Make up your own mind on football Stephanie Slade, a libertarian and a deputy managing editor for Reason magazine, wrote an article asking the question “Is watching football unethical?” She presents evidence, that we will review, that professional football players are being harmed by playing their game. She then lays out a series of analogies about, what she feels, are related topics and compares them to football players. She never answers her own question, but you do get the distinct feeling that she thinks people should stop watching professional football. She never defines ethics and assumes that everyone would see injustice in the trends she points out. I don’t agree with Ms. Slade and I don’t see injustice in the sad case of these players. …show more content…
Let’s discuss. Her first analogy portrays football in comparison to prostitution. She makes the claim that if prostitution was legal, people would still find it distasteful and dangerous. She then communicates her views on why something can be legal, but still be unethical. All of this is true. Prostitution may or may not be immoral, but either way, you probably wouldn’t encourage your children to do it. The question then becomes, is football prostitution? I don’t think so and here is why. Football players aren’t having sex for money. Sounds like a cop-out but it isn’t. Football players are selling a service to franchises willing to pay for it. Now that service could cause them to become injured, but as long as both parties are aware of the risk it’s no different than any other craftsman selling their …show more content…
Sweatshop workers often don’t have any other choice, but to work in a sweatshop because there is nowhere else to work. Therefore, we can logically deduce that shutting down sweatshops actually causes irreparable fiduciary harm to its workers. She then applies that reasoning to football players and comes to an unsteady conclusion that the risks might outweigh the rewards with the furnished information about head injuries. Her argument doesn’t consider one very large piece of the puzzle. She doesn’t address the body of employees that make up the support network for the player’s themselves: The Marketers, Janitors, or in recent events, the football inflators that work for the NFL as a way to support their families. The NFL provides employment opportunities for thousands of people, whether it is coaching or grounds keeping or selling paraphernalia. I see these individuals as the real “sweatshop” workers. Why doesn’t she consider
Ethics is a big part of football today, and how each team is different when
The NFL position in this article makes them look very greedy and indifferent about the overall health of their football players. One of the ethical perspectives that can be used to analyze the NFL's position in this article is deontology. Deontology is the perspective where rules is the defining factor for ethical decisions. From the deontology perspective it makes it seem that the NFL has decided not to follow the rules and even blurred the lines as to what potential injuries their players can get. They wanted their injured players to play without having to follow through the with proper procedure in verifying that the players are in conditions healthy enough to play. It looks as if the NFL cares only about bringing in money and not care about
America’s newfound favorite pastime, football, came from a bizarre chain of events. Football started when a soccer player got fed up with just kicking the ball, so he picked up the ball and ran to the goal. His actions of picking up the ball and running with it fathered a new European sport, rugby, which was soon brought over to American shores, and was altered slightly, the shape of the ball and a few other small rules. The sport became organized into a league and produced the NFL(National Football League). The NFL had a slow beginning, but has picked up popularity, currently having a 9 billion dollar yearly revenue. Playing football comes with great costs, including physical and mental health deterioration, plus the amount of time spent prepping before game day. Which can pose several questions, “Why suffer for a game, Is it worth the money? Is it worth the fame? How great is the cost?” I believe that football, should have stricter regulations for the treatment of injuries, along with informing players of just how devastating a concussion can be, along with the other major injuries that commonly occur while playing football.
Ethical Rules on Sport’s Justice. Dallas: East Dallas Times, page 21. 2008. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Print: Harry, Patrick Hayes.
Professional sports, like most of our popular culture, can be understood only partly by through its exiting plays and tremendous athletes. Baseball and football most of all are not only games anymore but also hardcore businesses. As businesses, sports leagues can be as conniving, deceitful, and manipulative as any other businesses in the world. No matter what the circumstances are, it seems that Politicians are always some how right around the corner from the world of sports. These Politicians look to exploit both the cultural and the economic dimensions of the sports for their own purposes. This is what is known in the sports industry as “playing the field”.
Imagine a business that brings in $60 million each year, and the people fueling that industry receive none of the revenue (Wieberg). These same people work 40 hours in their sport every week. These “people” are college athletes. The NCAA, the governing body for major college sports, is the industry doing this to college athletes (Edelman). This is an issue of exploitation and control by large institutions over primarily poor people.
Diaz Truman, M. (2013). One Hit Too Many: The Moral Responsibility of Football Fandom. Kennedy School Review, 1310-15.
