Monday, March 02, 2009

Contracts, Deals, Trades, Etc.


What made us get to the point where it is necessary to pay certain individuals millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars to play a game?  I have been wondering about that a lot lately.  The more I think about it, the more it makes me sick to my stomach.  Especially after watching Slumdog Millionaire over the weekend.  Seeing the kind of scenery that was depicted in that movie (kids playing on mountains of trash, bath facilities with no running water, etc.) makes me wonder why humanity thinks it is okay to reward someone for being gifted with the ability to run fast or display certain levels of coordination not common to most people.  

Here are a few examples of ridiculous contracts:
Alex Rodriguez - 10 years, $275,000,000
Albert Hainsworth - 7 years, $100,000,000
Derek Jeter - 10 years, $189,000,000
Mark Teixiera - 8 years, $180,000,000
CC Sabathia - 7 years, $161,000,000
Kobe Bryant - 7 years, $136,400,000
Kimi Raikkonen (Auto Racing) - 3 years, $153,000,000

And the list goes on and on...

Millions of dollars being paid to individuals, while there are people and countries that could benefit greatly from even a small portion of it.  Simply amazing.