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Daily Outrage Sporting Heroes 

WORKERS UNITE!

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As you while away the days of summer, you may not be aware that America is in the midst of a seminal labor dispute. On one side, the not-so-invisible hand of oppressive capitalists Hell-bent on making money off the labor of exploited minorities. On the other side, the callused and trembling hand of the proletariat.

On June 29 the National Basketball Association team owners, by a vote of 27-2, announced a lock-out. The current collective bargaining agreement between the players and owners had expired. The players made one offer for a new agreement; the owners made four unsuccessful counter-offers. Deadlock. In the great tradition of American labor-management relations, each party is suing the other.

The owners say they are losing money. National Basketball Association Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik says that last season, 97-98, “for the first time in maybe 14 or 15 years, the league as a whole, with all 29 teams taken together, was actually unprofitable.” According to the NBA Players’ Association only four individual teams actually lost money last season. (They happen to be located in Washington, Los Angeles, Denver, and San Antonio.)

While the league and the players disagree over how many teams are actually losing money, one thing’s for sure; none of the players are. In 1996 demi-God Michael Jordan was paid over $30 million. Dikembe Mutombo, who gave up a promising career as a nuclear physicist to play hoops, made over $8 million. Latrell Sprewell, a leader in friendly labor-management relations, made $7 million, as did Otis Thorpe of the Detroit Pistons.

Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets made $9,655,000 during the 96 season, slightly behind the $11,250,000 pulled in by Reggie Walker of the Indiana Pacers. Shaquille O’Neal made L.A. style money of $10,714,000 in 96. In Miami, the heat was on Alonzo Morning, who pulled in $9,380,000. But the real magic was in Orlando, where Horace Grant received $14,857,000. And the list goes on. Of course, those numbers are just chump change compared to the $125 million multi-year deal that Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett signed last year.

You may want to review your compensation package and see how you compare to your favorite NBA star:

  • First of course, would be the question of hours-on-the-job. NBA players are required to work a solid 2-4 hours per day during the season. Of course, during games, most of them spend most of their time resting on the bench.
  • Vacation Time: 6 months.
  • Recognition for high performance: When you write a really solid interoffice memo, do your co-workers jump to their feet and applaud wildly? When you enter your office in the morning do thousands of onlookers chant your name? And, if not, why the Hell not?
  • If you attempt to strangle your boss, not once but twice, do industry arbitrators insist that you keep your job?
  • When you travel on business, do you fly in private jets with custom interiors?

If you don’t stack up well according to the above criteria, it may be time for you, oppressed one, to fight it out with management.

Like the novel “Vanity Fair” this is really a story without a hero. NBA team owners tend to be very wealthy men in search of a high-profile play-toy. One could easily argue that if the owners choose to pay astronomical salaries to young men to play a child’s game, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Worst of all, owners do their best to shift the cost of their hobby businesses to taxpayers in the form of subsidized stadiums, taxpayer financed loans, and various other sophisticated forms of stealing. All the same, it appears that at least eight of the NBA owners are willing to let the next season pass them by if labor issues are not resolved to their satisfaction. Those eight teams may make more money, or lose less, if there is no 98-99 season.

The major issue dividing labor and management, as it so often is, is salaries. Currently, players are guaranteed at least 48% of all league revenue, but last season they actually took home $950 million, or 57% of all revenue. That left 43% for incidentals like administration, coaches’ salaries, marketing and advertising, stadium and facility rent, utilities, insurance, and last and probably least, return on investment.

One of the key issues from the players’ union point of view is the league’s middle class. Now, when you think of middle class you might think of two working parents, two kids, a household income of $35,000, and two weeks off each year.

In the NBA the term “middle class” has a slightly different meaning, and refers to those players, about 110 of them, making less than a million dollars a year. (The truly down and out, about 60 of the 110, make the minimum league salary of $272,500.)

