Celebrities influence people in different ways. Disney princesses influence preschool girls; superheroes influence elementary school boys.
As students outgrow superheroes and Disney princesses, they begin to look to professional athletes, who may have a bigger impact on high school students than they may realize.
With the recent arrests in the NFL surrounding big name players like Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Ray McDonald and Greg Hardy, professional athletes may not be influencing high school athletes in a positive manner anymore.
When he was younger, senior basketball player Kobe Eichelberger looked up to the former Orlando Magic player, Grant Hill. His modesty on and off the court reminded Eichelberger of himself and how he plays. Also like Hill, Eichelberger wears the number 33.
Senior football player, Rory Costello idolizes NFL players Peyton Manning and Jeff Saturday. Costello thinks that they are simply two stand-up guys. He says they had never done anything to hurt their reputation, so they were perfect role models.
Although Costello does not play either of their positions, he says he tries to emulate professional athletes from different sports in his style of play.
“I’m sure generations of kids were influenced by Allen Iverson and tried to perfect their crossovers,” Costello said.
This high regard for athletes has changed over the years, but drastically so in the past two months, as big name players have been arrested and charged on counts of domestic violence and abuse.
Ray Rice, former running back for the Baltimore Ravens, and his then fianceé, Janay Palmer, got into an aggressive fight in an elevator. Days later a video of Rice was released by TMZ showing Rice carrying Palmer out of the elevator. One month later, Rice was indicted for 3rd degree aggravated assault and the very next day, Rice and Palmer got married.
Originally, the NFL suspended Rice for the first two games of the season, but after many fans thought he deserved a harsher punishment for his actions, the NFL suspended him from the league indefinitely. He was released by the Baltimore Ravens.
This was only the beginning of the bad press surrounding the NFL. Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back, harshly disciplined his four year old son. After playing in the first week, Peterson has since been indicted for reckless injury to a child. The Vikings deactivated him for their second game. He has been placed on the exempt list and is waiting a further decision on his verdict in trial. Although his chances may be slim, Peterson is arguing for an earlier trial date in order to return for the remainder of the 2014 season.
San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ray McDonald was arrested for domestic violence and sexual assault to his pregnant girlfriend. Although the arrest came days after the NFL updated their policy on domestic violence, McDonald has not been suspended for any games this season.
Although the discipline was much less, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was deactivated for their Week 2 game. Hardy was found guilty of domestic assault against his girlfriend after supposedly threatening and choking her. No other action has been taken place besides for the one game deactivation and supposedly no other suspension is coming.
“They are set up perfectly in life: money, doing what they love and having people who cheer for them. Some people just waste this amazing opportunity by doing stupid stuff,” Eichelberger said.
“My view on the NFL hadn’t changed until I heard about a few of these [offenses] in a row in these past months span,” Costello said. “It changes my perspective on the player(s).”
These players have an influence on high school athletes on and off the field. Touchdown dances, such as flips into the endzone and big spikes, are replicated on the high school field. This replication suggests that high school athletes pay attention to these athletes. Although professional athletes influence high school players with their on field heroics, perhaps their off field incidents have a bigger impact on the athletes. Professional athletes need to remember who they are influencing with their everyday actions.
These off field antics are nothing new to professional sports. In the 1900s there were 140 reported cases of domestic violence among professional and college football players. The most notable case during this time was the O.J. Simpson case. The fact that Simpson got away with suspected murder sent a precedent for other athletes, such as Ray Lewis and Kobe Bryant, who were both involved in court cases earlier in the 2000s.
Both Lewis’ and Bryant’s cases have been merely grazed over.
Time has healed these wounds excellently. Neither of these athletes will be remembered as criminals, but rather as future hall of famers.
“If you are famous enough or a big enough celebrity time will heal the wounds,” Costello said.
However, these situations are unlike anything the NFL, or any other professional sports league, has seen. People will not look specifically at the players who were accused, but rather at the placement of them and how incredibly close together they were. Although time has healed previous wounds, Costello believes that time will not heal these consecutive wounds.
Much of the discussions surrounding these four notable cases are whether the NFL and its fans think these type of actions are acceptable in today’s society.
“Of course the NFL has to step up and have heavier punishments, which they now do,” Costello said. “I feel until there is an actual culture change, none of this will be acceptable.”
So far, these off field incidents have not affected viewership of the NFL. People continue to watch the game simply because they love to.
Fans will find a way around all of these incidents to watch what they love.
If fans want to see a change happen in the near future, they need to start resending their viewership and not giving their money anymore.
Athletes will also continue to play the sport.
“I just want to play my game,” Costello said, who has recently committed to play football at the college of Holy Cross.
