i think you all have hit on some of the points that i should have articulated better in my original post. unfortunately, there really isn't anything in the literature on this topic that i've been able to find, which is why i posted this here. i figured it would be interesting to generate a discussion on this to see people's thoughts.
basically, the theory is born from some personal experience but admittedly more from observations from afar. it seems to me that we constantly see stories written about pro athletes who commit heinous crimes (michael vick anyone?) of course there's going to be a bias in the media to report these types of stories. on the other hand, it seems that a number of pro athletes (particularly football players) are caught breaking the law over and over again. odell thurman, for example, is a former nfl player who was arrested multiple times for drug and substance abuse. he was suspended by the nfl for an entire season. just when it looked like he would be reinstated by the nfl to play in the 2007 season, he was arrested for assault. after sitting out the entire 2007 season, he hoped to be reinstated for the upcoming season. unfortunately, he failed another drug test and was subsequently suspended for the 2008 season. he was also recently arrested for assaulting another individual. this is just one example. these types of things seem to happen fairly frequently (though not to this degree). look at pacman jones, chris henry, etc, etc.
my thinking is that the nfl is such a violent game, antisocial traits, to a degree, are necessary to survive and succeed. it promotes a "kill or be killed" mentality. this is further compounded by the fact that so many of these athletes are coddled at a young age due to their elite athletic status. i think a lot of these things are probably overlooked by high school and college coaches who are just looking for onfield performance and wins. did odell thurman (or any of these folks) really just start having these types of problems when they made it to the nfl? i highly doubt it. i'm sure there have been many incidents swept under the rug along the way.
this is not to mention that i'm sure (based on my own experiences playing football even at the high school level) that cheating is condoned by coaches (authority figures) as long as it's not caught. for example, i've been taught blocking "techniques" that involve discreetly holding the opposing player in such a way that it's hard for the referees to tell. this was never considered cheating, but instead a good tactic to help give me an advantage. i think this level of cheating occurs even at the highest levels. look at the patriots and spygate last season. while there was a large backlash against them (mainly from jealous fans of other teams who resented that such a great team would so blatantly cheat) there was also a strong sentiment voiced basically saying "look, their problem wasn't that they cheated, it was that they got caught. all teams do this to some degree." in the end, i think that football (and probably all sports) endorse a win at all costs mentality. this has the effect of inconsistent discipline and the idea that it's ok to break rules as long as it benefits you, which i think contribute to promoting and uncovering antisocial traits.
i certainly don't think that the majority of football players (or athletes in general) have antisocial traits. but, like with all personality disorders, which are simply a manifestation of traits at an extreme end of a spectrum, i think that more athletes (football players in particular) have that cluster of traits that places them at the extreme end (as compared to age/gender/race matched cohort). there are a number of risk factors (head trauma, inconsistent discipline) that i think are in play not to mention that i think antisocial traits provide a selective advantage for succeeding at the highest levels of sports.
(by the way, sorry if any of this doesn't make sense... i'm post call).
