Really?

So I'm a huge Philly sports fan (well in the sports that I actually care about) and therefore one of the main things I do when I'm bored is peruse the various sporting websites looking for information about the Phillies and Flyers.  Well I was making my mandatory 20th round today (since its essentially an off day with nothing to do) not expecting anything new to be there when all of a sudden I noticed this http://www.csnphilly.com/12/13/10/Phillies-among-three-finalists-to-land-C/landing_phillies.html?blockID=372509&feedID=704

I just figured it was some kind of cruel joke but decided to read it.  Apparently the Phillies really are in the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes.   I was pretty much amazed at this considering the Phillies were seemingly content to go into next season with what they had (and they would still be the favorites to win the nl, at least in my opinion).  That would be a legendary rotation and would easily make the Phillies the favorite for both this year and next year.

Anyway, now that I'm done salivating over that piece of information here's what I actually want to talk about.

Professional sports are ridiculous with the money they give to everyone.  Even the managers make upwards of 200,000 a year (more if you're on a really good team)  I mean honestly these people do not deserve this obscene amount of money.  What do they do that makes them worth so much?  Do they change the way we view the world (nope, and the normal salary for a physicist is around 100,000) do they attempt to cure the world of disease? Nope (salaries right around 100,000 again, maybe a little higher)  How about fight and die to protect our freedom? Nope.  Do they put out fires? Nope?

Now don't get me wrong, some of these people do great things with their money (take jamie moyer) but many just stash it away in material wealth.  What if instead of paying these players millions of dollars to play children's games they started paying to help the world.  What if instead of spending millions on stadiums they spent millions on homeless shelters.  What if instead of spending millions on equipment and specialized trainers they spent millions developing new technologies to help the sick.

What about a small step.  What if the fans refused to watch until owners start putting a spot for charity work into their budgets.... and make it at least 10% of the overall salary.  That would equate to about 15 million dollars from the phillies, and over 20 million from the red socks and yankees..... so almost 70 million a year from just three teams in just one sport.

Hey, this won't happen but I'm an idealist.  Imagine how much better the world would be if this were to happen.  Maybe people would actually be able to eat enough to keep from dying....

I feel sorry for all of those players who stockpile their cash.

I'll say it again--it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!"


Matthew 19:24