These days I feel somewhat of a hypocrite when I watch professional sports on television. The only time that I watch TV, in fact, is either sports or a movie. But I complain so much about how absurdly high the salaries of athletes are today, I feel kind of guilty when I spend any time watching them play.
Their salaries could be slashed to a mere 10% of their present amount and these prima donnas would still be the highest paid people in the country. Many of them sit out huge amounts of time on injured reserve, yet still draw full salary. I guess these team owners never heard of the concept of workers’ comp—less remuneration-- for those injured on the job and therefore unable to contribute their services to the organization.
Then there are the ones who consistently perform at a sub-par level, never living up to expectations, yet apparently it is not acceptable to put clauses in their contracts to reduce their pay once they drop below a given performance standard. Consequently, whether they bat .350 or .220, the pay checks flow in at the same princely amount.
There is the regular phenomenon of a player who signs a multi-year contract to play for a certain amount [can you say millions and millions of dollars?], only to decide long before the contractual period has run its course that he wants to renegotiate [typically for more money and more years]. High powered sports agents lean on the team’s owner who often gives in to these demands, thus rewarding petulant, selfish behavior and prolonging the continued “I want more” demands of other spoiled players.
Compared to more normal professions—such as teaching, nursing, or just about anything you can think of—the salaries of these professional athletes become even more obscene. Keep in mind that we’re talking about guys who, were they not playing ball, would be unqualified for just about anything else. There are exceptions, of course, but the vast majority of ballplayers would end up as high school coaches at best, assuming they could get certified by a school system to perform those duties. Many appear to converse at a level akin to fourth graders and express themselves with a few monosyllabic clichés connected by a string of ya knows.
Perhaps I’m being an intellectual elitist. We can’t all be smart and read Balzac. If I like Mozart, why can’t some guy like rap? It’s just that…I cannot fathom paying them multi-millions of dollars per year to play ball [accent on the word play]. I know they are entertainers; so what? Movie stars are overpaid too. What’s wrong with this picture?
We have become a society inured to excess in all things and, even if we object to it, we are without recourse to change anything. Should I deprive myself of the savings I achieve at Wal-Mart in order to vainly protest their lousy treatment of their employees? What good do my pained and heartfelt diatribes against George W. Bush do? The war goes on; the billions of tax dollars get misspent; the price of oil continues on up; the narrowly-focused idiot continues to turn more and more non-Americans against us.
And, finally, of what use would it be to turn off the TV set and refuse to watch the over-priced, over-paid players of ball? Whether I witness it or not, they will still play and still get paid the same. Well I’m, ya know, just taking it one game at a time, ya know, and working on my swing, ya know. All that extra batting practice, ya know, I’ll be okay. Of course he’ll be okay; the guy makes 8 million dollars a year, and he’s only the third highest paid player on the team!!
posted on May 13, 2008 7:17 PM ()
I should have married a jock.
I agree, our baseball team just signed a closer for 10 million and he really can't get anyone out...what a waste?
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