What has come of pro athletes never being satisfied? When I say satisfied, I don’t mean winning or loosing satisfied, I mean money wise? Last year pro-basketball player Kobe Bryant made over 17 million dollars in salary, and16 million in endorsements, for a total of 33 million dollars. In the same time frame, pro-baseball player Alex Rodriguez made 22 million in salary and 6 million in endorse
ments, adding up to 28 million. If you ask me both athletes are selfish, whiny players. Some of the poorest countries in the world don’t yield that kind of capital a year, yet that is not enough for either of them. Both of these athletes are looking to be traded, they will never be satisfied with the love of the game because they have been overpaid.
With over a month into the season Kobe Bryant has still not backed back from his trade demand, at this point, it only makes sense to me for Kobe to stay with the Lakers. What he fails to realize is that last May he quote, “always dreamed about retiring as a Laker. I just hope and hope that something can be resolved. Something can be figured out. Just something so I can stay here and be in this city and be with the team I love." I you love the team you love won’t worry about the paycheck.
They have started the season stronger than most thought. They are ranked eigth over all, being 6-3 with huge wins over the number two ranked team, the Phoenix Suns who have playoff written all over them. Last I heard the Chicago Bulls were the last rumored team looking to be trading with Kobe. The sad thing is, is Kobe is all for being traded to the 27th ranked team who are only 2-7. That has now backfired for Kobe as the General Manager for the Bulls, John Paxson, is focusing on lower-key players.
ments, adding up to 28 million. If you ask me both athletes are selfish, whiny players. Some of the poorest countries in the world don’t yield that kind of capital a year, yet that is not enough for either of them. Both of these athletes are looking to be traded, they will never be satisfied with the love of the game because they have been overpaid.With over a month into the season Kobe Bryant has still not backed back from his trade demand, at this point, it only makes sense to me for Kobe to stay with the Lakers. What he fails to realize is that last May he quote, “always dreamed about retiring as a Laker. I just hope and hope that something can be resolved. Something can be figured out. Just something so I can stay here and be in this city and be with the team I love." I you love the team you love won’t worry about the paycheck.
They have started the season stronger than most thought. They are ranked eigth over all, being 6-3 with huge wins over the number two ranked team, the Phoenix Suns who have playoff written all over them. Last I heard the Chicago Bulls were the last rumored team looking to be trading with Kobe. The sad thing is, is Kobe is all for being traded to the 27th ranked team who are only 2-7. That has now backfired for Kobe as the General Manager for the Bulls, John Paxson, is focusing on lower-key players.
I must admit I don’t follow baseball as much as I do basketball, but A-Rod’s situation sparked my interest. Alex Rodriguez is not even that great of a player if you ask me, his playoff stats were horrible this year, andd I would never want that greedy player on my team under any circumstances. I would even take it as far as blaming him for their postseason results in 2004-2007 for his batting averages. Many argue that maybe he wants to get out of New York because they have a below average pitching staff, but they can’t be that bad if they are MLB champs.
For any sane athlete who loves the game for the game, and see potential in their team would not leave, but for athletes like Kobe and A-Rod over 25 million dollars is not enough to support them.
As a result of their selfishness no team wants them, and I love it! A-Rod singed with the Yankes again, which I don’t think they should have considering he was not happy with their ofering of 28 millions last year. As far as Kobe, his options are limited, my guess is he’ll remain with the Lakers at least till the 2009 season.
2 comments:
Hm...your comparisons of the two players here and salaries of some poor nations (which ones?) is a bit off the beaten path. Maybe I could see it more clearly had you stated which countries you're speaking of...otherwise, I'm just left wondering.
You make good points. I was just speaking with my brother-in-law about Peyton Manning (good player usually) and he chimed in, "but whenever he loses he whines about his offensive line" and I realized I hadn't thought about that, usually giving the whiner of the year award to his brother Eli. And Peyton's doing every commercial from soup to life insurance. So why are these immensely rich players so whiny? Great question. I wonder that myself...
Finally, just watch spacing and word choice in that first paragraph (losing vs. loosing)...
I don't follow sports anymore (I'm currently recovering and in therapy) but it's interesting when you compare modern day salary disputes to salary disputes from just a short time ago. These days the salary disputes are always about individual players and their multi million dollar contracts. Whereas back in the day the salary disputes collectively involved the players union for all franchises. Many of these guys make more money from their endorsements that other players make from their regular salary. On the one hand we (the fans) criticize the greed and exorbitant salaries but we continue to endorse both of them by paying the ridiculous prices for tickets. Bottom line, it's up to us.
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