Defining the Overpaid Athlete
This is a brief definition of what i believe the Professional Athlete should be defined as. Throughout the argument i have listed or provided detailed reasons as to why athletes are overpaid and have caused issues with this over payment. These reasons are pulled from real issues and or situations that have come from athletes being overpaid.
The Money Hungry Athlete
People who are qualified or engaged in a situation would be defined as a Professional. A professional could also be most commonly said to be someone who is good at something, or even very skilled. A person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise would be defined as an Athlete. Today’s athlete, would be seen as Tiger Woods, Calvin Johnson, Prince Fielder all whom make large sums of money for what they specialize in as an athlete. Combining the definitions of Professional and Athlete we get a person qualified or proficient in a situation or sport. Neither of the definitions combined or left alone state that, the “Professional Athlete” is to be paid outrageous amounts of money to satisfy the fan-base. While the middle class in this economic recession pays outlandish prices at the sporting event of their favorite sport. On the other hand, Today, the professional athlete can be defined as a money driven, muscle headed cyborg athlete.
Can we only blame the athlete for this crime of overpayment? Most can say that they have paid to go to a sporting event of some sort, or paid to buy a jersey with players name on it, or even went to a charity event to see a player there and donated just to get an autograph. The fans are a huge contributor to this crime. When we go to a baseball game for example, a bottle of beer is eight dollars; a bottle of water is three-fifty, and all the other food at the events is just as high. But as many do know that the prices are only high to pay for the athletes they come to see. This year the newest Detroit Tiger Prince Fielder signed a huge nine year deal to play for twenty-three million a year totaling to be two hundred and fourteen million over the nine years, coming from www.espn.go.com. That is a huge amount of money to pay one person for playing a game. The worst part in all of this is how he will be paid the money he is owed. When ticket prices are set high to get into the ball game, and the food is outrageously priced, all the money made is what helps pay the athlete his contract. A beer that is only a dollar fifty at your local bar and is eight at a baseball game. So the six dollars and fifty cent profit is just used to help pay that hefty salary. With the economy the way that it is today only makes it worse for the fans to come out and enjoy the sports they love to watch. Since the Tigers acquired Prince Fielder this year, according to http://www.blufftonicon.com, ticket prices will rise at Comerica Park. “The issue is age-old, fans want their team to win, in order to win, the team needs to spend money, when the team spends money, the fans need to do the same when they go to games which is something most are unwilling to do.” This not only proves the point that athletes are overpaid, but provides great reason as to why the fans suffer to it. The players are hurt as badly when the economy goes under as far as it has, and when they scrape together enough just to go see Americas past time its still not good enough because the ticket price is only higher.
First off, athletes are extremely greedy. Greedy meanings that they feel that money are everything and have no need to do anything more than a job that pays big money. An example would be , this year another “Professional Athlete” hurt himself with a torn elbow. Former Tiger pitcher Joel Zumaya was offered a one year eight hundred thousand dollar contract. Since he hurt himself he will only receive half of the money owed. “Zumaya didn't pitch last season. He left the Detroit Tigers to sign with the division rival Twins, getting an incentive-laden one-year contract with $400,000 guaranteed” taken from http://espn.go.com. So, even though he will not be playing baseball this year he will be getting paid money to sit on his ass. In what world does that even make sense? But because he is a professional athlete he feels that he should take the money and run while it’s still there, rather than going to school and pursuing an education. He feels if he can’t play baseball, “I'm a pretty dang good fisherman, so I might pursue professional fishing," Zumaya said with a shrug.” So all the money people paid throughout the season is being used to pay off a newly retired baseball player. I don’t think that I will find anyone to disagree with that argument on how wrong that is. As I had stated beforehand that an athlete is a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise, I still have yet to see where it says you must pay the athlete twenty three million dollars a year to play a sport. Our regular doctors such a Neurologist only makes three hundred and fourteen thousand a year according to www.valuemd.com. This doctor studies the brain and helps save lives at the same time and doesn’t even come close to making the amount and athlete does, and the doctor in fact does a lot more.
If a person was to see Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander walk out in public it would turn into a mad house of fans, paparazzi, and beautiful women surrounding him all asking for his autograph and such just because he holds the title of being a Professional athlete. His job title being a pitcher is just him standing on a mound of dirt, and throwing a ball of string with a leather shell around it at a high rate of speed. Not saying that the preparation or anything isnt hard to do it but still doesn’t mean that the pay received for his time and effort is worth more than the time and effort a doctor puts into saving the lives of millions. When you see a doctor walking down the street all that is seen is another person, no body special just another person. But in reality it’s a person who might be hovered over you one day attempting to save your very life. It’s terrible to see how to see where our money goes and who it goes too.
