The 27-year-old Milwaukee Brewer was arrested on April 16th for driving under the influence; his blood alcohol level was three times higher than the legal limit in Wisconsin.
On April 14th, the University of Kansas senior tight end Nick Sizemore was arrested for DUI and fleeing the scene of an accident. On April 12th, Rakeem Brookins, a guard for Siena College was charged with second-degree burglary and fourth-degree grand larceny. On the same day, the University of Kansas pitcher Thomas Altimont was arrested for kidnapping and third-degree battery.
College athletes Willie Scott, Shaun White, and Brandi Henton were amongst the twelve athletes arrested in April. The frequent arrests of athletes could possibly stem from a universal underlying cause.
The 2012 arrest of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson sparked the attention of Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton. Dayton believes that NFL players get arrested because of their mindset and their dedication to football. He compared their approach to their jobs to soldiers armed and ready for war.
“Idle time is the devil’s play,” said Dayton in reference to the NFL’s off season. “They’re [NFL players] heavily armored, heavily psyched to do what they have to do and go out there. It’s, basically, slightly civilized war. Then they take that into society. Much as soldiers come back, they’ve been in combat or the edge of it and suddenly that adjustment back to civilian life is a real challenge. And that’s part of the reality.”
Dayton believes that NFL players don’t know how to leave their aggression and war mentality on the field and are forced to approach the world believing that they are a football solider at war. Dayton’s explanation is a bit dramatic and doesn’t take into account other sports where the solider like mentality is embodied.
Basketball is an emotionally and physically aggressive sport, where the solider mentality is present. Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant was fined $25,000 for making a menacing gesture during the April 11th game against the Golden State Warriors.
Durant responded to his throat-slashing gesture by saying, “’Kill ‘em and pray for ‘em after the game. It’s nothing against the team I’m playing against. Come out with a mindset and be friends after the game.”
The mindset that Durant speaks of can easily be interpreted as one of a soldier. Durant’s statement highlights another aspect of the civilized warrior that Dayton failed to mention. NFL players are at war once a week and they spend more time amongst their families and other civilians than they spend on the field. NBA players spend more time at war, but like Durant said, they know that the enemy only exists on the basketball court, not in all aspects of life. Therefore, the NFL player’s war-like mentality isn’t a valid reason for their destructive behavior off the field.
What is the cause of 34 athletes arrested in March and 12 athletes arrested in April? What about the 459 athletes arrested in 2012? Or the 526 arrested in 2011? The arrests of hundreds of professional and college athletes each year could be caused by numerous factors; factors we neglect to consider.
Our perception of athletes plays a part in their behavior. When we hold them to higher standards we leave little room for error, making them ticking time bombs of perceived perfection ready to explode and reveal their imperfections. And when they show us their true colors we’re alarmed and overwhelmed, but we shouldn’t be.
There isn’t one reason why professional and college athletes should break the law, and if we treat them like the flawed individuals that they are- their negative behaviors would be expected and our perceptions of them wouldn’t be affected, giving them less reasons to misbehave.
