Discusses the Role of Sports and Violence surrounding It

In today's society, mediated violence is on the rise through such programs as America's Most Wanted and Cops. The same holds true in the world of sports and how different media outlets portray violence. On the court, violence is expressed by almost everyone involved from the athletes themselves to the coaches and spectators. Off the court, instances of violence still have the potential to make it on the "Sports Center Top 10", such as an ugly soccer riot. The "Big 4" sports, which are baseball, basketball, football, and hockey tend to have just as many violent athletes and acts that occur in less mediated sports such as soccer and rugby. Violence sells and the media is taking full advantage of the popularity of violence to increase ratings, enhance buy rates for Pay Per View events, and to increase magazine subscriptions, among other things.
To begin the content analysis of sport, one must start with the most barbaric of the "Big 4" sports, hockey. Players are basically taught to hurt the opposition and win at all costs. This motto is how the game is exposed to the public. If one were to put on any sports highlight show that is covering hockey, one will find one of two things; either a great save or a fight. For example, during a recent episode of Sports Center, the first highlight that was shown was a fight that broke out seven seconds into the game. Fights do not win hockey games, so why is the media glorifying fights?
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