The athletes today go straight to believing that just because they make the money that our big name celebrity’s make they should act like them or even be one. We can define celebrities as the state of being well known. The biggest athlete/ celebrity/ movie star would have to be Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. And believe it or not I have seen some many follow in his footsteps. Once an athlete gets a taste of the fame it’s almost an addiction that it always has to be there and continue on.
What makes this carry on would have to be the money and the fame. The biggest reason for this would be how some athletes have had to result to taking steroids to perform better and become better than all the rest. When the athletes start to slip from fame because they get hurt, or not performing as well as all the other athletes they find a new alternative. This exactly proves my point on the definition of the “Professional Athlete” is way off, because when at first it’s just all about playing sports and then when the money comes in ur head is lost with all that comes with it. The biggest example of this would be the Barry Bonds case. Barry Bonds was on the verge of becoming the greatest baseball player to have ever lived until he had gotten hurt. Then once he healed the injuries became more prone and harder and harder to heal regularly. Steroids are Ergogenic drug Sports medicine An agent–eg, amphetamines, androstendione, erythropoietin, hGH, testosterone, known or thought to improve performance in a particular activity, coming from the http://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com. Steroids where seen as a way to come back healthier and quicker and with better performance. It helped Barry Bonds to regain power and soon lead all of baseball in homeruns. Today, according to http://sports.espn.go.com Bonds was found guilty. With all that happened was it even worth the whole trouble? The worst part is in all of this more people were convicted of being on steroids. Coming from the article above, “Next up is Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, scheduled for trial in federal court in Washington, D.C., starting July 6, on three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of Congress. That case may be delayed by wrangling over evidence”, this happened when Clemens had denied using the performing enhancement drugs in front of a court and jury and was found out that he had been lying when test results had come in. with both of these cases neither player will make the baseball hall of fame and might not even be credited in the books for the accomplishments they had made after being found guilty. All this chaos started with money, greediness, and fame, changed the game they had all loved beforehand and had become this cyborg of an athlete that was all about being number one.
Luckily, for some of the players like Alex Rodriguez who had come out and told the whole baseball world about his wrong doings and confirming that he had once used the substances and said he had only used them before they were found to be illegal. Now in most cases if you happen to be a Boston Red Sox fan, the term “A-Roid” is normally chanted when he walks up to the plate.
With all the fame, stardom, and money only comes back to hurt the most important thing in life the family. Tiger Woods would probably not disagree with this one bit. He had all the fame in the world, he was the number one golfer in the world, and he was and still is the highest paid athlete in the world. According to http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com he had made $62,292,116 last year. So when Tiger Woods has all this glory and such he ruins his family with all the things that come with a man and a lot of money…. women. Tiger Woods had cheated on his wife and ruined his marriage because his fame had gone straight to his head. The ending of his marriage was believed to what was going to end his golfing career. Woods had come back to golf, not in a hurry but in a worry, he wasn’t winning anymore or even keeping his composure. He fired his long time caddy and his golf coach Hank Haney told him he could no longer coach him with all the drama going on. Tiger Woods had almost lost everything when being an athlete was no longer just being an athlete but a celebrity, keeping him away from playing the sport that made him famous.
The money that comes along with being a “Professional Athlete” is what makes the athlete no longer an athlete but just another Wall Street Stock watcher. The quote “Money doesn’t buy happiness” is true when arguing the definition I have presented in the beginning. Athletes should only perform in what makes them happy and what they are good at doing, which is playing sports. This means not, buying expensive toys, women that ruin marriages, steroids that end careers, or becoming a movie star to make you look better. This is not the athlete anyone wants their child looking up to or becoming. The “Professional Athlete” needs to keep the compassion and love that they have for the game. This meaning that the athlete who plays because they love the fans and not the greed. Or even when it seems too hard to overcome and they feel it’s not enough to save that love, they can always remember a quote from Kevin Costner from the movie “For love of the game”, “tell them I’m through, For love of the game”. This happens when he’d rather give up his career before he was traded away and told he wasn’t good enough after an injury. The definition of the “Professional Athlete” to me is an athlete who has excelled in a particular sport and will put love and passion for that sport ahead of all the temptations that may arise during their time as athlete not to just satisfy themselves but all who share that same love.
