Legal Punishment in Sport
South San Antonio High School basketball player Tony Limon can now be placed into the same category with such professional athletes like Juan Marichal, Kermit Washington, Dale Hunter, and most recently Marty McSorley. All men crossed that fuzzy line between which actions on the field are acceptable and which ones are not. Pitcher Juan Marichal received a mere nine-day suspension for a bat-swinging incident in the midst of a bench-clearing brawl. Washington was banned for two months after throwing a vicious blow to the face of Rudy Tomjanovich. Washington Capitals center Dale Hunter was suspended for twenty-one games for crosschecking Pierre Turgeon in the back after he scored a goal. The newest member of this notorious group is Boston Bruins veteran Marty McSorley, a player with a track record for violent behavior on the ice. But he reached the pinnacle of his brutal acts and most likely the end of his career by swinging his weapon across the head of the unsuspecting Donald Brashear. McSorley has been suspended for the remainder of the NHL season and possibly more. At the age of 37, what would be more fitting than a lifetime ban? Tony Limon deliberately threw an elbow to the face of Brent Holmes which f
Many punches, albeit missed, have been thrown around by NBA players in recent years. But none have caused such an injury. Ninety mile per hour fastballs are deliberately thrown at the heads of batters on a nightly basis. But most obvious is the fist-swinging incidents that are "part of the game" in the NHL. These athletes have become immune to any legal action being place. Maybe Limon thought the same and vented out in an arena that may tolerate his behavior. Athletes have always been placed on a separate pedestal or in real terms, the hubris. Their pride driven arrogance allows them to see themselves as separate from and superior to those who do no pay the price they pay to participate in sports. These sports are cultures that emphasize hostility, physical domination, and a willingness to sacrifice physical well being for sake of competitive success. This mind-set and the social world that forms in connection with it seem to promote their aggression. This is when it has obviously stopped being a game. Coakley, Jay J. (1998) Sport in Society. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. A new issue can be the reasoning for imprisonment. Of course, most cases are pretty obvious. But for Limon, was this done as punishment or prevention? The sentence certainly prevents him from performing this act again for another five years and the experience in jail just might prevent him from doing it again for the rest of his life, or at least one would hope so. In either case, one has to question the length of the sentence. His previous record listed attempted burglaries, not exactly a clear sign that he would commit such an act. Limon certainly learned his lesson the hard way. Should we consider Tony Limon to be a special case, though? He did plead no contest to two counts of attempted burglary and thus receiving probation. This certainly cannot be considered because the criminal records of athletes are not
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Approximate Word count = 1295
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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