<p>I was wondering how you guys feel about the reference to the athletic culture being partially culpable in the tragedy at UVA. There is a lot of speculation on this thread:</p>
<p>didn’t read far enough to find references to “athletic culture” and how that led to murder. But, IF this kid is found guilty his actions had nothing to do with sports. Violence and out-of-control behavior is not fostered or promoted on the sports field, actually it’s the opposite, control is practiced. We hear more about murders when an athlete is involved, but there are plenty of murderers in prison who never played a sport as well.</p>
<p>I don’t like how people and/or the media start looking for reasons or excuses as to why something tragic happens. When the Duke Lax scenario came up the coach was fired, players were expelled and then it was found out that they weren’t guilty. But, the Lax environment was blamed for their behavior. Now the UVA Lax environment is being questioned in this case.</p>
<p>Can anyone prove that if this kid hadn’t played Lax he would have acted differently if this same scenario presented itself? Of course not… </p>
<p>This was a boyfriend/girlfriend issue that took place away from a sports field.</p>
<p>I always wonder if these male athletes with serious rage issues are on some kind of supplement legal, or illegal, that fuels the rage-not excusing it-just perhaps another thing lowering inhibitions.</p>
<p>I bet the suspect also ate food and breathed oxygen. Did food or oxygen cause him to become violent?</p>
<p>Oldbatsiedoc, I have wondered this also. I have seen firsthand the affects of steroid use and it is indeed disturbing. But I have also seen the affects of placing athletes on a pedestal, holding them to a different standard of behavior than the rest of the community and excusing their inappropriate behavior with a “boys will be boys” attitude, with equally disturbing results. As a parent, I find this attitude very dangerous.</p>
<p>I think every generation laments the perceived shortcomings in how the next generation is being raised, but…the last five years for me have been a time of the chickens coming home to roost. It’s in high school and college that you see the results of ineffective parenting, a permissive school culture, and the chld’s own negative tendencies. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, as fishymom points out, sometimes good athletes are spared the discipline they need. (Though in our high school, it seems that across the board kids are spared too much. My D has frequently complained that it doesn’t seem to matter if she does the right thing or not–the good and bad get the same treatment and sometimes the bad get treated better.) Just yesterday, a senior slacker on her team who skips practices and conveniently avoids the hard parts of practice due to some transitory ache or pain (an obvious pattern developed during junior and soph. years too) was given a slot for the championships, while a hard-working child was pushed aside. My D felt terrible about this, knowing that after she’s gone, her diligent teammates will suffer under the injustice just as she did on this team.</p>
<p>I agree that I think athletes in certain sports undoubtedly receive preferential - and sometimes unfair - treatment. In my high school, there was a really stupid “hazing” issue (wasn’t really hazing but that’s beyond the point) where a girl, her friend, and several of their football playing friends were “caught” hazing. My friends - soccer players - were suspended, but the football players were not, even though they admitted to participating in it, because one of the deans is their coach. It caused a <em>huge</em> uproar in our school.</p>
<p>THAT being said, I don’t think the “athletic culture” is the reason this girl is dead. For starters, she was an athlete too - a lacrosse player - so it isn’t as if the athletic culture victimizes those who do not fit into it, which was one of the implications I got from that thread. Maybe, just maybe, the kid - IF he is found guilty - was given less discipline than others, but I think this is a relationship issue, pure and simple.</p>