i personally couldnt care less about a athlete getting paid an outrageous sum of money. the way i see it, either the players get it or the owners do, and like most workers, id rather see a player get it.

i actually wrote into the Sporting News when albert belle signed his huge contract, when everyone was griping about loyalty and how much money he was offered and the best way i could put this into perspective was:

imagine you work at burger king making $6.75 an hour. Mickey Dees comes at you and offers you $20 an hour to work for them

yes, loyalty is nice and all, and you can put a price tag on it, but everyone and i do mean everyone, can be bought, some are cheaper than others and others are a lot more expensive.

so if the yankees spend 400 million on their payroll, that tells me they are more worried about winning than they are the bottom line, and thats the only thing you can ask from your franchise

I agree mostly, but I don't think you can compare it to working/middle class people. There's a real difference in quality of life between 6 and 20 dollars an hour, wheras if you're choosing between a 70 million and a 95 million dollar contract, you're going to be fabulously wealthy for the rest of your life no matter what.
That's ultimately what twists people's tits so much. I don't know what people expect though, this is just the way our society is. Athletes are no different.


The funny part is Belle leaving was best for Cleveland, his contract would've been a nightmare for them.

yeah its crazy to care what these guys make, especially if you think about the talent they need to have in order to make what they make as apposed to a movie star getting 20mill for making ONE movie, good or bad

but in a case like Gagne, I think its ok for fans to get mad at that kind of situation, where the player talked for two whole years about how much he loved the organizatio nand the fans and repeatedly stated how hed be willing to give his team a discount when it was time for a new contract, then the time came and he jumped ship for a lousy extra $1 million dollars. its better to not run your mouth if your gonna chace the dollar. just stay quiet and get paid

If a player gets paid $20 million and has a brutal season, he still gets paid. How is that different from an actor making a bad movie?

This is known as the 'Cashley Cole' phenomenon. If you know english football you'll know what i mean.

no player is making $20 million for one season

not even in Canadian dollars

business is business from the player perspective.

shaq, garnett, arod and a few others sandy

Right, i dont know what that means .

it's ok, i don't either.

im behind the times peepers, and embarassed!

AI is making close to that. i think chris webber is scheduled to get over $20m next season

and thats not a typo, thats really chris webber i typed

hey Koufax...if you really want to get sick...realize Allan Houston is making 20 million this year. Of course, the insurance company is picking up about 90 percent of that...but it's nice work if you can get it.

Oh, and I think Micheal Finley is making that much as well from his old Mavs contract.

kids these days....you know one time me and Donnie Drysdale had to hold out together just to get a cool million....between BOTH of us????

If you personally think the sum is outrageous, doesn't that, by definition, mean you could care less?

no

Ashley Cole born and raised in London, playing for Arsenal went to arch rivals Chelsea this summer because they're paying him WAAAAAAAAY more.

that about is all that there is to it.

as lonfg as they prove that they are worth the money. But then again how much is a player really worth? it's kinda silly .

and when latrell Sprewell says it's a joke for a team to offer him 15 mil and he says i can;t feed my family with that. seriously.

i'm kinda 50/50 on the whole salary debate.

i will say this. Rookies who are siging their first contract should have a minimun amount that can be spent on them. They have done nothing to prove themselves worthy of a multi multi million dollar contract.

*glenn robinson rule