Are athletes overpaid??
No.
Sure, getting paid $10M a year to play basketball hardly seems fair. I mean, after all, it isn’t as important as being a teacher, doctor, police officer, fireman, etc. But, to let you in on a little secret…..this is a free enterprise system we live in. Meaning, you are worth what people are willing to pay you. If someone was willing to give you a 7-year $130M contract to do what you are currently doing right now….would you take it?? Thought so.
In the sports world….it is all about money. Big money. And it is there. So why shouldn’t the players, who are the reasons people watch pro sports, get their share of that pie?? Should the team owners just pocket it and live even more lavishly. Like Chris Rock said….Shaq is rich, it is the guy who signs his check that is wealthy.
You can say that the rise in ticket prices are the reason the money is there. Well, yeah. And as long as people are buying those tickets….the prices will continue to rise. Again, in this free enterprise system…that is “supply and demand”. If you don’t like it….don’t go to the games. Don‘t buy merchandise. Then they won’t get your precious money. And if you get millions of other people to band along with you…..then maybe you’ll make a dent. We are the ones who spend $40 per ticket to go to a sporting event. Imagine if we paid $40 to ride in a cop car for 3 hours. Or if we paid $40 to sit in on a 7th grade Algebra class. Imagine the kind of money they’d be making if we all started doing that!! That won’t happen….because we rather pay that money to watch Kobe hit jumpers than Mrs. Ross teach the times tables.
And, if you dare bring up this argument….then go after all forms of entertainment. Does Tom Cruise deserve to make $25M per film?? I mean, for the most part, that isn’t as physically demanding as an athlete. And if Cruise screws up….he gets another take. If Barry Bonds strikes out, he doesn’t get a mulligan. But, yeah, pay the man his money. In theory….the guy in the “Don’t Drink And Drive” educational video should be the one making the $25M. After all, he’s the one trying to help save our lives. But we pay the $9 to go see Jim Carrey movies….or the $20 to buy the DVD. We pay the $15 for Brittany Spears’ CD so she can go marry who some dude in some alley in Vegas. “InThe Zone” can’t be noted as being one of mankind’s saviors either…but millions of preteens pay $50 a pop to watch her lip-sync live. You’ll go buy a “Friends” coffee mug for $20.…but won’t answer the phone when they are calling for donations to the policeman’s ball.
And after all of that….look at yourself. What do you do and what do you make? I’d be willing to be that your job isn’t as important as helping at a battered woman’s shelter or working at a nursing home. I’d also be willing to bet you make just as good, if not better, money than they do.
So…yes. When you buy that new Terrell Owens Philadelphia Eagle jersey….you pretty much just contributing to the “Owens’ 4th Escalade fund”. If that makes you feel bent…then go to the fire station and donate that money to them.
4 comments:
If I could sign a 3 year, $10 million deal to teach my classes, the world would seem a little bit more just. Of course, no one would PAY to see me teach, which would lessen the likelihood of me getting such an offer in the first place. Maybe if I teach nude...
I don't get too upset about the amount of cash athletes make. Some of them spend it all anyway. Mike Tyson certainly wishes he had as much money as some of our teachers, police officers, lawyers, firemen, etc. The only thing that bothers me is so many other jobs are far more important, and tougher to perform. For example, the people in our military get paid almost nothing, despite the fact they risk their lives over in Iraq.
I believe that athletes are overpaid. Also I believe that all entertainers are overpaid. It is ashame that someone who fights for my freedom doesn't even get 1% of Shaq's one game salary. I understand that this is a free enterprise system. However, I am just so tired of seeing these athletes getting paid for something that doesn't really save anyone's life. Wow they go out each year and play for a trophy. What the heck it that. Honestly who really cares about a trophy. I know who cares about a trophy and who cares about seeing their team win that trophy, they are people who worship these athletes like god's. Take for example how Shaq was recieved in Miami yesterday. I don't know how people can go around and treat sports players or movie people like they are the second coming of God. Also Shaq is speaking and then he spells a would period. However, he spells it perurd. What ashame that he can't even spell a word. Most of these athletes can't even spell their own name.
What I am trying to say is that we have a lot more concerns about how we can use this money instead of paying these people millions of dollars for just playing a game. Like I said someone who protects my freedom is worth more then a athlete. Also a Doctor who finds a cure for a disease should have more people notice him then a person who can put a ball in a hoop.
Just remember one thing do you really think that Kobe or Shaq really care about you and your feelings as much as you care about them. I hope you really read this and consister what I have wrote and maybe write some articles about how athletes don't deserve that much money for a game.
Question. Do you think Kobe is worth 20 million a year?
Write back
Do I think Kobe or Shaq care about me, the person??? No. Does Kobe care about making the Lakers successful which is the reason I am a fan......yes.
Do I care about the people in general affected by what I do for a living......yes. Do I care about what they do individually and what their situations are.....no. So why should I expect an athlete to act any different?
As for is Kobe Bryant worth $20M.....yes. If he helps generate that money for the Lakers and its ownership.....then yes.
You missed the entire point of the post there. No....putting a basketball in a hoop isn't worth more than fighting for my freedom or teaching my children. But, until you get 1 million people to pay $40 a piece to watch someone teach a class....then teachers will NOT get paid the money they are worth. Sorry...but that is the way of the world.
I mean....is a lawyer who gets paid millions upon millions of dollars to keep Kobe Bryant out of jail because he cheated on his wife and got caught up with the wrong girl worth more than a public defender who gets paid peanuts to defend the common man from a crime he may not have committed that would ruin the rest of his life??
Or is a doctor who specializes in making bigger boobs or nice noses worth more than one that performs emergency surgery in an inner city hospital?
It is the way of the world.
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