Unrelated

This just totally pissed me off..

Athlets should get minimum wage. IMO.

I don't think they should get minimum wage, I mean they are using a skill and talent that has taken years to hone and is very taxing physically, but I really don't like that they make so much. Maybe half everyones salaries, since they don't need to make $6 million per year to live--or at least even them out somewhat, since Peyton Manning could probably be alright with driving a different Ferrari per week rather than day XD.

Thing is these high-paid sports are generating revenue that would not, repeat not, be automatically going towards anything philanthropic.

Of course inequity sucks, but Hockey Fights Cancer and tons of other charitable endeavors are embarked on by these overpaid guys. Does Slayer have any charities they fund? Should Madonna's earnings make us angry that she doesn't donate all her money to the Red Cross?

The San Jose Sharks, my home team, is very active in the community and fundraises and donates jerseys and things to auction for charitable purposes. Most of this stuff is done in the local community, so no Joe Thornton does not raise money to fight world hunger, but he raises money for disadvanteged kids in the bay area.

that is meesed up yo.

It comes down to greed on the part of the owners and the players. They do this though because WE, the fans, pay them.

tinyskateboard makes some very good points. I guess what it amounts to is what you value in an economic system. Do you prefer communism (which always fails) or capitalism?

I very much prefer capitalism. The idea behind socialism is phenomenal - that everyone should be created equal - but in practice it creates laziness and a lack of desire for anyone to make a better life for yourself. Why is capitalism good? Because if someone wants to put forth the effort to get more and succeed, then they deserve what they get. I worked my ass off for years in college to get a career that I both enjoy and pays me well. Should I fork over my money (or the money paying for the degrees I should say) to someone who has less who hasn't worked for anything? Pffft, no thanks. I have a skill that is not common and if a company wants my skill, they need to pay for it, plain and simple.

This is the principal behind athletes. It is simply supply and demand. They get paid loads of money because they are the best in the world at what they do. You may view it as simply a game, but the reality is sports generates billions and billions of dollars and the players willg et paid accordingly to keep the owners' profit up. Simple supply and demand.

I have no issues with athletes making the money they make. None whatsoever.

Keep in mind that a lot of players will have really short careers. So we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say 5. They pay taxes through the nose. A lot of them will only make however many hundred thousand dollars a year. We'll give this guy the 1.8 million made in the cartoon. That's nine million dollars minus taxes. And that has to last the athlete from ages 25-80. So it seems like a lot at the time, but a lot of former pro athletes run into money issues because the money dries up. Add into the mix the fact that many suffer long term health issues. I dunno, doesn't sound appealing to me.

I can only really speak about the NHL. presumably MLB players etc. make more. but that's my two cents.

@btimm I think you might be getting socialism and communism confused. Socialism was seen by Karl Marx as a transition from capitalism to communism, with socialism the government has more control over industry than private companies and entities. The country is split into private sector and public sector jobs, private is higher paid, higher trained and costs more for people to buy. Public sector is lower paid, lower trained and provides much cheaper services however our taxes pay for it.

In England we have free and paid healthcare, the lower classes can get life saving operations and live healthier lives, however the upper classes can get paid healthcare and get those operations faster and more efficiently with better patient support.

All in all it boils down to you get what you paid for.

That said I prefer capitalism, socialism to me tries to make jobs a lot easier to get so everyone can get one causing a drop in quality. In Sweden secondary school teachers need a masters degree in their subject before they can teach in. In England they could get in with any subject degree done in the context of education. Both teachers work in state funded education only difference is Sweden is one of the highest attaining academic countries in Europe and we are only just (if even) in the top ten.

(This message seemed shorter when I wrote it...)

DanielM, I am aware of the differences between communism and socialism. I made a brain fart when I mentioned socialism, that should have been communism like in the previous paragraph.

Communism and capitalism have both failed equally IMO. Both have ended up creating immeasurable inequality and both for the same reason that is, the greed aspect of human nature. The only reason capitalism has survived is due to the cleverness of the powers that be ie they give a little to get a lot back. Think smoke and mirrors!

When tinyskateboad said the san jose sharks was his homew team i thought wow. I live in san jose. Mabye they shouldnt get paid the minimun like i first said. But what i meant i guess is they shouldnt get paid any more than regular jobs. Like mabye a teacher. IMO.

@ nullnaught.

Fair comment. The sports jocks love what they do, artists love what they do, musicians love what they do, I doubt if factory workers love what they have to do for a lifetime, but look at the difference in reward for their efforts between the 9 to 5 people and the 'fortunate' others.

You should take a look at the footballer's wage in England. THAT is a crime.

£680,000 - not including bonuses of £1m.

Soldiers deserve more wage than them.

Makes me sick. AND England hasn't won the world cup since 1968!!!! WHY are they getting paid sh!t loads of money when they can't even play?!

