Who to Blame? 

“Practicing sports which can be fully advantageous may not turn out to be so if it doesn’t serve its goals of keeping our bodies healthy and promoting feelings of friendliness, cooperation and peace”, is a quote alluding the drawbacks and dangers of drifting from the main objectives at which sports aim. Sports have not only advantages, but also downsides that are just impactful, but rarely regarded. These drawbacks fall into the physical, financial, and psychological domains.

To begin with, whether one is a well-trained athlete or a weekend warrior, one is prone to some serious dangers and injuries, threatening his or her physical wellbeing. For all their rare athletic gifts, athletes are people too. Their dynamic talents and hard-earned opportunities do not guarantee long-term success. Tears, strains, concussions, shin splints, joint dislocations, and misalignments are just a few of the most common sports damages they face. For instance, the 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year and three-time All-Star in his first four NBA seasons, Brandon Roy, had been establishing himself as one of the game’s top guards before knee issues caused him to retire at the age of twenty-eight, despite two surgeries attempting to resurrect the damages. Moreover, it’s impossible to think of tragic injuries in sports and not picture Tony Conigliaro, the promising Red Sox baseball player. He was hit by a pitch just below his eye socket in 1967, and he did not play again until 1969. His vision continued to deteriorate over time, and Conigliaro was forced to retire after the 1971 season, having failed to sustain the success he was once assured as a young superstar despite a brief comeback.

On a financial basis, sports may cause an increase in the documented cases of bribery and gambling. Sports corruption is a global phenomenon that has, and continues to, threaten the integrity of the sports industry, posing a major challenge for athletes, fans, and managers. Over the past decade, the sports industry has experienced multiple forms of corruption and fraud that have ranged in extent, occurred in varying contexts, and resulted in a multitude of consequences, diminished reputations, penalties, and financial losses. One example is the professional snooker player, Stephen Lee, who is regarded by many experts as one with natural talent. In fact, throughout his career, he won four ranking titles and more than $3.3 million in prize money. However, those winnings didn't seem to be sufficient for Lee. In October of 2012, he was handed a twelve-year ban from the World Snooker Association on match-fixing charges and was found guilty of influencing the outcome of seven matches in 2008 and 2009, which resulted in Stephen being banned from all professional competition.

In addition to the aforementioned, sports may have detrimental mental and psychological effects on athletes, due to increased pressure, anxiety, bullying and aggression. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, clinically significant depressive symptoms are prevalent in collegiate athletes, for which suicide ranks fourth as a leading cause of death. Current estimates of suicide prevalence in these populations are challenged by the lack of consistent reporting and poor understanding and evaluation. Thus, mental health concerns in athletes are noteworthy but seemingly go unnoticed, which has caused a surge in the suicide rate. Junior Seau, Rick Rypien, Kenny McKinley, Benny Friedman, Johnny Indrisano, Shane Dronett, and Darren Sutherland, plus around eighty other athletes, passed away in documented cases of suicide, proving the concerns surrounding mental health in correlation to sports to be fully valid.

        As a conclusion, the physical, economic, and mental drawbacks of sports are destructive and just as ubiquitous and impactful as the benefits. However, if we reinforce the basic ethics of sports and take precaution for athletes physically while raising awareness of the unseen psychological struggles, we could tame these disadvantages into extinction.