sports salaries

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Sports Salaries
Athletics in this country are bigger than ever. Today, more people are attending sporting events than ever before. Sports have a truly unique ability; they bring people of all races, genders, and social classes together forming one common bond, the well-being of the home team. For all the good sports bring, however, a growing majority of fans are becoming more and more disenchanted with the high priced industry.
America whines while these athletes sign multi-million dollar contracts, moans when they get in trouble with the law and points fingers when the athletes do not live up to the standard of "role model." Yet these fans that whine, moan, and point fingers are the same ones that pay hundreds of dollars to see these athletes play. They are the same ones that berate the justice system if an athlete is ever convicted, and they are the same ones that buy the shoes and other products endorsed by an athlete who claims to be anything but a "role model.” Society needs to reprioritize. Doctors, teachers, law enforcement officers, professors, judges, and nurses deserve to be getting all of the media exposure and endorsement money.
Sports should be regarded as originally intended: strictly as a form of entertainment. These days, while it is considered entertainment, it is actually much more serious than that. Sports are productive – to a certain extent. When people cross the fine line between fan and fanatic, that's when sports are brought into a new dimension. That's also when the business side of this entertainment approaches the spotlight.
Sports are not worth it. It's just a game. It's good to get out there and have something to support, but don't make it a larger than life situation. Athletes should be working-class Americans with working-class lives. They have their comparative advantages, and they have found their niche in life. But I am not disputing the fact that every man needs to make a living. I am disputing the fact that these athletes are making more than what they are worth, based on a true value-to-society scale.
The biggest problem I have with the high salaries of athletes is that it has taken the competitiveness out of sports such as baseball, which does not have a salary cap. In Major League Baseball there are big market teams and there are small market teams. The problem in baseball is that all the good player...

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...t at fault for being the beneficiaries of the fans' misguided spending. Fans who complain about the salaries and the behavior of the players should not support them. Fans, who write letters to newspapers, send e-mails to teams, and call front offices should not waste their time with such antics. They should actually do something to catch the attention of those involved in the business formerly known as sports. Don't attend the games if you are going to complain.
Yes, athletes are coddled. That is only because of the average fan's willingness to allow this to happen. The fan who spends $50 for a ticket in the nosebleed section is as guilty as the owners are for letting salaries escalate to the point where there are. So while America whines about the lofty salaries and the questionable actions of these stars, we still continue to pay the absurd ticket prices that the owners demand. Consequently, this elevates the salaries that players receive.
Athletes are not the ones to blame. For those looking for a scapegoat, there is only one place to look – a mirror.

Work Cited
1. "ESPN.com: Dodgers’ gain is Padres’ pain.” ESPN Sportszone, 12 Dec. 1998.

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