@jazz,

Because of the fans. And like what Btimm said, supply and demand. Football is huge in the UK.

I reckon it would be better for the fans if the footballers were paid less, there was a time when they had to have another job other than football to be able to live and it was still a very popular sport.

But anyway's if the footballers were paid less they might buck their game up, start winning.

@btimm ah kk, I was just making sure as from what the media shows most Americans on the street don't know, but hey here in the UK most people my age don't know the difference between capitalism and fascism (I actually think people should be educated in politics more because of that)

Sadly, the media doesn't give off a false impression in this circumstance DanielM.

id just like to say that,atheletes have talent that takes years to master,but so does every other proffesion.i agree that they put there bodies on the line,and deserve to be paid well,but not as well as they get paid,maybe like 1-2m not 30m.

gs2112

note* if i made myself sound stupid or offended anyone sorry.[disclaimer]

gshredder, the key here isn't that it takes years for them to master their craft, it is that the supply of these superior athletes is very small. You always have to pay top dollar when both the demand is high and the supply is low. That si the key factor of why they get paid so much money. I have met many very good waitresses in my lifetime, and no offense to waitresses out there, but they are extremely common to find, so therefore they aren't paid well.

the amount of the salary is beside the point. if you make a modest living as a teacher and you think you deserve more money because you are good you ask for a raise. you don't see minimum wage employees at fast food restaurants saying "oh, what you need to make MORE money?"

even if you have the lowliest, low paying job ever, would you take less money than you feel you are worth? no it's an insult not only to yourself, but to anyone else who does what you do.

this comes up in baseball (my sport) a lot. can you throw a 90mph fast ball accurately fo 7innings a game? do you have an arsenal of various pitches to strike out batters? no. very vew people do. these people draw a lot of money and are compensated thusly.

not anyone can do what i do. a lot of people can, much more than baseball players, but some people can't.

i also find the irony that this is brought up in a guitar forum... like come on. rock stars? the epitomy of over paid for little work. do you really need a $200 guitar (or a $1,000 guitar) when there are starving kids in africa?

don't act like sports players are the only greedy people in the world...

1: I wish teachers were paid $100,000 a year in the US, then we might have better schools.

2: Good post BBT, got us talking.

3: I was going to write: "does Van Halen raise money for charity?" in my earlier post, but I looked it up and they do play benefit concerts...a lot of bands do. That made me happy. I really have no idea if Slayer does or not. (I saw Slayer once...my face melted.)

Yeah tons of musicians do all sorts of charity. Michael Jackson (as a random example) supported 18 different charities and foundations

and I'm not sayin only sports players are greedy, nor do I think only rich people are the only greedy, I think we are all to a point. I'll make an assumption, since you all have computers and internet access, that none of us are too badly off. We probably all get to eat a couple times a day, we all get water, we all have roofs over our heads. But alot of people don't, And i'm not just sayin in foreign countries either. in 2005 there were approximately 744,000 people in the US who were homeless.. Theres a huge fricken problem in this world that no one wants to admit its there

as much as i hate to say it,U2 do alot of charity stuff,and i agree with bbt.

.

^^¿

U2 was the greatest as I was growing up.

Well said BBT
You gonna write about this? A song? A poem. Reason I ask is I think we're ready in the Western world for a new wave of songs that make us wake up and think. (thinking about "which seat am I gonna take" ain't gonna do it)!
Phip

Maybe that was really about a modern day civil rights struggle.

Or...maybe not.

@ Jazz

Niggly correction from a sado. The last time we won the world cup (soccer) was 1966 not '68
(fights to control smug sexist smile!)Tehehe.

@ Deefa, that makes me even more sad to have to add two years on our hall of shame :(

If anyone should make that kind of money, it should be the ones that every day have an extremely high chance of being killed.
Police, Military, Construction, etc.

Sure these athletes have a skill, so do other people. It's not their fault they are stuck in a crappy town (or stuck overseas) in a "killer" job with no opportunities to escape.
Think of the families, one of these "athletes" dies, their family lives on like nothing happened. Someone else dies on the job; homeless, starving, dying.

@ D_L

So true! The favourite cop-out for these people when challenged about exorbitant salaries goes something like:- "Our 'big chance' wont last very long 'cause (for instance) it's a young mans game so I'll have to live for the rest of my life on what I can earn now." Fine. So if that's a fair argument, why can't average Joe be offered 40 years salary in advance based on his average earning potential? Shoots the argument down somewhat doesn't it?

@ Jazz. No worries. Considering your age you weren't too far out!

@ Lefty,

The difference is that they get paid from us. If the majority of civilians wanted to freely give their money away to the police, military or other worthy professions - then we'd be in a better place. But sadly we don't. We'd ALWAYS find a better cause for our money.

Makes me angry.

@jazzy well when you put it that way,yeah it does kinda make you angry.