When people think of high salaries they turn to the world of professionalsports, because that is where athletes are paid outrageous amounts to do thethings they love. Although some would argue that the athletes deserve thesewages, I fell that not all professional sports are paid adequately. For anexample of this statement take into consideration the time and effort that mostpro athletes spend at perfecting there acquired talent. They are fine tunedinstruments, who work hard to do their jobs on the field, on the court, or onthe course.
They do this because they love the game. Golfers don’t get paid asmuch as other Pro-sports, but do their job just as well. Athletes are paid wayto much, but golfers are not. Now take into consideration how much professionalbaseball players make a season.
“The average earned income in major leaguebaseball is over $800,000 a season”(Fizel, 83), and some of these players justride the pine all year. How is it fair that a man that can hit a ball fourhundred feet to send a baseball out of the park make $30 million a season. BarryBonds is truly a great athlete, but to be paid that much he should be able tohit home runs with his eyes closed. I know that these baseball stars bring in alot of very good paying customers, and they like to watch the games. Thenthough, I could eat for a week on what they are charging to get into WrigleyField with good seats for one game. If you will step back with me in time for amoment you will understand why I am so concerned about this issue about overpaid athletes.
In the forties each player was paid fairly but not extravagantly. “When I joined the Cardinals ball club in 1943 we were paid fifteen dollarsfor each game”. (Harig) Back then the players had other jobs to help them makeends meat. They just played the game on the side and on the weekends for extracash. Other sports have the same problems, take professional basketball. MichaelJordan is the greatest man to ever walk across the hard wood floors ofprofessional basketball, but to be paid $63 million in one season is almostsickening.
Jordan has so much power when it comes to the NBA, that he is able todrop out of the National Basketball League and start playing baseball. Then whenhe was tired of baseball, the Bulls begged and pleaded for him to come back totheir team. That just doesn’t seem right and fair to me, especially to otherplayers in the NBA. He may be the greatest basketball player ever, but in mybooks he doesn’t have a lot of character and integrity.
“Jordan made sixtythree million last year and the closest man to him was Patrick Ewig; who madetwenty million,”(Partinie) which is a little better character wise. It is truethat these men bring on big crowds and lots of money to the owners, just likebaseball players, but again have to much control. They probably aren’t paidnear as much as the owners could afford to either, the owner can go home with afat pocket too. Pro’s are just taking advantage of there talent, at least insome cases.
God gave them their talent and some of them are being very greedyand not using it for what it was meant to be used for; the pure love of thegame. Football players aren’t any better but are a little different when itcomes to why they are paid so much. They have a lot more at steak when they goout on to the field to crunch heads. They have to consider the possibility ofgetting injured. They are paid to be big, mean, fast, and ruthless out on thegrass against men just as big and ruthless as themselves. Football players arerewarded money if their talent is exceptional, for touchdowns, yardage, sacks,stops, interceptions, and many more.
If they don’t perform they don’t get asmuch cash. If they do live up to what they are expected to, they get over loadedwith money. Emmit Smith, and other runningbacks are paid more than any lineman,because they are the ones that put on the show, and are what the spectators cameto the game to watch. They also make all the points and make all the good playsthat keep viewers interested. Now I do know that the linemen are a huge part ofhow a good half-back performs, with blocks and stuff, but when there is rawtalent in a man you notice it like in Emmit or Barry Sanders.
It is also truefor the quarterbacks; they are paid more because they are the conductors out onthe field. They conduct the orchestra out on the field. John Elway is a greatexample. He has the strongest, fastest, and most accurate arm in pro-football,which he has proven. That is the main reason he is one the highest paidprofessional football players in the NFL.
