Drugs and abuse charges, what do these have in common? Unfortunately, today athletes in major league sports have been making headlines in sports for all the wrong reasons. In the last three months, there have been multiple notable athletes facing charges against the law, and causing negative headlines across the sports world. From Ray Rice abusing his wife, to Luis Suarez third case of biting opponents, the question has been raised again and again by sports analysts if professional leagues bans are not strict enough. Many athletes have been banned in the recent months from their respective leagues, however negative headlines continue to appear constantly.

The main headline recently is Ray Rice’s case of domestic abuse on his wife. Running back Ray Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL in early september, on the same day a  video was released showing the NFL star knocking out his future wife with a punch in February. The NFL players’ union appealed Rice’s suspension, because originally he was suspended for two games. After the video was surfaced, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, stood by his indefinite decision despite union appeal. Ray Rice isn’t the first NFL player to be charged with domestic abuse. Running back Jonathan Dwyer of the Arizona Cardinals was suspended from all team activities after he was charged with abuse charges on September 17th of this year.

The Baltimore Orioles were dealt a major blow is september involving their star first baseman. Orioles star Chris Davis was banned for 25 games for the use of Adderall. Davis was banned for the last 17 games of the regular season, and is ineligible for 8 postseason matchups. Despite Davis’s absence, the Orioles swept the Detroit Tigers in three games, however they ran into the Kansas City Royals. The O’s couldn’t get their offense started and were swept in four games. Davis was left off the the ALCS roster. Junior Jacob Lanus said he expected the Orioles to struggle later in the playoffs without their star first baseman.

“Chris Davis has contributed so much to the Orioles offense over the last couple of years, and without Davis I don’t think they ever had a legitimate shot to win the World Series,” Lanus said.

FC Barcelona and Uruguay star soccer player, Luis Suarez, was involved in a biting incident in the group stages of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In a match against Italy, Suarez bit an Italian defender late in the match, and was later banned for the remained of the World Cup. Suarez later in the summer faced a hearing with FIFA, and was banned for four months of all club and national team action. This isn’t Luis Suarez’s first offense, in fact he has quite a record. In 2010, Suarez was given a seven match ban after biting a player in  Dutch league match while playing for AJAX. In 2011, Suarez transferred to Liverpool FC and faced two major cases in his three year spell with the english club. In 2011, Suarez received an eight match ban for verbally abusing Patrice Evra of Manchester United. In 2013, Suarez received a ten match ban for biting Chelsea’s Ivanovic. Suarez is eligible to appear for the first time for Barcelona when they take on Real Madrid in the El Clasico on October 26th.

Junior Tino Bosnjak feels FIFA went easy on Suarez following his third biting offense.

“I think Suarez is lucky to only have banned for four months. Biting is a serious and disturbing offense, and he should have been given a ban for years. I think Suarez is lucky to have not been given a lifetime ban by FIFA,” said Bosnjak.

Florida State star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, Jameis Winston, has been in and out of trouble with the law since arriving in Tallahassee as a freshman. Last season, redshirt  freshman, Winston, lead the Seminoles to a 14-0 record and a victory in the National Championship game vs. Auburn, also becoming only the second freshman to win the Heisman award. However Winston has faced several charges in the last two years. He has been involved in a BB gun fight, stealing from burger king, and stealing crab legs from a Publix store. Most notably, Winston was involved in a sexual assault case, later being declared as innocent and all charges were dropped. Most recently, Jameis Winston was reported saying inappropriate comments in the Florida State student union. The punishment was only a suspension for the first half of a game vs. Clemson. In the recent weeks, Winston has been suspected for selling autographs, and the sexual assault case from 2012 is being reviewed yet again. Critics around the sports world think that Winston doesn’t know how to grow up, because he hasn’t faced strict enough punishments. ESPN college football analysts believe that this will heavily affect his draft status for the NFL. However, junior Carter Sawyer thinks that Jameis Winston will still maintain a high draft pick.

“Despite all of the negative publicity, I believe that Jameis will still be a high pick in the draft when he goes to the NFL. This is because Cam Newton also had charges against the law, however he was still a high pick because of his performances,” Sawyer said.

Minnesota Vikings running back, Adrian Peterson, is yet again facing charges of child abuse. Previously, Peterson was faced with abuse against his son, however the decision was that he wasn’t guilty for abuse on his son. In september, Peterson turned himself into Montgomery authorities, even though a few days later he claimed he was only “disciplining” his child. The Viking reversed their original decision, and suspended him. Peterson is now not even considering pleading guilty to the child abuse charges to make a return in late 2014 or early 2015 to Minnesota. Peterson’s was also involved in a report that he was using money from his charity to fund prostitutes in a hotel room. He will also plead not guilty to these charges. Adrian Peterson’s latest  scandal is that he has admitted to smoking weed. Now the question being asked around the sports world is if Peterson will get his first lengthy ban from the NFL, and if he will face severe punishments from the law.

Despite all of the negative headlines recently, sports columns like Bleacher Report still believe that there are many influential figures in sport today. Bleacher Report published an article ranking the top 25 most influential sports athletes today. Among the top of the ranks were athletes like; Kobe Bryant,Landon Donovan, Peyton Manning, and Derek Jeter. At the end of the MLB regular season, Jeter retired from his 19-year career. In his last game at Yankee Stadium, Jeter had a walk off hit vs. the Orioles. Tributes were paid around the sports world to Jeter’s remarkable career, including Yankees rival, the Boston Red Sox. Long time Yankees general manager, George Steinbrenner, believed that there are still sports athletes with great stature around them, and his example was Jeter.

“For those who say today’s game can’t produce legendary players, I have two words: Derek Jeter,” said Steinbrenner.

In the new era of sports, the media has created a strong negative image of sports figures, despite the few exceptions of athletes like Jeter and Manning. Headlines online and in newspapers today are very negative, and leagues in major league sports need to make stricter punishments for athlete’s actions. Sophomore Mac Biever is one who believes role models are fading in sports today.

“The overall trend in the modern age of sports is role models are fading. There are still many great figures in sports today, however money has taken over and created negative headlines,” said Biever.