Long gone are the days of being a plumber by day, baller by night. Whether that 'baller' be basket, foot, golf, or otherwise related, the players are paid too much.
Now, when someone sees an NFL player getting paid less than $1,000,000 per year, they say "wow, he's getting screwed."
It never should have come to this. The money and commercialized culture of sports will be the death of the selfless athlete.
Remember when all an athlete needed to be happy was a ring, trophy, or medal?
Neither do I.
I do, however, remember the days of players whining about their lack of income, players being traded to teams where they have no use, just to earn that extra million.
I mean look at NCAA Football or Basketball. The players are seen as gods by their classmates. When they bring back a win, or better yet a trophy, the school pulsates with pride and triumph. Their fans are their peers, and their peers are their fans. It works flawlessly.
And then we get to the pro's, the Big Leagues. And it's all about money. Ticket prices are high, advertising during the game will cost a company an arm and a leg, and the fans are still as fanatic...Right?
Yes, I do understand that these people train for 20 hours a day. Can only eat what their contract allows, can only do what their contract allows. It's not just the low paid players getting screwed, but all of the athletes, whether they are making $850k or $100,000,000.
Are they are just selling their freedom, selling they're lives? Selling everything until retirement?
if so, what are you doing Brett?
I also understand that all these players are the best in the world at what they do. They were born, bred, and brainwashed for our entertainment. We see so much in these athletes that are just doing what we could do, if we trained hard enough.
When we were kids we loved The Amazing Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, but we also loved The Incredible Babe Ruth, and The Dominant Dan Marino.
So wouldn't we love these players so much more if we worked along side them? If we, the regular folk, had a reasonable chance of being part of their team? If we saw them on Monday around the water-cooler and could say, "nice shot last night Mike!" Or, "Bert, gonna start battin' .500 this year?"
Isn't being seen as a superhero around the world enough? Is the money the difference maker?
Or is the entire reason we love these players so much because they are so far out of reach? is the reason we fall in love with two primary colors because we can only wish?
That is up to you.
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