Our twisted society - Page 5

stuyvesant · ‎05-15-2010

Someday, somebody is going to organize and give us a voice to say how we feel about athletes performing for free and coaches and colleges raking in big bucks.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

Sports are a lot of fun for many, many people. Many like to play sports, others get a real kick out of watching games in person or on TV. If you don't enjoy sports you probably won't get it, but many others do get it.

Sports generate A LOT of jobs, directly and indirectly. Tee shirts alone are big business

The men and women who play sports work hard and sustain many injuries. I don't begrudge them their high salaries.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@pitdakota wrote:
Those salaries are paid as a result of people choosing to buy tickets, support a team, and go to games. As long as people pay for the tickets, that will continue. Same with celebrities, people in the public at large choose to spend their money going to those concerts, movies, shows, or whatever.

I am more concerned with the outrageously high salaries that some CEOs of companies make in this country that choose not to increase the salary base or benefits of their employees. Or the case of a CEO of a pharmaceutical company that raised the price of a medication by 5,000% comes to mind. That speaks more of a twisted society to me rather than sports teams that have income from ticket sales to pay athletes high salaries.

At least there is some return to the economy since those athletes buy products, pay taxes, make investments, employ others, etc.

@pitdakota

I was going to say the same thing but you beat me to it

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

As for our investment in sports theoretically being twisted, let us remember that sports have been revered for a long, long time.

Probably even before the time of Roman sports and Greek games which led to the Olympics.

We're not a twisted society because of a love of sports. Not unless you want to call out pretty much every other society which has existed. Not having been there at the original Olympics, I suspect they got something out of it, even it if was merely status.

SydneyH · ‎03-10-2010

@Noel7 wrote:
Sports are a lot of fun for many, many people. Many like to play sports, others get a real kick out of watching games in person or on TV. If you don't enjoy sports you probably won't get it, but many others do get it.

Sports generate A LOT of jobs, directly and indirectly. Tee shirts alone are big business

The men and women who play sports work hard and sustain many injuries. I don't begrudge them their high salaries.

I don't etiher. Professional athletes work very hard and imo, deserve every penny they can get.

qbetzforreal · ‎08-28-2010

Althetes generate a lot of revenue for their teams, counties, cities and states. The playing seasons are longer which means they play longer.

pitdakota · ‎03-16-2010

@Noel7 wrote:
@pitdakota wrote:
Those salaries are paid as a result of people choosing to buy tickets, support a team, and go to games. As long as people pay for the tickets, that will continue. Same with celebrities, people in the public at large choose to spend their money going to those concerts, movies, shows, or whatever.

I am more concerned with the outrageously high salaries that some CEOs of companies make in this country that choose not to increase the salary base or benefits of their employees. Or the case of a CEO of a pharmaceutical company that raised the price of a medication by 5,000% comes to mind. That speaks more of a twisted society to me rather than sports teams that have income from ticket sales to pay athletes high salaries.

At least there is some return to the economy since those athletes buy products, pay taxes, make investments, employ others, etc.

@pitdakota

I was going to say the same thing but you beat me to it

______________________________________________________

Hi @Noel7! And you make a great point about the merchandizing of products the sports organizations make.

I agree some salaries of professional athletes are high, but not a concern to me since they come from profits the teams make. In addition the vast majority of those athletes don't make it for many years in professional sports. Especially the high impact or contact sports.

* Freedom has a taste the protected will never know *

Cumbercookie13 · ‎05-06-2016

What gets me is that there are some who will shell out money for a game or a concert or a movie and not bat an eyelash about athlete and entertainers' salary - yet bash and deride teachers, nurses, factory workers, delivery drivers, etc, who ask for higher wages and say they're not deserving of them, calling them greedy. And they work just as hard too and also have a risk of injury on the job. It's the hypocrisy that's irritating, not the salaries so much.

SahmIam · ‎04-16-2010

Athletes are a commodity and once they lose their ability to bring in BIG money, they are tossed to the side and forgotten.

I have a cousin who was a pro-athlete and witnessed first hand how an injury can end a career in a second not to mention the "nice knowing you, here's the door".

Family friend is a coach for the BIG money maker known as college basketball. The information/stories/facts that I've been told make me just shake my head in disgust AND in disbelief. It IS big money with the goal for the athletes to go Pro when they graduate OR sooner.

My son plays football and basketball. He's talented at both but will have to make a choice very soon as to which sport to focus on. Scouts start sizing players up in MIDDLE SCHOOL; not kidding. They watch and talk with each other, the coaches and the high schools. It's in high school that you begin to see the "perks". For example, we are zoned for high school ABC but if the coach at XYZ wants my son (because it's a Class A school in that specific sport), my son WILL go to that school. But Coach, we don't live anywhere near that school. Doesn't matter. It will happen. Same thing with the elite private schools; can't afford our tuition because it's $60,000 a year? No problem! He can play (fill in the blank sport) for us and will give him an "athletic" scholarship (even though they don't offer those when you ask).

Yes, the money is draw-dropping. Yes, those players work and face injuries that may not and often don't ever heal. HOWEVER....I can NOT wrap my head around the fact that players who are addicts, thieves, abusers of women, children and animals and are KNOWN to this are protected BECAUSE of the money they bring in. IMHO, that has ruined professional sports for me and the reason why I tell my son to focus on EDUCATION first and sports second. If he does get into some big whig college, don't waste the academic opportunity is my #1 message to him. *heavy sigh*

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@SahmIam wrote:
Athletes are a commodity and once they lose their ability to bring in BIG money, they are tossed to the side and forgotten.

I have a cousin who was a pro-athlete and witnessed first hand how an injury can end a career in a second not to mention the "nice knowing you, here's the door".

Family friend is a coach for the BIG money maker known as college basketball. The information/stories/facts that I've been told make me just shake my head in disgust AND in disbelief. It IS big money with the goal for the athletes to go Pro when they graduate OR sooner.

My son plays football and basketball. He's talented at both but will have to make a choice very soon as to which sport to focus on. Scouts start sizing players up in MIDDLE SCHOOL; not kidding. They watch and talk with each other, the coaches and the high schools. It's in high school that you begin to see the "perks". For example, we are zoned for high school ABC but if the coach at XYZ wants my son (because it's a Class A school in that specific sport), my son WILL go to that school. But Coach, we don't live anywhere near that school. Doesn't matter. It will happen. Same thing with the elite private schools; can't afford our tuition because it's $60,000 a year? No problem! He can play (fill in the blank sport) for us and will give him an "athletic" scholarship (even though they don't offer those when you ask).

Yes, the money is draw-dropping. Yes, those players work and face injuries that may not and often don't ever heal. HOWEVER....I can NOT wrap my head around the fact that players who are addicts, thieves, abusers of women, children and animals and are KNOWN to this are protected BECAUSE of the money they bring in. IMHO, that has ruined professional sports for me and the reason why I tell my son to focus on EDUCATION first and sports second. If he does get into some big whig college, don't waste the academic opportunity is my #1 message to him. *heavy sigh*

@SahmIam

I have to disagree that retired athletes who brought in the big money are tossed aside and forgotten. We still hear about the greats, especially Jackie Robinson the first African-American to break the color barrier, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, San Francisco's own Willy Mays. And the fighters, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Muhammed Ali, etc. Football stars like our own Joe Montana. Female athletes, Billy Jean King, Martina Navratalova, Jackee Joiner Kersee, etc.

They are not forgotten, not by a long shot. They and so many others are still held in high esteem.