Another Super Bowl, another look into the ugly side of sports taking shelter behind the scenes and away from the public eye. Like in years and cities prior, sex trafficking is expected to be an issue in Glendale as this Sunday’s 49th’s big game approaches.

Last year, when the game adopted an unusually northern home in the New Jersey Meadowlands, the issue came into a particularly bright spotlight. The massive population of the New York City area, coupled with a huge influx of people for the Super Bowl (not just those attending the game, but many who enjoy activities in the area leading up to it), meant attempts at sex trafficking would be prevalent. Fortunately, state and local efforts in New York and New Jersey went into overdrive to catch the crime, including the arrests of members of a drug and prostitution ring.

If ever there was a year the NFL needs support to prevent human sex trafficking around the Super Bowl, this is it. It has been a trying year for the league, from the Ray Rice domestic abuse incident (and other players similarly called into question), to the Patriots’ “Deflategate” rumor, professional football is fighting an uphill PR battle.

There are many ancillary issues bogging down the game. Instead of focusing on athletes and their accomplishments, on hometown teams and their contributions to their cities, this year’s NFL news has been nothing if not troubling. It begs the debate: How do we respond? One one hand, we can’t let blind support of the game pave over these very real, and very important, issues. Sports ethics, domestic violence, and modern human slavery are called to the forefront because of the league, even if not for the right reasons. The opportunity for growth and betterment should not be ignored in the quest for championships.

On the other hand, it would also be wrong to let the ugliness of these issues overshadow the beauty of the game. In fact, statistics gathered in late October show that they aren’t. The NFL’s horrible press this year has done nothing to curb fans’ enthusiasm, as viewership and TV ratings are strong as ever. “It isn’t domestic violence that is being broadcast on Sundays,” said Amanda Lotz, associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. “It is difficult…to override what might be a lifetime of fan behavior and one often linked closely to identity of place and family.”

What does this say of our identity?

I’ve struggled with this issue surrounding football. Not only does my viewership enable the egregious salaries of players with questionable moral standards, misguided ideas of sportsmanship, and obvious ethical lapses, but it also implies my complicity with a sport that may threaten the physical and mental health of its players. I sometimes envy the Minnesota Vikings fan who went cold turkey, divorcing himself from a troubled relationship with the team and game he supported for so long.

This post isn’t really about the NFL, though. It’s about fans’ relationship with all sports and the issues surrounding them that keep our focus from the game itself. Teaching athletes, especially young athletes, that name-calling, trash-talking, cheating, and mistreating others is wrong has its place, but this type of education is reactive. It is the kind of response that interrupts play, diverts attention temporarily towards an issue, offers a solution or suggested reaction, and then returns us to the game. The cycle will repeat, in any sport or in any context, for every situation in which people are wronged or hurt.

Instead, a values-based education equips athletes with the tools necessary to make informed decisions about their actions and interactions at every turn. At the Institute, our pillars exhibit was designed with this goal in mind. The first pillar, Respect, calls to mind our belief that “we are all made in the image and likeness of God. When we serve one another, we serve the God who created each of us.” What if our call to action for athletes was not just to refrain from hitting women or manipulating circumstances but rather, on the field and off, to treat one another – our allies and opponents alike – as brothers and sisters? In simplest terms this is the “golden rule,” but it bears repeating that teaching respect for self and others is not circumstantial education. It is a mindset that transcends scenarios.

In the same way, our Beauty pillar reminds us that an acute awareness to the beauty in ourselves, others, and the world forces us out of ourselves and urges us to do good and act respectfully towards others. It would be amazing if players marveled at each other’s accomplishments instead of criticizing their shortcomings and blindly asserting their dominance. This is what the Institute strives to teach student-athletes.

In focusing on values in sports over situations, we teach athletes (and ourselves!) that any demeaning attitude towards others is disrespectful. For example, we can’t undo Ray Rice’s domestic abuse incident, but we can collectively acknowledge that he alone isn’t the issue. In fact, domestic violence isn’t ultimately the issue. Rather, respect is the issue. When athletes respect themselves and others, valuing each individual’s dignity, they can adopt a mindset of competitors who bring out the best in each other. This means athletes need to value and respect their teammates and opponents, and all their peers, seeing value and beauty in their gifts and their ability to play. Of course, this doesn’t apply only in the context of athletics. Many of the character issues plaguing the NFL occur in players’ personal lives, proving that an attitude of respect can’t be be bounded by a field or court. As athletes should bring out the best in each other through competition, respect compels all people to focus on the good in others and, as always possible, hold ourselves and peers to a higher standard.