Are Athletes Paid Too Much?

I swear this is not a sports all the time blog but I wanted to briefly touch on the subject of if athletes are overpaid. Often you hear that sports athletes are paid way too much to play a child's game. To give you an idea of what I am talking about here are the salaries of the highest paid athletes in each of the major sports.

Kevin Garnett - $25,000,000
Alex Rodriguez - $25,000,000
Donovan McNabb - $15,000,000

So are these athletes overpaid. Absolutely not. How the heck can I say that? I don't think anybody in our society can really ever be overpaid. We live in a society where you are free to accept a job and someone is free to hire or not hire you (more or less but I won't get into the details here). This is especially true in sports where the ONLY thing that matters is how you perform and do your job. Obviously the owner of each of these clubs believes that each of these athletes is worth the money. Nobody put a gun to any of their heads and forced them to give the money to the players. Just to put into perspective you need to see what each of these teams are work and make

Team/ Value of Team/ Yearly Revenue

Minnesota Timberwolves $230 $85M
New York Yankees $849M $223M
Philadelphia Eagles $617M $134M

Now if the players don't get the money who will? The owners. A lot less people whine that they are making too much money. Some people complain that instead of making all this money that they should reduce ticket prices. Well if you ran a business and you could sell a product for $10 or $20 what would you do? I think most of you would probably charge what the market would bear.

What I don't understand is that many of the same people who complain that athletes make too much money are those clamoring to get more money for either themselves or working class America. If average Joe American has the right to make as much money as possible how come the same can't be said for athletes? I realize that $25,000 is quite different than $25,000,000 but the principle is the same.

Everyone should be paid what they are worth. Sports just happens to be very big business in America and it makes lots of money. How can you begrudge a man his money which he rightfully deserves. I mean a star athlete, more than any other employee, has a direct impact on the revenue of his company. He plays well, fans come to see games, fans buy more merchandise, etc.


If you like this post you may like these other post:
List of Overpaid Athletes
Athletes
Overpaid
sports

Being A Team Player

There is a lot of news right now because Eli Manning has told the San Diego Chargers he does not want t be drafted by them.

As background for those who don't know, the NFL draft is this weekend. San Diego, because they had the worse record in the league, has the rights to the first pick in the draft. Most experts consider the best quarterback in the draft to Eli Manning, son of Archie and brother of Payton.

Most people are calling out Eli Manning and calling him all sorts of names saying he is being selfish and that not a team player.

Now think about this. Why doesn't Eli Manning have the right to come out and say he doesn't want to play for a team. I agree he is being selfish but isn't it his right to speak his mind. Isn't this America or do we throw out the first amendment when it comes to team sports? What if someone told you you had to change jobs and work for a company that might go under in a few months but, since you are the best at what you do, you have to go work for this other company. What would you say?

I'm not arguing that San Diego doesn't have the right or shouldn't draft Eli. My point is that get off the kids back. If he doesn't want to play for them he is just being honest. If the Chargers draft him it is his choice to play or not play for them. If he wants to sit out then let him. We are all allowed to speak our mind and make our own choices, if Eli is willing to live with the consequences then who are we to say what his best interest are? And in the NFL, as the NFL teams are often so willing to point out to everybody when it works for them, its all about business. It's nothing personal its business, or so they tell us. Well when Eli Manning wants to make a business decision for himself then he is labeled selfish. How hypocritical is that?

In The Beginning

This is the start of a blog that should make you all think. The purpose of this blog is to talk about various topics and make you think about if what you believe is really right. So often I find that people accept as their own beliefs what they have been taught to think, either by their parents or by society. I will admit that I have been guilty of such acts and continue to be even as I write this. But as I journey down the path of my life I find that when I actually sit and think about certain things I use to take as givens I end up discovering I was completely wrong.

The use of your mind is not automatic. You must exercise your own mind if you ever really want to uncover what is right and wrong. Don't take what I say as truth. Just think about what I have to say and determine for yourself the veracity of my statements.

To see where I am coming from you must understand the man writing this. I'm a male in his mid-twenties. I'm Asian and I have a job as manager for a technology company. I was not raised in a wealthy family by any stretch of the imagination but I did grow up in a nice middle class neighborhood. My mom struggled to put me through college. I attended an Ivy League university by obtaining scholarships and taking out loans. I do not have a political affiliation but I tend to vote Democratic. If I had to describe my political bent I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative but I refuse to be pigeon-holed into any sort of ideology. I am a man who takes each topic on a case by case basis and try to find my own truth in the situation. I'm avid sports fan and follow most of the major American sports.