“José and Anderson square off. They’re fighting. They’re swinging. Down goes Anderson. Down goes Anderson!” is the call that the Cleveland Guardians announcer, Tom Hamilton, makes on August 5, 2023. The reaction from this announcer and fans’ responses on social media show us what they care about: violence. 

Although fighting is not common in the MLB, it is common among other sports. The NHL has had 97 fights (before December 3rd) which is a fight every 4 games. Expanding that over a full 82 game schedule, that number increases to 345, 11 more fights than the previous 2 seasons. The NBA doesn’t run into many fights, but more physical altercations and verbal arguments that don’t usually proceed to the next level. The NFL this past season had 415 infractions of violent plays on the field. 

These statistics don’t explain why players get into fights; the numbers do show us how often violence happens and to what extent. 

Now when we begin to think about violence, our first thought goes towards arguments and physicality. Each athlete has their preferences when it comes to what bothers them. Some players take things personally, and some think that a push or a shove is “just a part of the game.” But there are some rules that athletes should never break at any time. An unwritten rule is one that does not exist officially, but which people generally accept and obey, according to Cambridge Dictionary.  The unwritten rules of the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB, standout in the amount of fights caused. 

In the NFL, you don’t push, tackle, or touch the quarterback after the play. The quarterback is the leader of the team, so when you give them an unnecessary shove, expect five 300+ pound guys to come your way. A player shouldn’t tackle a player who isn’t involved with the play. When somebody is just running to stay involved, they are no threat to you, so don’t touch them. Don’t hit a player as they are getting themselves up. When a player is running out of bounds to “give themselves up,” there is no reason to push them because the play is over. While the NFL is distinguished for its physicality, the MLB offers a subtle yet equally yet fierce form of aggression. 

The MLB is not similar to the amount of physicality in the NFL, but the violence in the MLB is shown through pitchers throwing 100 mile per hour balls towards a batter. Although they aren’t intending to hit the batter, sometimes they really are. Being hit by a pitch in the MLB is quite common, it’s not hard to provoke a player by taunting or talking trash. These batters getting hit by a pitch escalate the situation right away leading to fights and arguments.  Teams are also not afraid to call out teams/players who cheat. The Astros Sign-Stealing Scandal of 2017 changed the way teams respond to cheating. Most of the players did not receive consequences so when the Astros come to town, expect boos, violence, and arguments between teams. From retaliatory pitches and cheating scandals in the MLB, the importance of maintaining the integrity of professional sports is crucial. Integrity is a principle that is mirrored in the NBA to defend their teams honor and integrity of the game. 

The NBA endorses its standards by making sure players adhere to the unwritten rules. Such as not scoring when a team holds a large lead with little to no time remaining. When a team is down by 20 points with 10 seconds left, there is no reason that somebody should be doing a windmill dunk. Players view this as directly breaking the rules of the game and they take this offense personally. Draymond Green is notoriously known for his violent plays and suspensions he has faced throughout his career. He has been suspended 4 times from the NBA and his own team for getting involved in fights. This accounts for over $1.5 millions in fines and doesn’t look like he will be stopping anytime soon. Altercations and confrontations between players are not uncommon, but it lacks in comparison to the physicality of the NHL. 

The NHL’s reputation for physicality has not been unnoticed and it underscores its status as the most violent sports leagues. The league has had the worst fights in the recent sports era. Players are constantly losing teeth, getting concussions, and breaking their jaws. All for what? Just because the sport has been violent in the past, doesn’t mean that they need to continue to be violent on a daily basis. There should never be a player getting into a fight minutes into his debut. Matt Rempe got into 3 fights within his first 5 games of his whole career. He faced more penalty minutes than he did playing time to start his career. You can only protect your teammates to an extent, but it’s not worth ruining your career over. 

If you keep up to dates with sports and follow pages like ESPN and Bleacher Report, you’ll see daily fights of players who just drop their gloves and start fighting. The commentators have no choice but to commentate over the fights. But the commentators could condemn these fights, but they choose not to. Violence in sports can be stopped by adding in more rules or referees to prevent fights or altercations from even happening. But it should be up to the commissioners to have more mandatory programs for players to condone violence. 

Will this really solve the problem? It’s anyone’s guess.