Abuse In Sports

I'm reading the stories about Sayreville, NJ about the horrible acts taking place in the locker rooms.   Reading the details makes me want to vomit from here to eternity.  It should make everyone so angry, but unfortunately some don't understand just how bad this is.  They think you are attacking their precious game of football.

It was not that long ago that NFL had the video in the news of the player abusing his wife.  At the time, it was the outrage and it doesn't appear to have slowed down the people who worship football.  Maybe that's too harsh, but it really bothers me when we get worked up over a story one day and forget it the next.  Too much of sports is about money and wining and these appear to be more important than human dignity.  I'm sure there are other details that took place here, but I don't follow every nuance of these stories.


In the case of the NJ Highschool, its sad what took place.  It wasn't just a couple of little things that happened.  I'm still confused by why the need to call it hazing and why hazing is even part of a sports program.  Maybe this is the macho thing that "guys" love and enjoy or maybe it is the brains not working in the people that do these things.

The accounts I've seen of what happened in the locker room are nothing more than abuse.  There is no way to sugar coat it.  The comments I've seen of some of the parents reactions that the school overreacted are shocking to me.  Some of them think it was no big deal and no one got hurt.  I'm thinking what part of this do the parents not understand.  If you're supporting these acts of abuse (a.k.a hazing), you're part of the problem.  You are part of the culture that allows this to happen.

Abuse is abuse.  No one deserves a life like that whether it is coming from a child molester or a teammate or husband or wife.  Abuse is abuse.  It is time to wake up and see it for what it is.  It isn't boys will be boys or men will be men.  It is people abusing the dignity of someone else.

I'm not a big sports fan anyway so I'm probably not the one to show compassion to these sports.  However, I don't care where the abuse happens, there should be no leniency for it at all.  We all know right from wrong and if we don't, we should not be a part of this society.  There are jails for those individuals.  Remember not too long ago a coach by the name of Sandusky at Penn State?

I've seen comments made that no one spoke up.  Some watched and some never reported it.  Unfortunately those same students were probably subjected to what happened and threatened that if they said anything, it would be worse the second time around.  Its all too easy to say what these kids should have done, but they were probably quite afraid themselves.  However, all it takes is one person to report it to the authorities and then the authorities have to act and not be cowards.

Not only should these sports players be punished, but an investigation needs to happen in their respective families.  If this seemed okay for these kids to do, then the parents obviously created a fertile ground for those thoughts to grow.

We have to start standing up in our society and saying enough is enough.  Abuse has got to stop.  You are either part of the solution, or you are part of the problem.  We cannot sit on the sidelines and do or say nothing.  Now is the time for people to be bold and stand up to abuse.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 10/13/14 by Don Shetterly

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