Even though most people strive for
success, our society has a unique fascination with human failure. This could be
because scandals embody emotion and passion, which are characteristics that
people feed off. Or it could be simply because focusing on other’s conflicts
distract people from their own mundane life and/or problems. Whatever the reason may be, when someone
messes up people typically want to know every little detail about the
situation.
Now of course everyone makes
mistakes, but when celebrities and professional athletes are involved people
become even more interested because these figures are constantly in the public
eye. People are passionate about their sports and the players that make up
their favorite teams, which is why fans become so interested in a sports
scandals. Over the years the media has learned what attracts viewers and try to
cater those desires. Arthur A. Raney and Jennings Bryant write in The Handbook of Sports and Media that
“media consumers report that they view mediated sports because of the emotional
rewards they receive from doing so”(315) but people also become interested when
a scandal occurs. I am not implying that
fans want professional athletes or those in the public eye to fail, I am just
saying that people typically tend to become even more interested in the
incident because society places these figures on such high pedestals and they
look up to these athletes as role models.
Two examples that come to my mind
are the Tiger Woods and Barry Bonds scandals.
Tiger Wood was seen as one of the greatest golfers of all time until
word got out of his multiple affairs. After the leak of his adultery, Wood’s
image was tarnished forever and it will be difficult for his fans to ever
forget about what he did, regardless of how successful of a golfer he is. I remember that when the news first came out
it was all over the media and people talked about it for weeks. This just shows that people sometimes become
absorbed in sports scandals. Even
though Barry Bonds beat Hank Aaron’s home run record in 2007 I know people
still don’t consider him the home run leader because of his steroid
scandal.
Sports scandals also attract
people’s attention because of the impact it has on society. For instance, I have been following the
recent scandal with the Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino and his
25-year-old girlfriend because I think that this could potentially have an
impact on me. It is obvious that sports are a field that is male-dominant as
the text suggests, but over the years women have started to become more
qualified. As a soon to be college
graduate that hopes to pursue a career in sports I feel like scandals such as
this could make it even more difficult for women to have equal opportunities in
the sports industry. Dorrell, Petrino’s
girlfriend, was clearly not qualified for the position at Arkansas but Petrino
hired him because it was his girlfriend, which is simply unethical and wrong.
An article in Sports Illustrated
interviewed Christianne Harder who applied for the player development position
at Arkansas. Harder previously worked at
the Stanford and Washington programs and appeared qualified but wasn’t even
given an opportunity to interview because the job went to Petrino’s girlfriend.
While it is inevitable that sports
scandals will continue to occur and surface throughout the media, it will be
interesting to see how it will impact society.
Will people continue to become captivated with emotion or disappointment,
or will people start to become un-phased when a scandal occurs? Only time will
tell.
I think that Alex has a few good points within her post. Our society is definitely obsessed with scandal and the flaws of people aside from the positives. I think that people who are constantly within the media's eye need to be more conscious of the consequences that come along with their wrong-doings. I liked alex's example about Tiger Woods and his ongoing remembrance of his adultery because I am definitely one of those people who will never look at Tiger Woods as an amazing athlete more than a guy who had his wife chase him with a golf club. People who are always in the media also need to remember that they are role models to a mass amount of children who are too young to know whether their favorite athlete's behavior is right or not. I never think that people will not be interested in scandal. Our society is fixated on it and as long as the media exists so will scandal. It is only natural for people to continuously mess up. Many people are involved in scandals for the sake of being on the front page of a magazine. (Any publicity is good publicity) We as a society may get used to many of the continuous scandals that seem to be repetitive however someone will always seem to find a way to one-up the common scandal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the points that Alex is making. I wanted to start off with a quote in Raney and Bryant's "Handbook." The book states, "Listen to the radio or turn on the computer and there's an endless array of commentary on the misbehavior of today's athletes. If these were the only source of information about crime and sports, one would have to conclude that America's athletes are out of control, preying on women while disregarding America's laws, all the while remaining above the fray of accountability and consequences because of celebrity, class, and media power" (523). This quote illustrates that because sporting athletes are looked at as celebrities and idols, we enjoy hearing about these scandals. They interest us because as Alex puts it, "they are always in the public eye."
