For as long as I can remember, I have always seen news stories involving professional athletes and their “violent” behavior.

Most professional athletes play sports that tend to be aggressively oriented, but that doesn’t mean that all athletes are violent natured.

When I was in high school, I had a lot of friends who were heavily involved in  competitive sports. They were rowdy teenagers, yes, but they weren’t bullies. Most of the time they were nice guys who were fun to be around.

Currently, there are several NFL stars that are in the news because they face criminal charges of domestic violence. Ray Rice, three time Pro-Bowl running back for the Baltimore Ravens, is receiving the most heat for abusing his wife. Surveillance cameras caught footage of Rice punching his then fiancée in the face, knocking her out cold.

Yes, this seems to contradict my main point, but I brought this up to prove that Rice’s actions are his own.

Stereotyping athletes as mean and aggressive is inconsiderate to those who are actually great people.

My sister went to high school with Danny “DJ” Ware. Ware was a running back for UGA before being drafted into the NFL. He is known for his career with the New York Giants, which began in 2007 and ended in 2011.

While with the Giants, Ware and his team won two Super Bowls and the NFC Championship in 2007 and in 2011.

I met Ware when my sister started cheering and he was on the football team.

I can honestly say that I have never witnessed him being rude or disrespectful in any way.

It’s behavior like this that is ignored by the media and the NFL fan base.

As a society, we tend to only look for the bad in people. That’s just how we have been socialized. It’s not fair to stereotype the athletic community based on the wrongdoings of certain athletes.