People who are qualified or engaged in a situation would be defined as a Professional. A professional could also be most commonly said to be someone who is good at something, or even very skilled. A person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise would be defined as an Athlete. Today’s athlete, would be seen as Tiger Woods, Calvin Johnson, Prince Fielder all whom make large sums of money for what they specialize in as an athlete. Combining the definitions of Professional and Athlete we get a person qualified or proficient in a situation or sport. Neither of the definitions combined or left alone state that, the “Professional Athlete” is to be paid outrageous amounts of money to satisfy the fan-base. While the middle class in this economic recession pays outlandish prices at the sporting event of their favorite sport. On the other hand, Today, the professional athlete can be defined as a money driven, muscle headed cyborg athlete.
Can we only blame the athlete for this crime of overpayment? Most can say that they have paid to go to a sporting event of some sort, or paid to buy a jersey with players name on it, or even went to a charity event to see a player there and donated just to get an autograph. The fans are a huge contributor to this crime. When we go to a baseball game for example, a bottle of beer is eight dollars; a bottle of water is three-fifty, and all the other food at the events is just as high. But as many do know that the prices are only high to pay for the athletes they come to see. This year the newest Detroit Tiger Prince Fielder signed a huge nine year deal to play for twenty-three million a year totaling to be two hundred and fourteen million over the nine years, coming from www.espn.go.com. That is a huge amount of money to pay one person for playing a game. The worst part in all of this is how he will be paid the money he is owed. When ticket prices are set high to get into the ball game, and the food is outrageously priced, all the money made is what helps pay the athlete his contract. A beer that is only a dollar fifty at your local bar and is eight at a baseball game. So the six dollars and fifty cent profit is just used to help pay that hefty salary. With the economy the way that it is today only makes it worse for the fans to come out and enjoy the sports they love to watch. Since the Tigers acquired Prince Fielder this year, according to http://www.blufftonicon.com, ticket prices will rise at Comerica Park. “The issue is age-old, fans want their team to win, in order to win, the team needs to spend money, when the team spends money, the fans need to do the same when they go to games which is something most are unwilling to do.” This not only proves the point that athletes are overpaid, but provides great reason as to why the fans suffer to it. The players are hurt as badly when the economy goes under as far as it has, and when they scrape together enough just to go see Americas past time its still not good enough because the ticket price is only higher.
First off, athletes are extremely greedy. Greedy meanings that they feel that money are everything and have no need to do anything more than a job that pays big money. An example would be , this year another “Professional Athlete” hurt himself with a torn elbow. Former Tiger pitcher Joel Zumaya was offered a one year eight hundred thousand dollar contract. Since he hurt himself he will only receive half of the money owed. “Zumaya didn't pitch last season. He left the Detroit Tigers to sign with the division rival Twins, getting an incentive-laden one-year contract with $400,000 guaranteed” taken from http://espn.go.com. So, even though he will not be playing baseball this year he will be getting paid money to sit on his ass. In what world does that even make sense? But because he is a professional athlete he feels that he should take the money and run while it’s still there, rather than going to school and pursuing an education. He feels if he can’t play baseball, “I'm a pretty dang good fisherman, so I might pursue professional fishing," Zumaya said with a shrug.” So all the money people paid throughout the season is being used to pay off a newly retired baseball player. I don’t think that I will find anyone to disagree with that argument on how wrong that is. As I had stated beforehand that an athlete is a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise, I still have yet to see where it says you must pay the athlete twenty three million dollars a year to play a sport. Our regular doctors such a Neurologist only makes three hundred and fourteen thousand a year according to www.valuemd.com. This doctor studies the brain and helps save lives at the same time and doesn’t even come close to making the amount and athlete does, and the doctor in fact does a lot more.
If a person was to see Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander walk out in public it would turn into a mad house of fans, paparazzi, and beautiful women surrounding him all asking for his autograph and such just because he holds the title of being a Professional athlete. His job title being a pitcher is just him standing on a mound of dirt, and throwing a ball of string with a leather shell around it at a high rate of speed. Not saying that the preparation or anything isnt hard to do it but still doesn’t mean that the pay received for his time and effort is worth more than the time and effort a doctor puts into saving the lives of millions. When you see a doctor walking down the street all that is seen is another person, no body special just another person. But in reality it’s a person who might be hovered over you one day attempting to save your very life. It’s terrible to see how to see where our money goes and who it goes too.
