What happens in REAL sports when a player is toxic?

KORGtuners·10/6/2016, 9:37:55 PM·4 votes·2,911 views

http://www.espn.com/30for30/film?page=ihatechristianlaettner

^Watch this documentary. I saw it on Netflix.

Spoiler alert. No one was banned.

~29:40 "I'm sorry if people think sports is like this goody-goody, touchy-feely, you know, like we're sitting in church. It's not. It's competiveness. It's intensity. It's passion. It's people getting in each others face."

~31:14 "Christian had a way of getting under your skin. And ,I mean, that thought might have crossed my mind a couple of times, of bouncing Christian's head on the floor." -Bobby Hurley

~37:25 "When I got up from the pile, the first person that jumped into my arms and hugged me and said that they loved me was Bobby Hurley."

108 Comments

Dynikus10/6/2016, 9:43:25 PM10 votes

they do get punished, actually. The form of toxicity just isn't the same when it's a physical sport as opposed to e-sports. You can get penalized in football for unnecessary roughness, taunting, or excessive celebration as a few examples.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/09/antonio-brown-twerk-touchdown-steelers-redskins-nfl This was grounds for a 15 yard penalty and $9000 fine.

ModUlanopo10/6/2016, 9:43:44 PM8 votes

I was watching the Lions game week 3 and someone got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct for simply using a throat-slitting gesture. Whassername from the women's Olympic soccer team got a six-moth suspension for saying the opposing team played "like cowards." I could go on and on with examples, but the truth is that professional sports do take toxicity VERY seriously.

ModWulf Helhammer10/6/2016, 9:42:05 PM5 votes

In an actual game? They get one of the largest penalties in the game. And in soccer you can get kicked out of the match

LaserDeathBlade10/6/2016, 11:31:44 PM4 votes

There's a difference between competitive showmanship and toxicity, and toxicity absolutely does get punished in real sports.

What's considered toxic varies on the sport, but it's especially strict for League because it's difficult to pick up the difference between 'competitive banter' and toxicity over a chat box so most of the time everything is just considered toxic.

ModPrandine10/6/2016, 11:18:15 PM3 votes

From Ulanopo's Knowledge Base:

Trash talk is part of all competitive sports. It happens all the time in the pros.

Yes and no. Yes, trash talk occurs, but it has definite limits. Most of the things that are punished in game (racial, ethnic and homophobic slurs, sexism, etc.) would also earn you a hefty fine in professional sports.

A Tumblr List of NBA Fines (http://nbafines.tumblr.com/) (My personal favorite on that site is this indefinite suspension (http://nbafines.tumblr.com/post/1010368028/3-12-96-the-nba-suspended-mahmoud-abdul-rauf-den), simply for refusing to stand during the National Anthem.)

A List of NFL Fines for Taunting (http://www.spotrac.com/fines-tracker/nfl/all-years/fines/taunting/)

NBC Article on Fines Agreed to by the NFLPA (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/01/bizarrely-specific-nfl-fines-come-from-agreed-league-union-schedule/) "Excessive profanity or other unsportsmanlike conduct triggers a minimum fine of $10,500."

NHL Office of Player Safety (http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/playersafety) Brendan Shanahan is the ****ing Bad Santa of the NHL. Did you know that his Office of Player Safety watches every minute of every game, from multiple angles? He sees and hears EVERYTHING, including swearing.

... and the grand finale! Marge Schott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_Schott), who was forced out of ownership of the Cincinnati Reds for racist comments and pro-Nazi sentiments.

Stephenizgod10/6/2016, 9:39:47 PM1 votes

Your point?