Pay for pros: Legitimate or Laughable?

I’ve read a lot of complaints lately regarding professional athletes and their salaries.

Clearly, that’s been a major focal point of coverage in the sports world over the last several months, with the NFL lockout coming to a close and the NBA lockout still underway and threatening to cut into its regular season.

I’d like to weigh in a bit on the paychecks that professional athletes receive in this era. I’ll start by addressing a complaint I read recently.

To paraphrase, this person said that it’s not right how much professional athletes make these days for what are basically entertainment skills.  This person then argued that a clown makes a living off of entertainment skills as well, and asked that, by that logic, a clown should also be making millions of dollars per year.

There are several reasons why a professional athlete makes that much more than a clown.

When is the last time a clown sold thousands of tickets to a circus performance? Professional athletes sell thousands of tickets to any given game, which takes place on any given day, week, or month. That’s a significant amount of revenue, considering tickets to some events can cost eager spectators into the hundreds of dollars.

Let’s think about career longevity.

If I wanted to put on some face paint and a clown nose, dress myself up in bright colors and wear big floppy shoes, I could go out and make a career of acting goofy and scaring defenseless children to death. If I made enough money to live on, and had the desire to continue doing it, there’s no reason I couldn’t be a clown for 30, possibly 40 years.

A professional athlete, in many cases, may not even have a job performing for 10 years. Some of the best athletes in the world are finished within ten years because their bodies can’t maintain the level of performance required to be considered a professional in their respective sport. After ten years, many of the world’s finest athletes are well into careers outside of athletics. That’s not to mention injuries.

New Orleans Hornet's PG Chris Paul leaves game on stretcher.

Professional athletes, especially in some of the more physical sports, put themselves in danger each and every time they play.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen players carted off of the football field, basketball court or ice hockey rink.  The injuries of course vary in severity, but in general when you see a cart, it’s not good.  Many of these professional athletes have their careers cut short due to injury. Some have been paralyzed from the neck down from an injury occurred while “on the job”.

I can even think of one particularly disturbing video I’ve seen (and wished I hadn’t) floating around on Youtube of a professional soccer player who is accidentally kicked by another player in the chin, and died right there on the field. Professional sports can be a dangerous job. It’s a high-risk, high-reward type of business.

=== 

Another complaint that I’ve seen that particularly erks me is from people who are up in arms about Michael Vick’s recent six-year $100 million extension he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.

One said that they thought it was “SICK” that a “convicted felon” can walk “outta prison into the spotlight and a $100mil contract to play football”. Nice. They followed it up with the good old, that’s what’s wrong with our country.

On the front end, let me say this, and pardon me while I clear my throat.. AHEM.. Get over it!

The guy has more than served his time. In the United States of America, everyone has the right to a trial, and he has received his day in court and has served the time sentenced to him by the United States judiciary system. If you want to argue about that system, look elsewhere because that’s not my concern.

The guy served the punishment that was handed down to him and was released. Since he was released he has been nothing but the utmost respectable citizen, and has seemingly gone out of his way to denounce his previous offenses, advocate animal rights and stay out of trouble with the law.

The man doesn’t deserve to put up with this typical “once a criminal, always a criminal” attitude. If you want to come with a religious response to his wrongdoings, I give you this. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew chapter seven. Boom.

The public needs to leave ex-cons alone when they have served their punishment. The alienation is not productive and is almost down-right offensive.

As controversial as it may be, I would say the exact same thing about Casey Anthony. While it was widely assumed she’d be declared guilty based on all of the evidence the news media passed down, she was ruled not guilty in court. She had her day in court and was declared not guilty. She served her due process, now she should be left alone. But this isn’t about her, it’s about..

Michael freakin’ Vick, who, in case anyone has forgotten, is a human highlight reel wearing cleats. Does this guy deserve a $100 million deal?

The Falcons thought so when they signed him to his first $100 million + contract. All he’s done since then is put up better passing numbers than he has in his entire career. He was always known as an elusive runner, but his accuracy was questionable. However, in 2010, Vick passed for a career-high 3,018 yards with a career-high 62.6 completion percentage, with a career-high 21 touchdown passes, and a career-low six interceptions when playing a full season. Translation: The guy had a career year.

When a guy has a career year like that, he usually gets paid. It’s the nature of the beast. It has to be noted that Michael Vick was a week 1 waiver wire add for my fantasy football team last year so I absolutely love the guy. But I think the point I’m making is still completely valid.

You play at a high-level, you get paid at a high-level.

Those are just my thoughts. Weigh in as you see fit.