The athletes today go straight to believing that just because they make the money that our big name celebrity’s make they should act like them or even be one. We can define celebrities as the state of being well known. The biggest athlete/ celebrity/ movie star would have to be Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. And believe it or not I have seen some many follow in his footsteps. Once an athlete gets a taste of the fame it’s almost an addiction that it always has to be there and continue on.
What makes this carry on would have to be the money and the fame. The biggest reason for this would be how some athletes have had to result to taking steroids to perform better and become better than all the rest. When the athletes start to slip from fame because they get hurt, or not performing as well as all the other athletes they find a new alternative. This exactly proves my point on the definition of the “Professional Athlete” is way off, because when at first it’s just all about playing sports and then when the money comes in ur head is lost with all that comes with it. The biggest example of this would be the Barry Bonds case. Barry Bonds was on the verge of becoming the greatest baseball player to have ever lived until he had gotten hurt. Then once he healed the injuries became more prone and harder and harder to heal regularly. Steroids are Ergogenic drug Sports medicine An agent–eg, amphetamines, androstendione, erythropoietin, hGH, testosterone, known or thought to improve performance in a particular activity, coming from the http://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com. Steroids where seen as a way to come back healthier and quicker and with better performance. It helped Barry Bonds to regain power and soon lead all of baseball in homeruns. Today, according to http://sports.espn.go.com Bonds was found guilty. With all that happened was it even worth the whole trouble? The worst part is in all of this more people were convicted of being on steroids. Coming from the article above, “Next up is Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, scheduled for trial in federal court in Washington, D.C., starting July 6, on three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of Congress. That case may be delayed by wrangling over evidence”, this happened when Clemens had denied using the performing enhancement drugs in front of a court and jury and was found out that he had been lying when test results had come in. with both of these cases neither player will make the baseball hall of fame and might not even be credited in the books for the accomplishments they had made after being found guilty. All this chaos started with money, greediness, and fame, changed the game they had all loved beforehand and had become this cyborg of an athlete that was all about being number one.
Luckily, for some of the players like Alex Rodriguez who had come out and told the whole baseball world about his wrong doings and confirming that he had once used the substances and said he had only used them before they were found to be illegal. Now in most cases if you happen to be a Boston Red Sox fan, the term “A-Roid” is normally chanted when he walks up to the plate.
With all the fame, stardom, and money only comes back to hurt the most important thing in life the family. Tiger Woods would probably not disagree with this one bit. He had all the fame in the world, he was the number one golfer in the world, and he was and still is the highest paid athlete in the world. According to http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com he had made $62,292,116 last year. So when Tiger Woods has all this glory and such he ruins his family with all the things that come with a man and a lot of money…. women. Tiger Woods had cheated on his wife and ruined his marriage because his fame had gone straight to his head. The ending of his marriage was believed to what was going to end his golfing career. Woods had come back to golf, not in a hurry but in a worry, he wasn’t winning anymore or even keeping his composure. He fired his long time caddy and his golf coach Hank Haney told him he could no longer coach him with all the drama going on. Tiger Woods had almost lost everything when being an athlete was no longer just being an athlete but a celebrity, keeping him away from playing the sport that made him famous.
The money that comes along with being a “Professional Athlete” is what makes the athlete no longer an athlete but just another Wall Street Stock watcher. The quote “Money doesn’t buy happiness” is true when arguing the definition I have presented in the beginning. Athletes should only perform in what makes them happy and what they are good at doing, which is playing sports. This means not, buying expensive toys, women that ruin marriages, steroids that end careers, or becoming a movie star to make you look better. This is not the athlete anyone wants their child looking up to or becoming. The “Professional Athlete” needs to keep the compassion and love that they have for the game. This meaning that the athlete who plays because they love the fans and not the greed. Or even when it seems too hard to overcome and they feel it’s not enough to save that love, they can always remember a quote from Kevin Costner from the movie “For love of the game”, “tell them I’m through, For love of the game”. This happens when he’d rather give up his career before he was traded away and told he wasn’t good enough after an injury. The definition of the “Professional Athlete” to me is an athlete who has excelled in a particular sport and will put love and passion for that sport ahead of all the temptations that may arise during their time as athlete not to just satisfy themselves but all who share that same love.