And I get the allure of sports, I really do. Before any sports-crazed readers (do I have any of those?) come after me, let me say that I absolutely think sports is a worthy and valuable part of society* and I don't think that should be diminished.
But two things I will never get, or be able to support, are the money and the egos.
I don't understand how someone can make tens of millions of dollars a year and still say they "need" more. They "deserve" more.
People say that players should get paid that much because they bring in that much. I don't believe that. I think it's an insanely greedy catch-22. People are willing to pay, so owners and companies and players and everyone else involved get greedy and charge more and more. But people are willing to pay, so...
So $10 million stadiums are built and ticket prices skyrocket to pay it off. Let's not even get into how much a beer and a hot dog will run you these days. Before you know it, you've spent easily over $400 - and that's for nosebleed seats.
It makes me kind of sick, actually. And sad.
I'm sad that in another generation or so, only the extremely wealthy will even be able to consider going to see a professional game live. I'm sad that a kid who can kick, throw or dunk a ball well makes many times as much money as the researchers out there working every day to cure disease or work towards peace or help the homeless/impoverishes/sick/underprivileged. I'm sad that the real spirit of sports is increasingly being lost in personal drama (OMG Tiger Woods), fan anger drama (OMG Lebron James), ego-the-size-of-the-moon-drama (OMG Cam Newton), steroid abuse drama (OMG every baseball player out there today), and all the other ridiculous
Where's the love, people?
* Particularly when compared with pop culture tidbits such as Bridalplasty.
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