Are Athletes Overpaid?

Are Athletes Overpaid? It gets the wheels turning in your head when you hear that the budget is falling apart and people are losing their jobs on the news. Following that is the sports news where athletes are signing several million dollar contracts and debating player’s performances. We all know that there is a lot of talent out there but should we paying millions of dollars for someone that plays a sport for a living? Can someone that can run fast or throw a ball so good that they deserve to make one hundred times more that the average American? The average US household makes roughly $51,000 a year, according to the US Census Bureau. Compare that income to Kobe Bryant’s $24,806,250. A lot of Americans punch the clock and work honestly everyday to provide for themselves and their love ones. You can turn sports center on and hear about players not wanting to play because they felt they played better than anticipated and want more money! Was 6 million dollars not enough to live off of? Are all the cars, mansions and vacation homes necessary for you to do what you get paid to do? People idealize pro athletes all over the world, especially young impressionable ones. But should we be idealizing them? We should look up to ones that give time to others in need or that do something out of the goodness of their hearts. So who do we hear most about? Athletes driving drunk, killing dogs, or getting arrested for drug possession. These are all things that happen on a daily basis to lots of people in the world. The average American goes to jail and a lot of them can lose their jobs over just one of these problems, but not the big money making pros. An athlete can do one or more of these things, throw money at it and most of there legal problems go away. Most post bond and are out of jail before TMZ can even get to the police station. Is that the example that should be set? Make lots of money and you can act as though the rules don’t apply to you.