The Players’ Association, in the great tradition of unions, would like to see more money transferred from young superstars to the, relatively speaking, older have-nots. This process has already begun, as the first player taken in the 1997 draft, Tim Duncan of San Antonio, made a paltry $2.9 million his first year in the league. Shaquille O’Neal, the first player taken in the 1992 draft, made $3 million during his rookie season. The owners “are saving money there,” Players’ Association director Tim Hunter said. “This is a great deal for them.” Hmmm…

In any event, it’s clear that there’s a great deal of suffering going on in professional basketball, and we’re almost moved to tears by the situation. The last time we felt this much sympathy for the proletariat was when we read “The Grapes of Wrath.”

If you also sympathize with the oppressed and downtrodden, you can make your support tangible, and participate in one of the great struggles of American labor, by sending your check to:

Hoopsters of the World Unite
Care of NBA Players Association and The Outrage
1800 Diagonal Road
Suite 600
Alexandria, VA 22314
USA

Remember, you have nothing to lose but your chains!

 

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0 thoughts on “WORKERS UNITE!”

  1. I DISAGREE WITH EVERYTHING ALL YOU PEOPLE JUST SAID!!!!! WANT HIGH SALARYS

    Time: 9/11/98 (20:51:20)

    Sports attendance is voluntary…I personally have little interest in sports(except Greyhound Racing if you can call that a sport). Who cares how much they make? I personally feel its irrational to pay that much to a sports figure…but, let the market rule.

    I question whether this merits an Outrage.

    The NBA players possess a skill that employers want, and they are competing in a free marketplace.

    If they were lobbying for laws to limit the entry of non-union b-ball players into the market, that would be an Outrage. Not this.

    No one is forced to buy a ticket. No one is forced to buy the products they endorse. There is no coercion at work here.

    The discussion of how much other people “should” be paid is absurd. Whatever the amount, if someone is willing to pay that much for a particular worker, then it’s fair. How much do we think is “too much?” Why anyone who makes more than we do makes too much!

    The real outrage it is how often you renovate your page. I see this one for at least one month.

    Hey take these overpaid jockstraps out and shoot them. then shut down the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL and go read a good book

    the world will not come to and end if we dont have bassetball to watch we really have the best example of how to screw our minds up with the oval office games and they would probably make better entertainment

    Yeah, no other big problems in this world!! Basketball is the all time big, stupid, mindblowing outrage!!!!! Feed the the hungry, housing for the homeless, these things are like mosquitos….just plain pesky and someone elses’ problem.

    Time: 8/18/98 (11:26:42)

    Sports- A sign of a truly pagan society, yet one that claims to be christian.

    Boycott sports and spend time with your family and God.

    It’s true basketball players make salaries which most of us find unimaginable. On the other hand they have tax bills that many of us would fund even more unmanageable. On top of the federal and state tax they must pay, most state and some cities get their cut when teams play away games, since most such agencies treat them just like entertainers — even if they don’t live there, they still have to pay taxes on income earned in that state or city. Can you imagine having to figure out taxes for a dozen different states and municipalities?

    As for the strike, in this case I don’t care who wins. The owners are the biggest idiots — usually labor contracts benefit workers in the union by dictating some wage level higher than the market level and owners try to whittle that down. Here, however, the owners position is they need the union to prevent each other from bidding up the cost of their workers. Sure it makes no sense, but they know one of their owners would go out and pay MJ $60 million a year if they could.

    As for the players, why are they still in the NBA? WHy don’t they leave and start their own league. It’s not like they’d be wanting for the startup capital. Then lets see how good they are at making their league profitable.

    If the market cannot support the big nba salaries, then the nba will cease to exist or salaries will go down. trust me if the money ceases to be there adjustments will be made

    so? it’s a free market, more free than some markets, actually. maybe if the government didn’t have it’s finger in your industry you’d make a bit more money. But what the players make is whatever the market will bear, as well as ticket prices, advertising and the rest. jealous of the basketball players? Then what’s stopping you? Be a big time basketball player for gosh sakes! Don’t let a little thing like your lack of talent stop you. Or check this: Michael Eisner and Oprah Winfrey are two even more highly paid people. maybe you could get their jobs…..

    Time: 8/14/98 (12:49:24)

    The real issue at hand here is our nation’s horrid facination with sports. A staggering percentage of the country is wrapped up in this fantasy world. Next time you pick up a newspaper or watch the news, notice how many resources are devoted the sports segment. This preoccupation with sports blinds our people, while thier pockets are picked by the scourges of government and ignorance.

