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Pro Sports Face Ethical Quandaries

MEDIA NEWS SOURCE: Nicholas Dixon, Sports Ethics

Nicholas Dixon, professor of philosophy at Alma College and former president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport, is available to respond to media questions regarding ethical quandaries in sports.

America’s top three professional sports — football, basketball and baseball — are each operating under ethical clouds:

• In the National Football League, Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick has been indicted for suspected involvement in a dog-fighting ring.

• National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy has been indicted for betting on games in which he officiated.

• Major League Baseball is puzzling over how to observe the upcoming breaking of Hank Aaron’s home run record by Barry Bonds, who is entangled in an investigation over steroid use.

Professor Dixon can comment on these and other ethical dilemmas in professional sports. He is a former editor of the international Journal of the Philosophy of Sport and former president of the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport.

“Millionaire athletes often are surrounded by ‘yes men’ who tell them that everything they do is okay,” says Dixon. “ It’s hard for some of these professional athletes to understand that laws and ethical restraint also apply to them.

“To be fair, it’s still a small number of athletes statistically who cross ethical and moral lines. But they are famous and in the public’s eye,” he says.

Dixon has shared views on sportsmanship and sports ethics at sports-related national and international forums. Typical moral issues in which Dixon can comment include the nature of competition, the role of sport in education, sportsmanship, performance-enhancing drugs, violence in sport, morality of dangerous sports, hunting and gun control, and gender equity. In addition to the philosophy of sport, he specializes in applied ethics, social philosophy, virtue ethics, philosophy of law and medical ethics. 

To contact Dixon, call the Alma College Public Relations Office at (989) 463-7327 or email Mike Silverthorn at silverthorn@alma.edu.

 -mjs-

 

 

The memory and spiritual ideals of the late Bishop Thomas Makarios remain alive in a figurative sculpture that was dedicated in May 2009 near the center of campus. The Bishop, professor of religious studies at Alma for 25 years, was founder of the American Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Church of India and the first Metropolitan Bishop of Canada, United Kingdom and Europe, and South Africa.

 

Student Profile

Gabby Abrego

Gabby Abrego
Graduation: 2010
Major: POE Cultural Anthropology and Anthropological Linguistics
From: Rochester Hills, Michigan
Interests: Dance, Motown Music, Anthropological Languages

Alma offers many opportunities for students to explore wide-ranging interests. Gabby pursues her lifelong passion for dance as a member of the Alma College Dance Company and the College’s dance honorary society. She has designed a Program of Emphasis around her interests in anthropology.