Barnett 1

Brendan Barnett
DeBock
English 4
February 20th, 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Research Question: Do violent sports make violent people?
Working Thesis: Violent sports make people violent.
Refined Thesis: Inherently violent people are attracted to violent sports.
Diamond, Dan. "Does Playing Football Make You Violent? Examining The Evidence." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
This article dives into a deeper, more subliminal issue than most articles one could find. This
article explores the possibility that violent sports dont create violent people, but rather attract
violent people. Each individual has a different temper and level of control. Some people are born
naturally more violent and confrontational than others. When these men have been trained their
entire lives to make the hardest hit they could, it makes sense why that mentality would
eventually follow the players off the field. The article shows that there are deeper explanations
for the rate of violent crimes committed by professional athletes than the sport itself making the
players violent.
Peter, Josh. "Former NFL Exec: Teams Hid 'hundreds' of Abuse Incidents." USA Today. Gannett,
9 Oct. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
A former executive from the Chicago Bears came to the media in late 2014 to reveal his
interactions with and connection to hundreds of alleged domestic violence cover-ups during his
tenure with the Bears organization. His comments exposed a long hidden fact of the NFL, and

Barnett 2

that is that the NFL will do whatever it takes to protect their players. If that entails allowing a
player to be violent off the field so he can be more violent on the field, they see that as a
necessary sacrifice. This former NFL executives statements show how willing professional
sports organizations are to turn a blind eye towards the violence committed by their players,
which can and has led to an increase in the number of violent crimes committed by athletes.
Sekot, Ales. "Violence in Sports." Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
This journal details what violence in sports can do not just in football, but through most common
forms of sport. The sport that was the main focus of the entry was the sport of boxing. Being the
cornerstone of violent sports, boxing pits two men or women against each other with the intent of
beating one another to bloody pulps for the enjoyment of the fans. These athletes make a living
by causing physical harm to another human being to the point that they fall unconscious. As if
these explosive behaviors dont make the situation tense enough, boxers have an increased risk
of Alzheimers and dementia. These brain disorders can cause the aged athletes to become
confused, and thus angry. These swings can be unpredictable, making the former athlete an
unstable person. While other sports are looked at more for their violent aspects, boxing is
surprisingly left off the list of sports organizations that need to revamp their awareness of
violence outside of the ring due to the fact that violence by professional boxers is kept highly
wrapped up and out of the public eye giving these athletes even less of a reason to control their
tempers.