    JUST STOP GOING TO NBA GAMES. FIND OTHER MEANS OF ENTERTAINMENT. FIND SOMETHING AT AN INTELLECTUAL LEVEL. OF COURSE AN INTELLECTUAL NBA FAN IS AN OXYMORON. BARNUM, OF BARNUM AND BAILLY, HAD IT RIGHT WHEN HE SAID “NOBODY EVER LOST ANY MONEY UNDERESTIMATING THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN” MY MAIN PROBLEM IS THAT THEY ALSO VOTE!

    My list of improvements for the NBA, to make it more appropriate for their salaries to be so high.

    -Install electrical perimeter around the court, causing anyone to accidentally “fall” out of bounds to immediately find themselves on the hot end of 10,000 volts of pure power.

    -For a measly five dollars more, allow the ticket-wielder to get a single weapon of their choice to fire at one of the professional players if they miss an easy shot.

    -Randomly release rabid bears that have been beaten with electrical prods all day and starved to near-death onto the court after half-time.

    -Attach razorblade-sharp rim to basket-board, causing anyone who grabs it to suddenly find themselves minus all their fingers.

    -Replace normal basketball with pure 200 pound cement basketball equipped with razor-sharp spikes across end. Also put it into play with a cannon, aiming at nearest open player.

    I believe that with these additions to the game, basketball’s salaries would be both justified and understandable. Also, I believe it would greatly increase the entertainment value for the public. Thank you.

    I think that the whole situation with the NBA is just horrid! The NBA was allready one of the biggest travesties in the entertainment world, and this lockout makes it worse. The NBA and WNBA should both be dismantled and basketball should go back to being the grand game it is. The game played one the streets where anyone can play. That’s about it.

    While NBA (and other sports stars) make a ton of money, look at all the money that the NBA makes. Most of that money deserves to go to the players because we pay to watch them play. Its the owners that make too much money. This is true of all industries and if one lesson is to be learned is that workers urgently need to fight back against their corporate oppressors.

    The outrageous conduct of owners and players will continue as long as fans continue to go to games. We need to unite in our demand that the consumer (us) have some say in the process as well! Who can afford to go to take his family to a professional sporting event — or even himself? Certainly not I.

    The poor souls on both sides! The owners who seem to look at this as an expensive toy must have earned their money by inheriting it. How else with any sense would invest in a team ownership when its obvious that the salary of a professional athlete is rising ever upward. It doesn’t seem like a reasonable investment. It seems as if pro sports are starting to verge on pricing hemselves out of business. As far as the athletes, I can understand wanting more money, but just how much is enough? How much tolerance would be extended to me if I attacked my boss, threatened to kill him, and choked him. I’d be in jail and lucky to ever have a job again. I wish that the fans, players and owners would soon realize that salaries of this magnitude are ridiculous. Fans seem to continue paying significant bucks to attend the games and buy the price-inflated souvenirs. WE as fans also are part of the blame. The starting grade school teacher or day care worker, who arguably has more potential to better society, should be excited about earning $18,000-22,000 per year with a poor health insurance policy and in some cases 60+ hour work weeks. Right? One clear way that this could be settled is to simply quit shelling out the money to the selfish players and owners.
    The owners will probably recover. How many of the players could live on salaries like that of most middle class folks?

    I live near the Seattle area. A few years ago, the Mariners, a mediocre baseball team at best, told the City of Seattle, that if they did not get a new stadium, they were going to move. Well things being what they are, the stadium issue was put to a vote, and lost, the people pretty much said, bye-bye, and have a nice trip. Government being what it is, did not like the will of the people, and overrode the vote, and went ahead with plans for the new stadium, paid for by “lottery scratch tickets” and oh yeah, new taxes on King County businesses. Well the Seahawks, a less than mediocre football team, not wanting to be left out, demanded a new stadium, or they were going to leave. When they tried to leave, the city took them to court, and the NFL would not let them move, yet 2 other teams that year were allowed to pack up and move at a moments notice. The upshot is that Paul Allen, made a sweetheart deal with the City of Seattle, wherein he would buyt the team, if they would build him a new stadium, and he paid for part of the building costs, and any cost overruns, and in return the city pays for the rest, but Allen gets all consession rights and gate reciepts, plus God only knows what else we don’t know about, and we the tax payers get to pay for it all. Time to Boycott professional sports, if we don’t watch it, they won’t make any money.

