Thursday, December 18, 2014

Should Athletes Be Held To Higher Standards?
 

  Should collegiate and professional athletes be held to high everyday standards compared to an everyday person? It is portrayed to be a privelage to be an athlete and its expected that you act in a high class manor. Not only is it an expectation of your team and coaches that you will act in an appropriate manor but society has come to expect athletes act accordingly.
    Recently athletes have been getting a bad reputation for acting like laws and regular standard dont apply to them. Athletes have been acting as if they are untouchable or as if they are standing on a pedastal. They seem to think that their actions wont have consequences. This raises the questions should athletes be expected to behave or should they be treated as any other person. Should there actions be broadcasted  if they do a simple wrongdoing. Should they be punished as a regular person or should they be more heavily punished. 
    Some college athletes thats behavior that has came to be more of a spotlight than their on field actions include Jameis Winston and when Johnny Manziel  was in college. They have both faced legal problems while playing football. Manziel was accused of signing autographs for money which is against NCAA rules. Winston has been accused of sexual assault. Also he has been in trouble for making derogatory statements towards women. Both athletes seem to have an attitude as if they are larger than life and that the rules and standards dont apply to them.
   Some profesional athletes that have recently done things that have brought negative attention include Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Aaron Hernandez, Ben Roethlisberger,Mike Vick and Josh Gordon. Ray Rice was just seen on video tape punching his girlfriend in the face in an elavator. Adrian Peterson was accused of beating his son with a tree branch. Aaron Hernandez is being tried for multiple murders. Big Ben was accused of sexual assault. Mike Vick went to jail for fog fighting. Josh Gordon was suspended for Using drugs.
   Should we hold these people more accountable for their actions? Should there punishments be harsher. Should these actions be handled as if they were an average person? What makes these people different?
   My opinion is that as a high class athlete you should act as if the spotlight is always on you. You are a well known person. You shouldnt do anything that would make yourself, your team/ coaches or sport bad. You owe it to yourself and team to behave appropriately because being an athlete is a privilege. Yes athletes are humans too so they cant be expected to be perfect. It can be expected that athletes will make mistakes and bad decisions at times. However the indivusal athlete should realize what they are doing and know that their actions will be broadcasted much more than an average persons would. With that being said athletes should hold themselves to a higher standard because you wouldnt want to damage your own image or the image of your team.

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