Let’s also set aside the popular defense of this national obsession, which is that throwing or catching or kicking a ball in front of shouting adults “builds character.” Data from the Josephson Institute, which regularly surveys high school students, reveals that athletes—by their own admission—are more likely than non-athletes to cheat on tests, while substantial numbers approve not only of cheating in games, but injuring opponents. 

These views are far greater among big-money sport hopefuls—basketball and football players—majorities of whom admit to bullying classmates. 

That’s not to say that sports can’t build character, just that the data indicate character is better among children who stay away from big-money sports. If character building is really what parents are after, we’re more likely to instill it by helping our children start a landscaping business, or a charity that assists the disabled, or any number of labors that are both more humbling and more valuable than waging artificial wars on meticulously maintained playgrounds. 

. . . The millions of parents dragging their families from one sporting event to another aren’t doing it for character building.

Tony Woodlief, "Renouncing the Gridiron"

This is the game I've spent 36 years glamorizing. These are the men I've spent five decades lionizing. And it turns out I was part of the problem. Howard Cosell stopped covering boxing when his conscience wouldn't allow it, and yet I go on. I'm addicted. 

 In Caesar's day, they filled the 50,000-seat Roman Coliseum to watch gladiators compete. These gladiators trained at special schools. They knew the risk. The glory and the money was worth it to them. If the gladiators weren't dead at the end of the fight, the emperor looked to the crowd to help him decide: Had the losing fighter fought hard enough to please the people? If he hadn't, the emperor would give a thumbs down, and the victor would immediately stick his sword into the neck of his opponent. 

 We are all still in that Coliseum. We are still being entertained by men willfully destroying each other. It's just that now, the sword comes later.

--Rick Reilly, "Football Getting Harder to Watch"