Quantcast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 36

BBG Communications: THE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MEN

Somewhere today, a little boy is playing catch with his dad, fantasizing that there are two strikes, two outs, and the bases are loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning of the 7th game of the World Series. A high school quarterback is throwing the winning touchdown at the state championship football game, and fantasizing that he has just won the Super Bowl. Each kid is dreaming an amazing dream, but when the dream is attained, it begins to lose its lustre as the money starts rolling in and the player becomes a financial figure instead of an athlete.

In 2004, the salary of Alexander Rodriguez was $21,762,881. He is not a trauma surgeon; he doesn’t perform life saving procedures on a daily basis. If he was, he would be making about $274,420 per year. He is not a policeman, putting his life on the line every day to keep the streets safe (They only make $51,198 per year). He’s not a teacher, molding the leaders of tomorrow. If he was, he’d be bringing home a whopping $86,942 each year. But Alex Rodriguez is a third baseman for the New York Yankees. For the entertainment of the baseball fans out there, he is paid more per year than a surgeon, a policeman, and a teacher put together. In fact, he is paid nearly fifty-three times as much as these three jobs combined!

Professional athletes are paid too much. Sure, millions of people love to watch sporting events, but are athletes worth more than the people who taught them, or the people who keep them safe, or cure them when they are sick or injured? Professional sports put a price tag on athletic performance. Even the people who play them have begun to put price tags on themselves! Instead of playing for the glory of the game, they are playing for the money. Professional athletes are products, to be marketed across the globe, and to bring in cash for themselves and their employers.

The multi-million dollar men are ruining what it means to be an athlete. It is no longer a love of the game that motivates them; it is the love of money. As the salary of professional athletes increases, so does the desire for more. As Plato’s view of the soul would indicate, the black horse that is desire is being fed too much, and overpowering both the charioteer (reason), and the white horse that is honor and glory. In that way, the soul can not flourish. With desire and greed growing in professional athletics, the honor and glory and reason are being masked, the balance is being lost, and the soul of the game is being corrupted.

Comments


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 36

Trending Articles