by Nikolas Nies

Created on: August 09, 2009

We all remember the performances of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Joe Montana, and many other top professional sports figures. But do we remember the names of the rescue workers that retrieved Baby Jessica from the well? What about that teacher that impacted the lives of several children's lives as the grew into adults. The positive impact upon several generations that this teacher made is beyond measure. And then we have firefighters and police officer who risk their lives everyday for our safety. Military personnel who make the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms, where is their hall of fame? Who remembers their performances? The logic behind compensating performance recognition of our athletes versus the real heroes of this world is totally flawed.

An athlete gets paid an extravagant amount of money to play a game! Whose fault is this? If someone offered me six million a year to do my job, I sure wouldn't turn them down. Those who think that athletes make too much money shouldn't be blaming the athletes, they should be blaming themselves. It is the revenue collected from us that pays their salary. We buy sports memorabilia, we pay outrageous prices for tickets to watch them play and we support the sponsors that pay them to endorse their products. We are to blame for the lopsided compensation that exists.

If you were trapped in a wrecked car, and you knew it was getting ready to burst into flames, who would you call out for? How much would it be worth to you to have someone come along and cut you out of that car? The problem with this scenario and many like it, is that we expect a firefighter to come to our rescue, after all we pay our taxes. When we call 911, we are upset if the response time is what we think is too long. We expect the people who risk their lives or teach our children to do it for the little amount they earn. At the same time, we don't think twice about spending three of four hundred dollars for a day at the stadium. We don't think twice about paying the inflated price for that pair of shoes that our favorite sports idol endorsed. The inflated price we pay for a cable sports channel is worth it to us because we can catch the games we would otherwise miss.

The question that we should really be asking is how do athletes affect our lives, as opposed to the other examples given here. Is it worth the amount of money we spend to support them? Would our personal lives be much different without them? What can we least afford to be without? Police officers, soldiers, teachers, social workers or athletes, which would we miss the most? The answer is obvious, so why is it that we pay such a premium for the least necessary of the choices? We need to get our priorities straight!

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