Players Personal Conduct needs to be Addressed

For the first time since January, I can sit around and not have to worry about going to class and doing homework. I've just had a couple of days of rest and relaxation since finishing up I-Core, and I have to say it has been much appreciated. I've caught up on some television shows, I have almost finished "The West Wing", well worth your time if someone is looking to start a new Netflix series, and have gotten to sleep in which is always a beautiful thing. Having this time to go home and relax is definitely coming at the right time. The biggest thing I am looking forward to for the next two and a half weeks is my final trip to Turner Field which should be fun, and then getting to see a bunch of friends that I haven't seen in awhile. It is also nice to be home for a short period of time, even if my bed is turned into a desk and my bedroom into a conference room/office.

With the MLB Non-Waiver Trade Deadline coming to a close at 4 PM today, teams around the league are posturing themselves to make a late season push and then a deep run into October in hopes of being crowned World Series Champions. One of the big names on the trading block was Closer Aroldis Chapman. Chapman, owner of the fastest pitch in an MLB game, was supposed to be part of the greatest bullpen ever in New York for the Yankees when they traded for him during the offseason. Fast forward to last week when the Yankees traded the Cuban pitcher to the Chicago Cubs for a treasure trove of players, headlined by Shortstop Gleyber Torres. But even with the fanfare of being traded to the World Series favorites, fans and analysts alike have found themselves caught in a moral conundrum of whether or not they should be rooting for Chapman. During the offseason, Chapman was involved in a domestic dispute, although no charges were ever filed. Chapman was the first player suspended by Major League Baseball under their new Domestic Violence Policy, missing the first 30 games of the season. Domestic Violence in our society is a massive problem, and it is not just limited to star athletes and celebrities.

Courtesy: New York Daily News

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, there is an average of 20 people per minute that are abused by an intimate partner, totaling 10 million people every year. Domestic Violence doesn't have a face, and in many cases most of us do not see it happen to our friends and families, but it happens. I am among those that didn't truly grasp the gravity of Domestic Violence until the Ray Rice Case of a couple of years ago, and even then, I needed video evidence to understand what actually occurred that night in Atlantic City. But Rice, just like Chapman, have paid their price, and must live with their actions for the rest of their lives. We as fans, do not have the right to stand on the moral high ground and pick and choose what episodes of violence we believe deserve our attention. Ben Roethlisberger is a perfect example of how our society will accept and move on if it satisfies our whimsies. Roethlisberger has twice been accused of sexual assault, but has never been convicted of a crime. Eventually NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the Steelers Quarterback for 6 games for violating the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy. Roethlisberger served his suspension, moved on, and by all accounts has not had any issues since the suspension. During football season I never hear fans or analysts talk about these episodes, so why do we continually penalize Rice, question the acquisition of Chapman, but seem to forget about Roethlisberger's transgressions? It just goes to show that there seems to be a double standard in certain cases, and I am not sure why it happens and where the delineation takes place.

A person has to be responsible for his or her actions. Blaming others for what you do is not sufficient, and accepting ownership of your mistakes is of paramount importance for those that look to move on from troubling incidents. But in the case of athletes, the spotlight and the scrutiny that they live with is incredible, and in many cases when incidents occur, whether it be Domestic Violence, fighting in a bar or club, or simply driving under the influence the biggest problem is that I think leagues, players associations, and agents are too reactionary rather than proactive. In Business Operations, a man named W. Edwards Deming moved to Japan post-WWII to help rebuild the nation. One of Deming's biggest principles is that inspection does not result in improved quality, and the best way to improve the quality of a product is to invest in better training early in the process. Currently, I think that in most situations we are relying on inspecting each player after the fact, or every once and awhile during the season, and believe that this way we are avoiding truly helping these players become better people as they undergo their transition from college into the real world. While all of the player associations have rookie symposiums and try to help players start off on the right path, I don't know if they are doing enough. Athletes still find themselves in compromising positions that reflect poorly upon themselves, their teams, and their leagues.

But the focus just shouldn't been on player associations. Teams and leagues need to start increasing the amount of money that is spent on training players on how to properly represent themselves when they are outside of the locker room. Granted you will never be able to get a 100% success rate, but the teams and leagues need to realize that when a player makes a bad decision, it reflects poorly on the team and league as well. Everyone needs to be held accountable, and investing more time, money, and energy will allow for executives around each respective league sleep a little easier at night knowing that they have done everything they could to help players. Once again, I am not excusing the actions of these players, they are still definitely responsible for their actions on and off of the field, but I believe that a stronger and more coordinated effort at training these players will help avoid troubling incidents, arrests, suspensions, and result in more peace of mind.


Duncan Hensley
Indiana University
Kelley School of Business '18