With the holidays just around the corner, we stress the importance that it’s about giving, not receiving.
Unless you’re a professional athlete.
Whether it’s baseball, basketball, football, or squash, athletes have thought of themselves as kings (see King James a.k.a LeBron James).
For all of you that don’t know, Barack Obama makes $400,000 a year. Kobe Bryant just raked in a big fat paycheck of over $25,000,000. I’m sensing a problem with how America has chosen to spend its money.
The leader of our nation currently makes less than 1/25 of a basketball player who only plays 82 games.
Let’s quickly take a step back in time when basketball had no slam dunks or three point lines and it was uncommon for a football player to only play one position.
These were the days when being an athlete was right along the lines of being a ditch digger. Salaries were fractions of what they are now, with a $20,000 dollar contract being a blockbuster signing.
We all remember George Herman Ruth right? The Great Bambino. Well, in his hay day, Babe Ruth racked in a whopping $50,000 dollars.
Now yes, inflation has played a part in contract signings and blow-ups. However, when you look at the grand scheme of things, athlete salaries have continued going up, and everyone else’s salaries have been hovering right around the same dollar amount they were at five years ago.
We haven’t even touched on the fact that this calendar year, we’ve experienced two lockouts by professional athletes and their respective leagues.
Would you like to take a guess on what they were arguing about? It may have been about having cooler uniforms or maybe along the lines of getting rid of trash talk, but I’m going to have to bet my bottom dollar that they were arguing about money.
The NFL lockout lasted 135 days. Mediators were called, and grown men whined. This time though, it wasn’t only the athletes—the old and senile owners were complaining that they weren’t making enough money.
The owners wanted more money, as if they need another yacht. However, a national crisis was averted, and Americans were spared the torturous idea of having a year without football.
The NBA lockout though, is a completely different story. The NBA’s lockout lasted longer than the NFL’s and for the longest time it seemed as if a season would cease to exist.
Thankfully, however, the NBA and it’s player association were able to strike a deal tbat would have them playing by Christmas Day.
The NBA’s also had to deal with a slightly different predicament with player’s leaving to play overseas. That’s how desperate these million-dollar athletes crave money—they’re willing to go to foreign nations for a fat paycheck.
And now finally, lets look at the average American household. Both parents are usually working and working hard at that, and they can bring home a little under $85,000.
They don’t hold out at the end of the year demanding money, and surely wouldn’t even dream about complaining about their lack of funds to their bosses.
What about the sacrifices the common parent makes?
You don’t see them buying some new “bling” every other week, and you don’t see them driving a different foreign car everyday.
You see that they are wearing a pair of jeans they bought three years ago, or maybe using that same old cell-phone that flips up and down and doesn’t feature a full keyboard.
Money doesn’t always mean happiness to people. Money doesn’t make or break who you are, But money does show the selflessness of some people, and the greed of others. Just make sure this holiday season, you don’t do the latter.