Deviant Culture in the National Football League (Essay Sample)

Deviant Culture in the National Football League
Name
College
Abstract
The National Football League (NFL) traces its origin back in the late 19th century. The league developed through a series of mergers to the present prestigious status. In the recent years the leagues has grown into a multibillion enterprises attracting huge funs support and making billions of dollars from sponsors and fees. The league attracts the best talented footballers in the USA by the high salaries they offer. However, the players have to work hard to bring success to their teams and remain on top of their game. This objective calls for great sacrifice from the player something not commonly known by their supporters. The pursuit of glory, success and recognition has transformed the game into a combat zone.
NFL is home to the American strongest footballers who use their huge bodies to gain teams success at all cost. The league is marred by a series of deviant behaviour perpetuated by the players in the quest for team glory. The conduct of the league players have come into strong criticism after the bullying and abuse in the locker rooms came to light. It is a custom in the league for initiation of new team members something meant to create awareness and incorporate the new member into the fraternity. However, the recent past haswitnessed great abuse of the new player’srights by being psychologically and physically abused by the team members in the process of initiations. Most a times this initiation process run smoothly aimed at impacting the team’s norms and objectives into the player but in other instances this practice has been used as an avenue for torture and racial abuse. This culture seems to hasten and continues to bring harm to the players psychologically creating a drift amongst the players.
Mental and physical toughness defines a footballer at the leagues. The league has a culture that embraces and rewards strength and condemns weakness CITATION Pat91 \l 2057 (Adler, 1991)s. Players have been initiated into this culture of physical and mental toughness and so they pursue it at all cost. All team members strive to remain fit and nobody wants to be seen as the weaker member of the team. In pursuit of this objective player fight to remain in the game and deliver despite injuries sustained. In addition it is perceived as weakness for a player to get injured and be carried out of the field or seeking medical assistance.To this end the players fight on despite their injuries as prove of strength. The league has a slogan which inspire the players and at the same time, the slogans has been the cause of grieve to many players. The league expects players to act like a man a slogan implying exhibiting physical and mental streagth at all times. This slogan in particular has been the cause of many abuse cases in the league. With players being encouraged to act like men,any form of weakness therefore, is considered an abuse to manhood. With this at stake player go every extent to protect their manhood by being tough which extends to bullying to other players.
America is home to different sexual orientations with gay right provided for by law. NFL has been used as an avenue to resolve society stigma and stereotypes associated with a particular group. Gays have been a focus on the NFL with issues of mistrust from their team mates. The game offers a good avenue for gays to prove themselves worth of trust by being the men in the game. Similarly, black players in the past were racially abused and just like their gay counter parts they get into the game to prove they are the best men CITATION Pat91 \l 2057 (Adler, 1991). The notion of being a man in the league implies toughness mainly measured by the lever of pain endurance from the player. This gives a team member a fighting spirit in the midst of severe pain. The condition is worsened by the culture outside the field where funs mount pressure for players to deliver. Many a time if funs perceive a player as weak they will always make fun of him. Similarly, if a player gets injured and allows themselves to be taken out of the field by the medical team, the funs pick up on the player if they find him walking during the week. This pressure from all quarters makes the game dangerous as the player’s strives to show their strength and pain endurance.
The league has a unique culture of conflict resolution which encourages physical combat as the preferred method of solving issues. This is mainly defined by the notion of being a man who calls for mental and physical mighty. Given these surroundings therefore, conflicts are mostly resolved through fights since each party to the conflict wants to prove himself a man. The recent bullying of Jonathan Martin by a team mate Richie Incognito reveals the offensive cultureof the NFL. Jonathan Martin a former offensive lineman of Dolphin team and Richie Incognito a team leaderin the same team has evoked many questions on the culture of NFL. Jonathan received insulting text messages and mails from Incognito a team mate on various occasions a matter that made him leave the team after the abuse became public. When confronted Incognito accepted using abusive language on the team mate but argued that the language he used is the one used for communication in the in the team. He claimed that the team uses vulgar language to communicate at no offence and further argued that his action reflected the locker room culture.
Abuse and brutality has painted the picture of the multibillion NFL industry CITATION Cal12 \l 2057 (Nite, 2012). Suspended Dolphin player Richie Incognitor sees nothing wrong for abusing his team mate Martin since that is the culture of the league. It is not the first time for this kind of abuse in the league; retired Philadelphia Eagles Shawn Andrews accused his team mates for abusing him verbally and making false statements about his sexualitysomething that made his stay difficult at the club. These kinds of abuse are mainly conducted to shape up the perceived weak members of the team. The sole objective is the maintenance of the club at the right position by toughening the weak players or making them leave the team. Although Incognito behaviour towards Martin is a case of abuse of his rights, many league players and funs perceive it differently. To many the action of walking away from the team that Martin took after the Incoginito abuses became publicwas a sign of weakness. Many league supporters wereseen carryingposters supportingincognitoduring the matches that followed. Most league players have claimed that Martin should have dealt with the issue like a man; he should have responded to the abuse in the similar manner. Some players goes ahead to justify the abuse by citing the Martin’s move as cowardice and weakness that should not be allowed in the team.
The possibility of regulating the conduct of the players in NFL is hindered by the ultimate quest for profits by the teams. There is great competition in the league as the profits realized are huge; therefore teams pursue this quest at the cost humiliating and hostile environment to their players. This is a form of exploitation which got roots too in the American college games.Claims of college athletes’ exploitationhave been in the rise promoting numerous investigation and study into the matter. Many college and universities contract their athletes mainly at freshmen levers with the colleges being the beneficiaries from the proceeds of the student activities. The colleges make millions of dollars from these athletes but pay them only a stipend CITATION Der11 \l 2057 (Rheenen, 2011). This exploitation has been largely directed towards the black students’athletes with study revealing that the university even admits black students who are not qualified for the university education mainly due to their talents abilities which the colleges exploit to their advantage. Most college athletes realise this exploitation in their final years of study which limits their actions towards the colleges. The Universities exploit the athletes without much concern on their academic progress a situation that led to reduced graduation rates of black athletes. Study reveals that black student athletes have low graduation rates from colleges which are non-historically black as compared to graduation rates of black students in other institutions.
The national Football League has become a combat zone with war themes being the marketing packages of the league. Military war tactics and codes have found their way into the league making it an avenue for showing might and destroying their opponents. This branding of the league seems to impress the league funs which make the practice more engraved. Players regard themselves as soldiers with their couches as their commanding generals who fight aggressively to protect and safe guard the interest of their teams CITATION Der11 \l 2057 (Rheenen, 2011). This militaristic culture makes the players risk their health to defend their teams at all cost. This mainly results in severe injuries both physical and mental which sometimes results to fatal damages. Many cases of suicide or attempted suicide have been reported in the past as a result of severe brain in...