Why So Much


NBA opener-the New York Knicks against the Chicago Bulls. The score's tied in the fourth quarter. Knicks guard John Starks shot turns into an air ball--6 seconds left. The Bulls' Dennis Rodman grabs the rebound. He passes to Scottie Pippin--4 seconds left. Pippin spots Michael Jordan passes--3 seconds, 2 seconds left. Jordan grabs the pass, rockets over Knicks center Patrick Ewing, and jams the ball through the hoop. The Bulls win! Thats just one game that season that Michael Jordan was going to make $366,000. After 82 games Michael could add all that money up and get $30 million. "I can't imagine why Michael Jordan isn't worth $30 million in a season," said coach Phil Jackson. But can the city imagine that with how much money they put into him how this is going to help them if they don't win a championship? Why do players get this much money to try bring a championship to that city? Look at Lebron James:his contract expires this year and he is probably getting paid as much or more than Michael Jordan. All I want to know is why do athletes get paid way to much money compared to the early 2000s to today.

Football is one of the most popular sports. If you look at info carefully you can see how much teams put into the players to win a championship. Like in the early two thousands players didn't get paid as much in three years as much as players get paid in one year now. Drew Bledsoe got payed $8,542,700 from the Patriots in the year 2000. He was the highest paid in the year 2000. If you compare that to the 2008 season that is just a third of one player's salary. Ben Rothlisberger got payed $27,701,920in the 2009 season also as the highest paid athlete. It would take Bledsoe more then 3 years to catch up with Ben Rothlisberger. Or even on how much Eli Manning and Philip Rivers made with their extension in the last couple year's coming out of the same draft class. And now the two highest paid players in the National Football League.

Basketball players are some of the most skilled athletes on the planet. and also some of the most paid in the time it has existed. Kevin Garnet is one of the most hard working athletes. over the span of the 2001-2002 season to the 2008-2009 season he's been the most paid player. In 2001-2002 he got paid 22.4 million in the 2008-2009 season he got paid $24,751,934. not much of a difference there. So why do they need this money, they should be honored to play the game at the level they play at.

The Final sport I am going to criticize is baseball America's pas time. In the late 80s we remember names like Dave Winfield, Jim Rice, or Ozzie Smith. the highest paid payer was Gary Carter $2,360,714. in the late 90s we remember players like Pedro Martinez, Kenny Lofton, Bernie Williams, Barry Bonds, and Gary Sheffield. The highest paid player was Albert Belle with 10 million. Today we know players as A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez, and Mark Teixeira. There is one thing these players have in common they get paid in one year more than 20 million dollars(2009 Season). I think this a little bit of a disgrace of the game because you didn't see some of the great players like some that I mentioned or Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Frank Thomas or even John Smoltz get paid even close to this much. Or How high the payroll is for some teams the Yankees And the Mets Have a payroll higher then every one else and there in the same state and they both got new stadiums in the same year. Not even one NBA team has half of that payroll with the highest being the Knicks

Thats what I think about the over rising salary caps and the players ridiculous extensions.