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Printer-Friendly ModeNine-figure salaries leave little room for ‘mistakes’
June 8, 2009 —
As someone who is overly jealous of professional athletes (people who get paid absurd amounts of money to play the sport they love) I often find myself thinking about what it would be like to be in their shoes. Considering the negative press individual athletes can draw, I ask myself, is it really that hard to think before one acts?
It seems that from a professional athlete’s standpoint, it is that hard. Think of all the athletes who are the inspiration behind shame-inducing headlines for what they do off the field rather than on. I’m talking about the Alex Rodriguez’s, Michael Vick’s and Jeremy Mayfield’s of the world, along with countless others.
Rodriguez has admitted to taking steroids. Reports even have accused him of doping as early as his high school years. The New York Yankee third-baseman had been hailed as the only player to have a chance to break the all-time home run record held by none other than Barry Bonds, a player many accuse of also taking steroids.
Vick, the former franchise quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons and face of the NFL, was just released from prison on dog fighting charges. Once the highest paid player in NFL history, Vick was sentenced to a 23-month federal prison term.
Mayfield was recently suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for failing a drug test. While NASCAR has not yet revealed what the drug was, reports have come out that the drug was cocaine.
You may be wondering what these athletes, all of whom play different sports, have in common. The correct answer is that they are all high-profile athletes that were supposed to be role models for young people who look up to them.
After getting in trouble, athletes often say something like, “We are all human beings. We are ordinary people who make mistakes.” The problem with this is that they are not ordinary people. They are people who get paid ridiculous amounts of money to perform. Young kids look up to them and admire them. Shouldn’t they be held more accountable for the mistakes they make?
I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be allowed to make mistakes. I’m just saying that if I were to be paid $252 million dollars over ten years to play baseball or $130 million dollars over ten years to play football, I would be a little more conscious of the decisions I make.