WHY DOES HAZING STILL EXIST?

The sad truth is, the act of hazing has become a very sad American tradition. And the question has to be asked: why in the world can’t we as sports parents, educators, administrators, and coaches can’t seem to put an end to this God-awful problem?

To be honest, I can’t even recall how many times on this show over the years we have talked about the devastating impact of hazing and how our kids can’t seem to break the cycle – even though we remind them over and over again that hazing is a serious and at times, fatal, rite of passage that is not only totally unnecessary but routinely cruel and psychologically devastating to the victim.

In short….hazing ruins lives…it deliberately injures people….it sometimes kills innocent young people who made the mistake of trusting one’s peers. There is no meaningful or rational explanation for hazing to still exist, and yet it continues to happen everywhere in this country.

In short, the time has finally come to say, enough is enough.

There’s a new documentary called HAZING that really cuts right to the issue. It’s written and produced by Byron Hurt, an award-winning documentary film maker, who is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University. HAZING is currently airing on PBS, and trust me, it’s powerful. Just go to PBS.org online and find the documentary there.

I heard about the docimentary from my long-time colleague and attorney Steve Kallas, and knowing how moved he was about the film, I asked him to come on my show to talk about this perplexing topic. Many of the case studies focus on hazing in fraternities and sororities, but as Steve points out, hazing is of course commonplace on HS teams and college teams as well.

The bottom line is that this documentary on hazing will make you pay attention…it will make you cry….and it will make you downright angry. I walked away from this movie thinking, ”Wow – if only every kid in America could see this film, they would definitely think twice about hazing a teammate, or a friend.” In fact, it really should be mandatory viewing in every school district in America. Listen to The Sports Edge here: The Sports Edge with Rick Wolff