Professional Athletes and Rags to Riches

[Brandon]

I find it very strange that a country so enamored with the old Horatio Alger myth of "rags-to-riches through hard work" can be so unanimously opposed to the idea of athletes striking it big.

If you stop and think about it, professional athletes, even moreso than our precious CEOs, have truly made it into wealth through their own talents and efforts. But we scorn them. We call them greedy. Meanwhile, we cut tremendous amounts of slack to the corporate robber-barons who delude, suck money out of, and generally ass rape the majority of the country.

[ziggytrix]

if it were up to me, capital punishment would be used as an effective control against corporate crime.

[kellychaos]

Perhaps it has something to do with the athlete's need to seek public attention for their athletic accomplishments whilst the corporate weasels want anything but attention in achieving wealth through their sneakigy, dastardly deeds.

[sspadowsky]

I'm with ziggy. And just to level the playing field, everyone in a criminal case, be they shoplifter or CEO, gets a court-appointed public defender. Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey and their ilk are out of the game. I want to see Andrew Fastow represented by some apathetic, middle-aged burnout in a threadbare suit with lots of broken blood vessels in his nose.

[sspadowsky]

Sorry, Brandon, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Athletes aren't more greedy than anyone else, they're just in a better position to be greedy than most anyone else. And I say they can demand as much as they want, because the odds are that one of the corporate robber-baron team owners will cough up the dough in hopes of fattening his own wallet through increased ticket sales. Good for the players. Let 'em get all they can.

Anyone who thinks that athletes don't work hard for their money should go to one of their training camps, and have to participate. They would change their minds inside of five minutes, if they hadn't already passed out.

[Brandon]

Hijack? Nah. Anytime someone wants to bash corporate crooks it's ok by me.

[Suck 'n' Fuck]

Sspad, I agree. Justice (or lack thereof) should not be for sale.

I think that professional athletes should be paid a pretty respectable amount, like no more than $100,000 a year. I also think that the wealthy should have a much higher rate of taxation in order to fund social programs and the like in order to redistribute the wealth. changing the regulations for businesses would be a good idea so they don't assfuck their customers, employees, and the economy, and a couple of other things I can't be bothered to think of.

[El Blanco]

This is a capitalist system. Atheletes make these huge salaries because people are willing to pay for it. People get upset because these salaries get flaunted in front of us. Of course, when some of these guys do stupid shit, it doesn't help.

Same goes for CEOs and such. I know a lot of you hate to admit this, but they do earn their money. You have to bust your ass to get that far. Connections might get you in the door, but all the true power people. They get those huge salaries with off the wall bonuses because its what they are promised in their contracts.

This is not to say that the bastards who screwed over the Enron investors and employees shouldn't be dragged through the streets and hanged by their toes.

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by ArtificialBrandon

If you stop and think about it, professional athletes, even moreso than our precious CEOs, have truly made it into wealth through their own talents and efforts. But we scorn them. We call them greedy. Meanwhile, we cut tremendous amounts of slack to the corporate robber-barons who delude, suck money out of, and generally ass rape the majority of the country.

Dude, what the hell? Athletes get their fair share of relaxed laws. Not as much of course; they're pulling down pro athlete money, not billionaire embezzler money.

And who's this "we" that aren't calling corporate robber barons greedy?

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by Dr. Boogie

Dude, what the hell? Athletes get their fair share of relaxed laws. Not as much of course; they're pulling down pro athlete money, not billionaire embezzler money.

Yes, yes, I know. I'm just saying--Americans can seem to forgive corrupt embezzlers more readily than corrupt athletes.

Originally Posted by Dr. Boogie

And who's this "we" that aren't calling corporate robber barons greedy?

OK, SORRY. Replace "we" with "Americans."

[theapportioner]

That's because Americans are distracted by this weekend's NFL playoff games.

[Protoclown]

OMG OMG SPINSTER

[punkgrrrlie10]

I don't think athletes are greedy. I think they get what they deserve. They are the ones killing themselves out on the field every week, and they are the ones drawing in the crowds. Better the entertainers themselves get it rather than the owners. If a person brings in a couple billion for another, I believe they deserve their share. They've earned it. And those guys aren't playing until they are 70 so they have to make enough to support their familes for the rest of their lives when they are done. So who are these "americans" you speak of that think they are greedy? Again a generalization probably on a sampling of people that you have been exposed to rather than a diverse sampling of people that represent the spectrum.

