Now I know that the topic of professional athletes playing for money instead of their love of the game is constantly brought up. Many people have established their own personal opinions about the topic; some say that athletes play for the love of the game and play for the passion they feel for their respective sport, while the money is just an added bonus and the select few who are obviously in it for cash don’t represent the athlete as a whole. Others say that the majority of athletes are selfish greedy money lovers who’s main goal is to get that big pay day, so that they can drive in their $100,000 cars and live in their million dollar mansions.

However, I am part group of people that doesn’t agree with either of these ideas. I don’t think that athletes only play sports for the pure love of the game,
but i also don’t think that they are just in it for the money. There is a gray area that I believe most athletes sway on. Being an athlete myself and attending a Division 3 college where i started on the baseball team for 4 years, I know what it’s like to make a commitment to sports. This fact, i feel, helps me to understand a little bit where the professional athlete comes from.

Now most people have delusions about being major leaguers, and having enough talent to compete with the few hundred that make it to the bigs in whatever sport they play. A long time ago i realized to myself that the chances of me making it to the bigs was highly unlikely. I knew that i wasn’t going to be good enough because of one of the reasons why i think most athletes always consider the money aspect of what they do. I knew i would most likely never make it because I was not dedicated enough. Now i practiced hard, and even put in extra time doing things to make my game better. Doing this helped me succeed at the level i played at, but i was nowhere close to the level of eliteness that i would need to be in the majors. Most of the guys who make it to the pros in whatever sport they play begin training from young ages. While i was out riding bikes with my friends when i was 12, the next Derek Jeter was in his garage hitting 500 balls off of a tee. When i was building a fort, the next Brett Favre was in his backyard throwing footballs into a tire hole. The list of what professional athletes do extra to make it to where they are is endless. When i lifted for an hour to get stronger they lifted for 2. In the end as I and we grew up doing just enough to be good at the sports we played, these professional athletes did more than enough and them some to make it to their level.

Because of this I understand that after years of working your tail off to make it to the pros, a nice paycheck would be pretty nice. Then when your in the pros you still work hard all the time, so getting a nice big check when your not a rookie anymore would be pretty nice to me. I mean don’t we all do exactly what professional athletes do. We all work jobs, well at least most of us do, and the purpose of us working is to make money. We work harder so that we can make more money, just like an athlete works hard so that they can make more money. Is an athletes 10 million a year relevant to our 40 thousand; NO. But look at the two in relation to one another. There is maybe 800-900 players in the MLB so being one of the best could earn you an AROD contract of 275 million for 10 years with bonuses. Well lets say your an average computer programmer making 40 grand a year. There is probably over 100 thousand people in this country alone with the same job as you. Also the best of the best probably do get paid upwards of 100 grand. Because of how special and elite professional athletes have to be, I think gives them the right to get these huge amounts of money. I just wish that i could have be dedicated enough to be in their shoes, as I’m sure many of you wish you could be too.

Looking at it briefly from the other side of the fence, of course athletes love what they do. No one in their right mind would devote their lives and work so hard for something they hated. Some players may not fit into what i said, and may actually be selfish money loves like the class act Martel from the movie “The Replacements” but 99% of pro athletes i feel are in it for love of the game and they just go along with the money aspect because they realize that it is their job and everyone always wants a raise.

Well started this blog wanting to write about the Elton Brand deal, and in a way i kind of addressed it. However, I already wrote to much so i guess I’ll talk about it in my next blog.