If there’s one thing we dread in the summer more than the heat, it’s the afflicting sentiment that surrounds oneself when one is inhibited from experiencing the thrills of football for six long and gruesome months. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football is a part of many Americans’ Saturdays, but to fewer does it mean their lives. Recently coming under debate, many sporting fans and college athletes believe that players should be paid more than just tuition, room, board, and books. Two articles on this issue that bring up valid points worth discussing are Paul Marx’ “Athlete’s New Day” and Warren Hartenstine’s “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” From these articles I have found on the basis of logical,
Players' in the NFL have the most success in winning claims of negligence because the NFL has consistently breached its duty to protect the neurological well-being of its players by not enacting adequate rules, policies, and regulations that protect the players. “The NFL possesses a general duty to exercise reasonable care because its conduct as the governing body of a violent game creates a risk of physical harm” (Nowinski, 2007, p.121). The league breached the duty to warn the players that professional football can cause long-term mental health risks, which the players might not discover through the exercise of their duty of care. The players are acting within the scope of their employment each time they play football, and every time they play it is the league's responsibility to provide safe working conditions.
Tiffany Patterson argues “College football players are already receiving scholarships to pay for their tuition and it is unfair to other students who are juggling between jobs and school.”(Patterson) Although college football players work hard at playing football, it is unfair to other students who are not receiving scholarships and having football players paid will be even more unfair. According to Lauren Horne, the lead author of Bleacherreport, says “College football players cost universities and colleges lots of money and paying them will put the universities in even more financial debt. Universities and colleges spend about $42 million on football players who, except for an elite hundred, will never play in the NFL.”(Horne) Colleges are already have finance issues and if they pay all the players, their trouble will get worse. Rick Burton, the professor of sports management at Syracuse University explains “Student athletes who go to college are already receiving a fair amount of pay by receiving an education”(Burton) The athletes are being compensated for their time on the football field by the professors giving them an
The failure of the NFL to disclose credible research linking concussions to permanent, hidden long-term brain injury to the players can be interpreted as both ethical and unethical. Ethical theories and traps influenced the NFL’s decision. Not disclosing the research is considered moral by the ethical theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarian ethics considers the best decision is one which maximizes overall happiness and minimizes overall pain is more ethical. Utilitarianism’s goal is to produce the best outcome for the largest number of people. The NFL’s failure to reveal the research connecting concussion to permanent brain injury’s is in line with utilitarian ethics. A larger population benefits from football compared to the small number of
The Denver Post states that paying college athletes is not justified due to the actuality of them desiring to play and that the critics are unsound for divulging college athletes deserve payment. The article conveys the impression that they are attempting to appeal to everyone who believes that college athletes deserve to get remunerated is preconceived. The news article emphasizes deception: "And that is where our critics have it wrong. College athletes are not employees. They are students. It’s that simple." The article thrusts their mindset onto society and the critics who acknowledge rewarding college athletes. The Denver Post forces its ideals onto the reader by using rhetorical devices, appeals, and fallacies while this source itself
In the article “Should Kids Play Football” from the Scholastic Scope on February 2015, writer Jennifer Shotz discusses both issues of the benefits and dangers of playing American football. For example, Jennifer Shots mentioned that tens of thousands of young football players get concussions every year. She states that most players return to the game after they are healed but some never return because their concussion was too severe to their health. On the other hand, the writer also discusses how football isn't the only sport that encounters concussions. The rules of football are always changing and each new rule provides a safer way to play the game. For example, the writer notes that Pop Warner has reduced the amount of practice time dedicated
In the essay (It is Immoral watching the Super Bowl) the author 's argument was very effective. Steve stated his point of views very clearly to the viewers to understand and the reasons football is immoral to watch. Almond 's reasons for writing this article is to persuade people on the immorality of football and the negative effect it has on a player, while playing or after they had played it. In this article, Almond also provided some basic facts and details about what football does to the human body. Moreover, Almond stated that medical research had proven that football can cause serious brain injury. The author was also opened minded, knowledgeable and confident. Base on the other ways of presenting this argument, I have been convinced by his argument and I am going to
The workers get paid and spend the money elsewhere, simulating other jobs and markets. The NFL has a massive impact on the American economy, with billions of dollars being shifted every year. It is difficult to provide an exact number on how many people make money through the NFL, but the payroll is massive regardless. “The league supports about 110,000 jobs in NFL cities— not just tailbacks and punters but hotel workers and sports-bar owners. Overall, the games add about $5 billion to the broader economy in NFL cities.” This fails to account for those making money based of writing and reporting for the teams through other media sites. A new stadium is built roughly every 4 years, so add on the massive amounts of construction workers and company designers to the list. The corruption around player safety results in financial opportunity for not only others, but the players too. Over 25% of former NFL players go on to work with teams or media in some form after they retire. In addition, a lot of lower class adolescents use football as a means of earning a check, “when you look at all of those guys coming out of the South, those guys who have been disadvantaged, who have absolutely nothing, they’re going to want to play just for the money. They’ll sacrifice themselves to take care of their families and so forth” (Source C). Many of these players possess no other skills or talent, and they either die poor or die with