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question that Alex is posing, I don't think scandals are ever going to disappear. It seems that our culture and the media love to portray scandals, even the smallest ones, in order to get ratings and viewers. But the ultimate thing is that these scandals will NEVER be removed from that person's name or image. For example, Alex brings up Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is one of the best golfers in the history of the game, but he will now always be associated with cheating on his wife numerous times. Of course they will talk about all the majors he has won, but when they bring up his downfall (occurring now) they will always associate his demise with the cheating. Another example, Pete Rose. Pete Rose is one of the best hitters in MLB history. But because of the allegations of his betting on baseball, Rose is banned from the game of baseball forever. In my opinion, Rose rightfully deserves to be a Hall of Famer, but once again, his scandal is surpassing his talents. Even Kobe Bryant. Kobe, one of the best players in the NBA now and in history, is always going to be linked with his raping case. It doesn't get brought up as much as the Tiger Woods incident, it seems every time Tiger has a bad round the commentators think its because of the cheating scandal, but Kobe and his raping case is sometimes brought up and will be attached to his name forever.
Ultimately, it comes down to these players needing to realize that the public and the cameras are always on them. They need to act professionally and more importantly as role models. Young children look up to these athletes as role models and examples of good behavior on the athletic field or court. However, having Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) throw an elbow and almost knock out James Harden it is not a good move on his part and is only tarnishing his name once again. Artest is seen as a dirty player ever since the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit. That incident will be connected to his name forever. So when a young athlete or child is watching the Lakers game Sunday, and witnesses Artest's elbow and then trying to square up to fight at half court, it is a negative image. Then to add on to that, the station (ESPN) will do flashback footage of the brawl and continue to show negative images to young children. The sporting world does not want young children getting the wrong image, so these athletes need to act accordingly.
In a comment on another blog, I mentioned how I think sports fans actually do like when athletes fail in their moral and legal obligations sometimes. This probably isn't the case when it comes to our favorite athletes, but when athletes to whom we aren't attached fail, some people definitely relish in it.
ReplyDeleteI know that I thoroughly enjoy when professional athletes that aren't on my favorite teams get in trouble. I laugh when a football player is arrested for DUI, or when a basketball player is charged with assault, or when coaches start cheating on their wives, because all of these things strike against their own perceived invincibility or superiority over common people. I find it totally comical when professional athletes spoil their salaries and end up filing for bankruptcy because they have no ability to sensibly manage their own money. I enjoy seeing hubris strike down people who don't know how to handle their own success.
Scandals will never go away because there will always be people who have no idea how to handle their own success.
I definitely agree with Alex – our society has a fascination with human failure. The reality is that failure sells more paper than success does. Athletes in this day and age are at the top their of society both socially and economically. So many people envy them and many think they are undeserving of their wealth and fame. So, when an athlete messes up, average joes eat it up. Maybe it makes them feel a little better about their mundane life, or maybe it’s just nice to see someone get knocked down a few pegs. Either way, when it comes to athletes, you are guilty until proven innocent.
ReplyDeleteIn a bizarre way, athletes are more well known for being infamous than for being famous. If you’re a football player, and you’re a great football player, football fans know who you are. But a person who doesn’t care about football doesn’t care who you are. But when a scandal comes into the mix, you open yourself up to a whole new world of fame. Take Tom Brady. Brady is arguably one of the best quarterbacks of this generation, and all football fans know that. But Brady is a household name. Not because of his statistics, but because of his romantic entanglements with former girlfriend Bridget Moynahan and current wife Gisele Bundchen. The same quote that Kevin used from the handbook caught my eye - "Listen to the radio or turn on the computer and there's an endless array of commentary on the misbehavior of today's athletes. If these were the only source of information about crime and sports, one would have to conclude that America's athletes are out of control, preying on women while disregarding America's laws, all the while remaining above the fray of accountability and consequences because of celebrity, class, and media power" (Leonard, 523). The reason all your hear about is athlete’s scandals is because it’s what people want to hear. People crave drama, and drama and scandal give athletes their fame.
As long as our professional athletes are seen as celebrities, there will be sports scandals. Whether it is a scandal involved in the game or something totally unrelated to the game, people want to see these scandals. That is why there are so many websites dedicated to celebrity gossip.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kyle that we want to see athletes that we don't root for, come up in scandal. I don't want to see anyone be injured in these scandals, but I like to see hated rivals teams miss time. I feel that is how many sports fans are today. I also like to see how these big stars come back from such humiliation. When Michael Vick came back and played his first game I am sure many football fans like myself were curious to see how he would perform.
I think that people like to see these scandals because it humanizes these athletes. They commit acts that regular people do. People see it and realize that these are not machines working out there. They have to deal with personal emotions and feelings as well as professional emotions. No one is perfect, but given their status does not give them to act poorly.
These issues fortunately or unfortunately will never go away. As long as they are seen as celebrities people will do moral or unmoral things to dig up the dirt on them.