Is The Lack Of Inspiration In Our Lives Drawing Us To Hockey Violence?

This headline “Sports violence is within us all” from the Saturday April 21st, 2012 Globe and Mail by JOHN ALLEMANG caught my eye and caused me to write the above title and copy paste the following excerpts from the article.

“I really think sports violence has become an antidote to the boredom of work and the dullness of reality,” he says. “It’s not so much violence itself that’s attractive but violence as a larger-than-life physical, emotional and psychological experience. Big hits aren’t just about the simple physical act of damaging another person. There’s also the unfettered emotional release of things that have to be tightly controlled and contained in civilian life.”

Michael Oriard, a former offensive lineman with the Kansas City Chiefs and a historian at Oregon State University.

But a certain anti-social aggression is also part of the job description – if you can’t turn hostile on demand, you’re unlikely to get far in professional contact sports.

As an anger-management counsellor, Abrams has to persuade hard-nosed coaches that he’s not about to make their players soft. Instead he promises to increase the strength of athletes just by channelling their rage and raising the adrenalin level, an element that is recognized as a crucial motivator in professional sports where cool and rational calculation might persuade players to back away from violence.

But the easy availability of violent emotions is double-edged.

Some athletes get a physical boost from a system that motivates violence, but more cerebral players could find their skills compromised.

“We know very high levels of anger interfere with motor co-ordination, decision-making and problem-solving,” Abrams says. “The people who are most effective are the ones who can amp themselves up so anger fuels them when they need it. And they know when to turn it off so it doesn’t go over the top.”

Mitch Abrams is a New Jersey psychologist who counsels athletes on anger management.