Industry Liabilities

There are many controversial issues in sports today with the most talked about being domestic violence, performance enhancing drugs and gay athletes. These issues were the leading stories for most of 2014. While a little of the sizzle has gone away from these stories, but rest assured they will resurface soon.

First lets take a look at the Michael Sam issue of being the first openly gay player in the NFL. Michael Sam announced to the world that he was gay during his last year in college and before entering the 2014 NFL draft. So the main topic of discussion would be how the other players in the locker room would accept him. There was also the question of was his draft status hurt by him announcing he was gay. Sam was the defensive player of the year in the SEC, but was drafted in the 7^th round. Most agree he being gay hurt his draft status. As far as a legal issue, Michael Sam could not be denied playing in the NFL because of his sexual orientation. My opinion is that if the athlete no matter if its Michael Sam or any other athlete can perform on the field and perform to the level of the competition, they should be allowed to play. 

Another recent controversial issue was the Ray Rice domestic violence situation. The domestic violence incident with him punching and knocking his then fiancé out was the lead story on every news outlet. Domestic violence is a very serious issue topic in sports and this country today. The country was outraged by the video of him dragging the limp body of his fiancé out of a hotel elevator. Rice was suspended for 2 games and then suspended indefinitely after more video was released. Rice appealed the second suspension and won. My opinion is that the sports leagues must develop new domestic violence policies and make sure the players understand them and know the consequences for violating them. The leagues need to also have some type of counseling in place for athletes who have domestic violence problems. 

Another issue that has been big in sports, but not just in 2014 is performance enhancing drugs or PED’s for short. Most of the major sports leagues have implemented new policies and testing procedures for PED’s. Most of these new policies have very serious punishments for violations of these policies. My opinion is that the use of PED’s is cheating and have no place in sports. I think the testing should be better, the punishments more severe and repeat offenders should be barred from there prospected sports for at least 2 years.