Some athletes out on the footballfield are more aware to the situation of the high prices they are paid. KevinGreen, a defensive linebacker said ” It is true that we are getting paidoutrageous amount for what we do out on the turf, but we are the most likely toget hurt in all professional sports. We want to make sure we get what we needbefore we get out of the league. “(O’Hara, 12) Kevin Green gives a lot of hismoney to charitable events and is a very honorable player also, he is not justout there for the money. Now then amongst the most popular television eventsthere is a sport that is respected and loved by millions, but being the men theyare, tour golfers aren’t paid extreme amounts. Golf is a gentlemen’s gameand is respected by all.
You don’t see any of the professional playerscomplaining about their pay, because in the golf world you have to earn yoursalary. Players aren’t paid a salary like most sports, they have to win atournament to earn it. From tournament to tournament they are struggling to makea living by doing what they love. The truth is that there is not a whole lot ofmoney to be won on tour either.
For an example Greg Norman is the top moneywinner of all time. Greg has raked in $11,936,443 in his entire career(Howard,12). Compare that to any other sport and you will see that the averagebaseball and basketball players make that within two or three years. Golfers arealso working all year-round. They don’t get to practice during the off-season,because there isn’t one for them.
Golfers work very hard in a very competitivesport. Other sports are competitive, but not in the same way that golf is. Golfis an individual sport, so they don’t work with others. They don’t haveanyone to fall back on if they need it, it is all up to them. Other thing thatmakes golf so different than other sports is that it doesn’t require that youare either huge, muscular, fast, or tall. Golf comes down to whether or not youcan hit a little golf ball down a narrow fairway, onto a tightly guarded green,then to try and put that little ball into a four inch diameter hole.
Golfersaren’t treated the same way that other athletes are. Jack Nickalas, a wellknow golfer with out sanding talent, explained “Professional golfers arerespected for their talents, character, corizma, and integrity. “(McCormick,32)I myself don’t think that they are paid accordingly, at least not compared toother sports. I’m not saying that they should pay professional golfers more,or that they shouldn’t pay other athletes as much as they do(even though whatthey make is unbelievable). Now with what pro-golfers are paid they can stillmake a decent living, this is because they make plenty of money fromendorsements.
From golf balls and gloves, to hats and clubs, members of the PGAdon’t have a hard time with making money on the side. To me it just seems thatthe salaries that are made by most professional athletes is outrageous, but thenwhen you take a look at the money that is made on the PGA tour, you don’t seeoutrageousness, just simplicity. Now then for a man to make over a milliondollars on tour he has to win at least four big tournaments. This is also acontributing factor in how much a man makes on tour; which tournaments he isinvited to. Only the big tournaments pay off big cash, but in order to get tothe big tournaments you have to make a name for yourself in the littlertournaments. Craig Stadler said that when he started the tour in the eighties,he was shocked at the difference in the level of play and that “Getting ontour is hard enough, but then you have to try to get invited to the big stuff,that is what really take talent.
“(Simpson) Scott Hoch is referring to theMasters, the US Open, the British Open, and other majors that not everyone isinvited to. Depending on how you have done that year and how you have placed inall the tournaments that you play in is the deciding factor on whether or notyou can go play in the big dog events. The truth is that golfers don’t have itrough, but that they have different. Again, they don’t have to be tough,strong, or large, just competitive and hard working. They don’t have to trainthe same way; with weights and running; but have to train and work at their gameon the practice tee or putting green to make it perfect.
John Cook has said inan interview with Sports Illustrated “We don’t get paid as much as othersports, and don’t get as much publicity, but God, I would rather be doinganything else on this beautiful planet. ” (Jefferies,65) It is not right howthey don’t make as much but it is just how society has set it up. Professionalgolfers still make a good living but their salaries aren’t outrageous likeother sports. They make enough to get them by, and a little extra to help themlive stylish. All in all professional athletes are paid way too much, but theykeep us entertained and give us role models.
Golfers aren’t as bad when itcomes to salaries as the others but they deserve what they are paid. I guess ifyou want to keep a game respectable you have to keep the salaries respectablealso. BibliographyFizel, John. Baseball Economics.
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