After seeing the performance of New York Yankees starter, CC Sabathia- It got me thinking about "big time contracts" in all of Major League sports (MLB,NFL,NBA,NHL etc.) and it's freaking crazy! Before reaching the pros, college. Free college. Not working for about an average of 10-18 years of your life. Millionaire. Cars. Mansion. Can it get any better? But should that money be wasted on something more useful and not make athletes multi-millionaires every year. Education maybe?
The normal way of going through life is finishing grade school and then heading off to college. Right? We make our parents pay the tuition and we would have to start working to help them off. But not sports athletes. Now all of us have had dreams of playing for the Yankees or your home town team. It's normal. But what about the people who do achieve those goals. Coming out of high school these "future stars" get scholarships from big name schools like Notre Dame, Stanford, USC, UM, any school! Some dont have to waste a single penny in books or normal stuff like that. Thats not fair! For someone that will most likely be there for only 3 years and dont even have to pay the univeristy back is great! But what about the regular students. Some can't even finish school because its so god damn expensive. So what? Everyone should become basketball players or soccer players? No.
In the 2008 NFL draft the Miami Dolphins selected linemen Jake Long for the first overall selection of the draft. Without playing a SINGLE down he agreed to a five-year, $57.75 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. Lucky enough he didn't turn into a "bust", but it is a big risk to pay so much money for a player that we are not sure that he will become one hell of a player.
We can say that general managers take the 'risk' when they sign a player. It's not like George Steinbrenner knew Carl Pavano would only play in 26 games after signing a four-year contract worth $39.95 million. Bad luck or bad judgment? We might never know. So the best thing to do in my opinion is just put a limit in a teams salary cap for they wont waste so much damn money in someone that has a fastpass through life!
The normal way of going through life is finishing grade school and then heading off to college. Right? We make our parents pay the tuition and we would have to start working to help them off. But not sports athletes. Now all of us have had dreams of playing for the Yankees or your home town team. It's normal. But what about the people who do achieve those goals. Coming out of high school these "future stars" get scholarships from big name schools like Notre Dame, Stanford, USC, UM, any school! Some dont have to waste a single penny in books or normal stuff like that. Thats not fair! For someone that will most likely be there for only 3 years and dont even have to pay the univeristy back is great! But what about the regular students. Some can't even finish school because its so god damn expensive. So what? Everyone should become basketball players or soccer players? No.
In the 2008 NFL draft the Miami Dolphins selected linemen Jake Long for the first overall selection of the draft. Without playing a SINGLE down he agreed to a five-year, $57.75 million deal with $30 million guaranteed. Lucky enough he didn't turn into a "bust", but it is a big risk to pay so much money for a player that we are not sure that he will become one hell of a player.
We can say that general managers take the 'risk' when they sign a player. It's not like George Steinbrenner knew Carl Pavano would only play in 26 games after signing a four-year contract worth $39.95 million. Bad luck or bad judgment? We might never know. So the best thing to do in my opinion is just put a limit in a teams salary cap for they wont waste so much damn money in someone that has a fastpass through life!
The salaries these rookie draft picks are getting paid in the NFL is ridiculous. They have not even proven themselves, as you said, and they are already getting more money than Pro Bowl veterans. That's an injustice to those players, the league, and the fans (who pay for the salaries at the end of it all). I think it's time to put a maximum salary for rookies in the NFL, just like in the MLB and the NBA. How do you think the Marlins were able to keep Cabrera around for so long? It's only fair.
ReplyDeleteAs for salaries in general, it's really the fault of those team owners who paid too much to keep players around. What that did was raise the standard of playing in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. MLB in particular has no salary cap, so people like A-Rod can make $245 Million dollar contracts. That $24.5 Million a year, $147,590 a game, and $16,399 and inning. Plus, he's already missed a few games/innings, so it's more than that.
Although sports may be blown out of proportion, there are other areas that spend money with no regard. Money that could be used to fight poverty, support education, and enhance healthcare. Just remember that money is not the key to happiness, only a minor necessity to existence. We can live happier lives than star athletes and CEOs ever will if we just appreciate the world around us and live within our means.