I think you all make great points, and I’d like to throw in what I thing is a great point too.
Although those kinds of flare-ups have gone on forever, its really only been in the last 40 years or so that the media has been willing to report any kind of transgression any celebrity might make. So, while it is being reported more often now, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening before.
However, I honestly think that a lot of what we’re seeing, is because there’s such a low level of team loyalty to players, an equally low level of player loyalty to teams, and an equally low level of loyalty of teams and players to the fans, with a corresponding low level of fan loyalty to the teams and players.
Everyone wants what they want, and to HE double hockeysticks with what anyone else wants. The number of zeroes on the bank statements have made the entire world of sports much more important than it should be, and it should only be expected that people who are worshiped enough by the fans to cause them to part with their money, will feel as though they can say and do anything they like, whenever they like, to whomever they like.