If we look at our good friend, the dictionary, it will define the noun sport as a pastime or recreational activity. So how is it that we can have professional sportsmen and sportswomen, whose job is to simply partake in what has already been established as a pastime? Is this how all of the major professions started? Did the medical world start off with a couple of people that liked to cut each other open for leisure? Did people used to practice screwing people and carrying out acts of evil for fun before lawyers existed?
<*dv_5*> Now, I have the utmost respect for any athlete that is talented and dedicated enough to compete on a professional level. However, I do have a hard time believing that these athletes actually warrant the ridiculous salaries they are paid. Lets take a look at our nations most popular sport football.
<*dv_4*> The average working man or woman works a 40-hour week. Some do more; some do less. Now lets look at the average footballer. They play on average two games per week, but lets be generous and say they play three games per week. A football game lasts ninety minutes, so that takes us up to four and a half hours per week. The rest of the working world goes to the gym in our spare time, or for those that cant be bothered with the gym, we go to the pub and exercise our biceps by high repetitions of the pint glass. Either way, thats a recreational activity and shouldnt be counted as work, but Im going to be really kind here and add on some extra time to a footballers working week to compensate for training. Now lets say that a footballers average working week lasts twelve hours. Thats almost a quarter of what the rest of the working world does. And then of course, theres the long summer holiday they have at the end of the season Does this sound fair?
Its one thing to have a footballer that has to do so little work, but its another to have them earning a salary in a week that most people wont earn in an entire year. Lets look at the worst perpetrator of them all in this country that ass goblin, David Beckham. It doesnt bother me that hes a weirdo, it doesnt bother me that he wears a skirt, but it does bother me that he can earn in excess of 90,000 per week for playing football! Add to that all of the sponsorship and endorsement deals, and then tell me that this is deserved.
<*dv_0*> Apparently, Beckham is very good at what he does. But what does he do? He plays football! Admittedly, football entertains a large proportion of this country, but thats all that it is, entertainment. Is football going to cure cancer? Is football going to spread world peace? Would a carefully aimed and precisely kicked football take out Saddam? Probably not.
I personally find it insulting that a football player can earn more in a twelve-hour working week than true professionals earn in a year. Im talking about doctors, policemen (to a certain extent), and kebab vendors people that provide us with a valuable service. Why should they earn so much less?
Perhaps the life of a footballer isnt as easy as I may have described. The celebrity status means that they cant do simple things such as go to the shops. Plus, there is a tremendous amount of pressure on them for them to win. My heart bleeds! The only difference is, I dont have stacks and stacks of 50 notes to wipe away my tears and blow my nose on like they do. So is this fair?
What really cracked me up was when I heard that some footballers were pushing for a mid-season break, to relieve them of some of the pressure. I bet Id feel exactly the same if I had to earn a wage by kicking a ball around for a few hours each week!
<*dv_2*> Of course, the rest of the entertainment world is just as guilty in demanding so much for so little. Sure, its all about keeping us entertained. But clowns are also entertainers and they dont earn six and seven figure salaries, do they? Is any of this fair? No, its not. Is it going to continue and ultimately get worse? Yes, it will. So what can we do? Sit here and bitch about it over the Internet? Works for me!
Submitted by Lee Baker
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