[kellychaos]

Originally Posted by ArtificialBrandon

Yes, yes, I know. I'm just saying--Americans can seem to forgive corrupt embezzlers more readily than corrupt athletes.

You're right about that. Case in point: Pete Rose. He's probably one of the biggest arsehole's to ever play the sport of baseball but, because of sentamentality, people are still pushing for him to be in the Hall Of Fame. A lot of that, I believe, is due to the fact that professional sports like baseball are an interwoven part of american culture. It's not like the kids are going around trading playing cards of Enron executives.

P.S. Unless they're a super-athlete at the top of the sport, no matter how much professional athletes make, their pay pales in comparison to what the team owners and executive of an organization make due to the athletes. Most athletes at the top of their game probably make more per year from product endorsementst than from their annual salary.

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by punkgrrrlie10

So who are these "americans" you speak of that think they are greedy? Again a generalization probably on a sampling of people that you have been exposed to rather than a diverse sampling of people that represent the spectrum.

You had to go and nitpick, didn't you? You agreed with my goddamn statements but you nitpicked anyway. First Boogie gets his panties in a bunch over "we" and now you're here requiring a scientific poll of all americans.

I FIGURED, for the purposes of an INFORMAL discussion, that I could get away with a broad term like "Americans" because not only does it imply "the majority of" or "in general," but most of us could probably name at least a handful of people in our own lives who grumble about pro athletes.

BUT TELL YOU WHAT. Next time I even THINK of hitting the "Post New Topic" button, I'll present a years worth of research in specific language and excruciating detail, JUST SO I WON'T UPSET YOUR DELICATE SENSIBILITES, MMK?

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by ArtificialBrandon

You had to go and nitpick, didn't you? You agreed with my goddamn statements but you nitpicked anyway. First Boogie gets his panties in a bunch over "we" and now you're here requiring a scientific poll of all americans.

I FIGURED, for the purposes of an INFORMAL discussion, that I could get away with a broad term like "Americans" because not only does it imply "the majority of" or "in general," but most of us could probably name at least a handful of people in our own lives who grumble about pro athletes.

BUT TELL YOU WHAT. Next time I even THINK of hitting the "Post New Topic" button, I'll present a years worth of research in specific language and excruciating detail, JUST SO I WON'T UPSET YOUR DELICATE SENSIBILITES, MMK?

I apologize. To even the score, I'll make a few vague generalizations of my own:

Americans do not "forgive" corporate raiders more readily than pro athletes. Just because you (ArtificialBrandon) are hearing all about Kobe's rape trial instead of Martha Stewart's legal troubles does not mean that Americans have forgiven the aforementioned embezzlers.

They also consider said rich white man to be greedy.

[FartinMowler]

They (professional atheletes) perform magical feats for your entertainment and you pay a huge sum as a form of insurance that if injured they won't have to suffer. Ceo's? have nothing to do with the american dream.

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by Dr. Boogie

I apologize. To even the score, I'll make a few vague generalizations of my own:

Americans do not "forgive" corporate raiders more readily than pro athletes. Just because you (ArtificialBrandon) are hearing all about Kobe's rape trial instead of Martha Stewart's legal troubles does not mean that Americans have forgiven the aforementioned embezzlers.

They also consider said rich white man to be greedy.

Fair enough. I stand corrected.

[AChimp]

I think the distinction between the two comes from the fact that the "evil CEO" has a real job, whereas athletes get paid to run around and play catch.

[Brandon]

Originally Posted by AChimp

I think the distinction between the two comes from the fact that the "evil CEO" has a real job, whereas athletes get paid to run around and play catch.

Well yeah, they're playing a game, but they get paid as much as they do because they're first and foremost entertainers.

[The One and Only...]

The entrepeneur should make the most money. He is, after all, the most valuable to society's material advancement.

[Protoclown]

Oh, for the love of god...just go hang out on the music or movies forum for a while. You might learn something important over there. Seriously.

[The One and Only...]

Art is not immune to the market process. Those whose art creates more pleasure recieve more wealth. Artists are, in many ways, entrepeneurs themself. Or, at least, they would be in a market society.

[Protoclown]

No no no, I'm talking about WATCHING movies and LISTENING to music, you fucking twat.

[punkgrrrlie10]

Originally Posted by AChimp

I think the distinction between the two comes from the fact that the "evil CEO" has a real job, whereas athletes get paid to run around and play catch.

Very rarely do CEOs have all the ligaments in their legs torn out at one point and rarely do people run into them so hard that the black out. At most they get that nasty paper cut.