Deviance In Sport

NHL's Role As Deviant Behavior

In class on April 9, 2013 we discussed different aspects of deviance in sport. One sport I want to focus on is the NHL and their on ice amount of fights. In the 2011-2012 season their was a total of 768 fights; 141 fights during the preseason, 601 during the regular season and 26 during the playoffs. Fighting in sport is part of the deviant behavior such as bounty hunting, academic cheating, performance enhancing drugs, gambling and illegal recruiting practices. The NHL is known for fighting, when thinking of hockey I see it as a violent sport and whenever there is a game there is a high chance that you will see a fight. When kids watch something such as a T.V. show or a game of hockey there is a lot of violence portrayed and for a sport like hockey, a sport in which a lot of kids grow up to play, I don't see how all the fighting in the sport brings in people to play.

This deviance behavior in hockey gives the fans a way to act in a deviant behavior as well. In a article I read it specifically said that "identifying single disruptions and finding ways to curb individual disruptions help prevent collective violence before it becomes widespread at the sporting event". The purpose of this statement identifying individual problems would not solve the collective nature of deviance as it is shared in the culture of athletes. It really only take one person in the crowd for everyone to follow their behavior.


Here is a short video of the hits and fights that was in the 2011-2012 season:
 http://youtu.be/BqQvB6jkWIY

http://dropyourgloves.com/fights/LeagueSeason.aspx?League=1&Season=2012