Are Athletes Truly Overpaid?

This week in class, we had a presentation on whether professional athletes are overpaid. Many believe that they are, but I'm not too sure. Athletes go through physically demanding seasons and busy offseason workout schedules, giving little time with friends or family. In essence, they work hard for their money like everyone else. Also, athletes are at high risk of career ending injuries, which could limit their ability to work. Therefore, these high salaries may have to last an athlete an entire lifetime. To give you an idea of what I am talking about here are the salaries of the highest paid athletes in each of the major sports.

Kevin Garnett - $25,000,000
Alex Rodriguez - $25,000,000
Donovan McNabb - $15,000,000

So, are these athletes overpaid? Absolutely not. Am I crazy saying this? I don't think anybody in our society can really ever be overpaid. We live in a society where you are free to accept a job and someone is free to hire or not hire you. This is especially true in sports where the ONLY thing that matters is how you perform and do your job. Obviously, the owner of each of these clubs believes that each of these athletes is worth the money. Nobody put a gun to their heads and forced them to give the money to the players.

Now, if the players don't get the money who will? The owners. A lot less people whine that they are making too much money. Some people complain that instead of making all this money that they should reduce ticket prices. Well if you ran a business and you could sell a product for $10 or $20 what would you do? I think most of you would probably charge what the market would bear.

What I don't understand is that many of the same people who complain that athletes make too much money are those clamoring to get more money for either themselves or working class America. If average Joe American has the right to make as much money as possible, how come the same can't be said for athletes? I realize that $25,000 is quite different than $25,000,000, but the principle is the same.

Everyone should be paid what they are worth. Sports just happens to be very big business in America and it makes lots of money. How can you begrudge a man his money which he rightfully deserves. I mean a star athlete, more than any other employee, has a direct impact on the revenue of his company. He plays well, fans come to see games, fans buy more merchandise, etc.

A Life Taken Too Soon

Last week during class, we had a presentation about athletes and crime and whether they should be allowed back in their respective league again. However, I want to write about athletes and crime in the opposite manner. This would be criminal acts that regular citizens do to professional athletes. Although many minor events may occur, I want to focus on a much more significant issue, murder.

This issue stems off an incident that occurred over this past weekend at the University of Connecticut. It was homecoming weekend this past weekend at UConn and the football team had a big game against division rival Louisville. UConn ended up winning the game 38-25 and had many reasons to celebrate their most recent victory. After the game, the school had sponsored a dance in the student union where students could come together and celebrate the victory and other homecoming festivities.

However, it was the incident after the dance that has caused so much conversation. After the dance, Jasper Howard, UConn's starting cornerback, was stabbed to death in the center of the Connecticut campus. As of now, the investigation of this murder is still on-going and the killer is still at large, but reports have shown that police are ready to arrest a few potential suspects very soon. Jasper grew up in a very rough neighborhood in Miami, FL. It is very rare for young men to escape this town and all the trouble it possesses and even more rare for young men to attend college. He was the first in his family to attend college and wanted to take his game to the next level and repay his family for the sacrifices they had made for him.

I think this is a very heart-breaking story. This was a young man, only 20 years old, trying to provide a better life for himself and his family. He defied the odds and escaped his dark childhood to help achieve his goals. Jasper was also expected to become a father in the near future and makes this story even more disheartening. It's sad to see an athlete that many people respect and admire be taken of their life for no real apparent reason in this case. This young man is a college student just like us and deals with the life of a college student just like us. It's crazy to think about. What if this were to happen to someone we knew or one of our favorite collegiate athletes that we look up to? This is an unfortunate story of a life that was taken much too soon.

Jasper Howard #6 1989-2009

rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-uconnstabbing&prov=ap&type=lgns