Caught Up In A Haze

An interesting article in the Albuquerque Journal North explains the growing prevalence of sexual hazing in high school sports.  According to the article, 45 sexual hazing incidents occur per year, with an estimated 50 percent of all hazing incidents on high school and college campuses involving sodomy.

Hazing in sports has been happening since football players wore leather helmets with no face mask.  However, the growing brutality of these initiations now has parents increasingly concerned about their child's physical and emotional safety playing team sports.  A couple of nights ago, I watched local media coverage of the Las Vegas Robertson team preparing for a game without its coach and 6 players that were suspended from the team for allegedly hazing and sodomizing teammates.  What immediately struck me was the dismissive attitude of parents interviewed saying things like; "I think our team is ready for the game and we are getting past this incident."  My first thought was "what about the victims and their families?    What are the long term implications for them?" 

I also had to ask myself; "what if the perpetrator(s) were gang affiliated?"  The uproar would be out of control!  An initiation into a gang seems like a walk in the park compared to this.  Don't get me wrong, I don't condone violence in any of its manifestations.  However, our society tends to put athletes on a pedestal making them heroic figures in the community.  I don't want to cast a shadow of negativity over our athletes--or those involved in gangs for that matter.  What I am saying is a crime is a crime--period--and should be treated as such.