It’s that time of the week again. Let’s get those grievances off our chests.
Rubber Rooster:
People living in America who say the world is getting worse or talk about the “good ole days.”
This only tells me that they have no perspective whatsoever. That they live in their own little narrow bubble and focus on negativities.
We know what germs are. We have cars. We have houses. We have refrigerators. We have grocery stores. We have showers. We have central air/heat. We have the internet at our fingertips for the most mundane questions, curiosities, and porn. We won’t be killed for our religious opinions. We don’t have to send our children to factories to support households. We’re not torturing the mentally ill in horrible asylums. Women have more rights and protection than ever before. Women can own property, vote, drive cars, and have sexual freedom. We don’t have slaves. We don’t have racial segregation. Gays can fucking get married now – how awesome is that?! Obviously, we can’t control every single bigoted individual, but the law is on our side. Progress all around: science, technology, medicine, social issues, Pokemon Go, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
What a time to be alive.
Stoney Keeley (@StoneyKeeley):
Like last week, I’m going to share an opinion I know for a fact is unpopular with the general public.
Athletes get paid millions of dollars every year, and they absolutely should get paid millions of dollars every year. Why? Because that’s how business works. A company makes money, and in turn (hopefully, albeit not every business is run by honest, benevolent people), trickles that money down throughout the organization.
In my experience, athletics is the one realm that actually gets it right. The people that are actually doing the work get the lion’s share of the money. It’s simple – professional sports generates BILLIONS of dollars annually. So, professional teams have BILLIONS of dollars to spend.
How do you think that came to be?
In the very early days of professional football, guys were being paid the equivalent of around $20,000 a season (if I recall correctly. Don’t hold me to that – I don’t research when I’m ranting). Most of them had to get jobs in the offseason to pay the bills! Can you imagine that in 2016?
Eventually, as the sport grew in popularity, money started to roll in. At some point, someone said, “You know – this guy is really good. I bet if we offered him….$45,000….he’d come running.” People started pouring more money into football. Popularity grew. Money poured in. Repeat exponentially.
Why sports are so popular is a completely different discussion, but the fact is, they are.
You don’t like cities using taxpayer’s money to finance a stadium? Quit going to games. You don’t like leagues making billions of dollars from TV contracts? Quit watching sports on TV. You don’t like that athletes are making as much as they are? Quit buying merchandise.
Quit pumping money into the sports juggernaut. That’s the only way things are going to change.
Now, I will say – I do sympathize for the people who don’t think sports should hold such value in our culture…the people who couldn’t point a baseball out of a row of eggs. I’ll allow complaints from such folk who aren’t paying money to teams and then complaining about how much money the teams make. I feel bad for them, though – that’s a tough mountain to climb. You only have to convince billions of people that sports are stupid.
But, being a fanatic and complaining about the amount of money these billionaires and millionaires play around with is hypocritical. If you make this a problem, you have to realize that you are a part of the problem.
Even worse are the NFL players complaining that a mid-level NBA point guard (debatable) like Mike Conley just made $153 million. Dude, it’s math. There are 53 players on an NFL roster. The NBA? 14. Come on.
Most businesses aren’t under the public microscope the way sports are. Most people don’t have their salary blasted out in the media to millions of people.
Also, most businesses aren’t perceived as “just a game.” Don’t get me started on that. I mean, these are the most talented and skilled athletes on the planet who have spent a lifetime honing their craft and working hard to make it to an elite level, facing constant pressure to perform and to win. But, they’re just playing a game, right? They never had to work hard for anything, right?
Spare me the “it’s just a game” bullshit. You can’t equate what these guys are doing to what you did as a dopey kid without an athletic bone in your body. You can’t say Tom Brady makes too much money because you played quarterback in high school. You can’t say Mike Conley makes too much money because he “throws a ball through a hoop.”
Frankly, that’s insulting. It’s ignorant, and it demonstrates a complete and total lack of understanding of what professional sports mean to the people involved and to the people who support them.
This absolutely fires me up. I need to take a minute to breathe.
Okay, I’m back – The truth is, most teams are HUGELY involved in their communities. Most athletes DO give back – they spend hours out in the community committing charitable acts. They visit children’s hospitals. They donate. They set up foundations for whichever causes they believe in. They create scholarships. They become advocates for cancer research, social awareness, domestic violence, concussion research, etc.
I’m willing to say that most athletes use their spot for good in the world. There are bad apples, of course. But, I’m not going to hate on athletes as a whole for the amount of money they make. I’m certainly not envious of them, either – the amount of pressure that comes with being a professional athlete is absurd.
The bottom line is they’re making millions doing what they love and have worked their entire lives for – good for them.
Whether you realize it or not, your argument is not about the athletes at all – it’s whether you think sports are deserving of their spot in our culture or not. That’s fine. Good luck to you.
Whew – that felt good. Remember, to submit your own Thursday Rant, hit us up on Facebook or on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. See you next Thursday.
