ receiver Terrell Owens spitting in the face of Atlanta Falcons cornerback DeAngelo Hall and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks getting into a minute-and-a-half brawl during the fourth quarter of their game. While these instances are bad, they are both outdone by the infamous Pistons-Pacers brawl that spilled out into the stands two years ago.

Team members and owners try to shrug off these fights as something that happens in the spur of the moment; that emotions are running high during a game and tempers tend to flair when the game gets intense. I believe these statements, however, these factors should not get in the way of the athlete’s professionalism.

These guys don’t have that much to think about on a daily basis. While the average person spends the work week being responsible for numerous tasks, working with people, or solving problems, most professional athletes spend their days spending their money, getting in scandals, and playing a game.

And they do play very well. But it’s because they are so good at it that behaving in a sportsmanlike manner should be a natural element of what they do.

Being a good sport and respecting your fellow athletes has been something these guys have had to do since they were in elementary school. It should be as natural as a doing a lay-up or running a passing route. Why, then, does it seem that players like Carmelo Anthony feel driven to start throwing punches during games?

As much as I hate to use the generic argument, it’s true that many younger athletes look up to these professionals. They won’t necessarily go and start fights “because I saw Ron Artest do it.” But when they see brawls in the majors, that option will start to cross their minds more often when they get frustrated during their own games, and every once in a while, they may be tempted to start throwin’ ‘bows.

At the risk of being redundant, these men are professionals. They should be acting like professionals. Unfortunately, many of their egos have swelled to such huge proportions that sportsmanship and decent behavior have become secondary to on-the-court revenge.

What particularly concerns me is Terrell Owens’s NFL infraction. While interviews of players of the NBA have often led me to believe that most of them are conceited and often less than intelligent, the players of the NFL have always commanded my respect because of their professionalism and decency.

While there has been some speculation as to whether Owens actually meant to spit on Hall, the NFL would be smart to do whatever is necessary to prevent for future instances of unsportsmanlike conduct, or else they may soon earn a reputation akin to that of the NBA’s. It is a shame that these athletes cannot be expected to maintain their own discipline. Since they cannot, professional sports leagues had better start doing whatever is necessary to keep them in line, or else face a decline in public respect for their organizations.