    The only thing more pathetic than adult, seven foot tall men getting paid massive amounts of money to bounce a ball and put it though a metal hoop is another adult who pays to sit down and watch someone else do just that.

    I hope that they both crash and burn the owners for being so stupid to pay the player that much to play a game for god’s sake. The players for acting like it is their god given right to make a bazillon dollars for playing a game. The owners for holding cities prisoner if they don’t given them a new stadium everytime you turn around and having a property tax deferment for 100 years. Also making the cities build their stadiums with tax payers money instead of the owners just to keep them in town. Who the heck cares let them go, some community spirit shaft’em till they drop dead. The players for being druggies, criminals, point shavers, thugs, and they are great role models for young children. The owners because they are so loyal to the city that they are based in Yeah Right. Some owners moved their teams in the dead of night and nobody knew it until it was to late. There is always a newer stadium somewhere else. The players for being such $#**&! babies I can’t play the coach hollered at me, or I have a hang nail and I can’t play because it hurts. As you can tell I have no tolerence for either party concered. I don’t watch any pro basetball it stinks. It’s to bad because basketball is my favorite sport. Make your opinion heard don’t watch pro basketball or buy tickets and hopefully Pro basketball will crash and burn!! I say let them not play ever again then all the prima donnas would have to work in the REAL WORLD that would teach them.

    I am afraid this says more about the values of a large segment of the American people than anything else. Did you know that Nike pays Michale Jordan more to endorse their shoes than the entire payroll of the factory in Indonesia that makes the shoes? Most of the employees are children. A few of us loudmouths will comment on it but as long as the average American is making his/her monthly payments they really don’t care who else suffers. Having said this I know that there is really nothing we can do about it since only a few people really care. I guess the bottom line is that boycotting Nike would be like shooting a woodpecker to save the forests.

    I stopped watching the NBA (No Brains Association) a long time ago (basically when Michael Jordan “unretired”) — I think the NBA is going to do the exact same thing that baseball did to itself a few years ago — watch some baseball games and the stadium is practically empty! The same thing will happen to basketball. The only professional sport I watch these days is baseball — even then I try to get free tickets and pay early bird parking. The NBA, NFL and NHL can all stuff it in their hat, especially the NBA. One rager put it best — if there was no NBA, many of these guys would be unemployed. I seriously think Shaq would be pumpin’ gas. But I agree with many of the other posts here — the only way for “regular” people to make our feelings known is to just not support these over-priced, no talent goons — that includes management, by the way.

    Thanks for letting me vent!

    Time: 8/6/98 (19:58:26)

    Well, well, well, that’s America for ya. All of us oppressed have to take a daily bite off of a huge crap sandwich. But, do we complain? NO, Hell NO! We just lie to ourselves every morning and jump in our car and chase the infamous American Dream. I don’t get paid millions for my unique talents and I still wake up day after day and this harsh cruel world. Now, if only I were an NBA player. Just think I could wake up at 12, smoke some ganja, slap my weekly bitch, go play some hoops, and then to top it off, go get into a brawl with some poor smoe. And just earned $2000. Gee, doesn’t life suck.

    You are all whining for bad reasons – being a musician, my wages (in clubs) haven’t increased AT ALL in the past 30 years! In fact, players in clubs today get less than their counterparts 30 years ago, not too mention that $50 bought a LOT more in 1968. I’ve spent thousands on instruments, schooling, lessons, not too mention thousands of hours practicing and honing my craft to a point where someone will actually hire my band. Imagine an NBA game without music, imagine your DAY without music. Let’s funnel all that NBA money into someone’s deserving pockets – musicians, artists, poets, writers, your kids, schools, parks. Screw the NBA, Screw GM – they are using obsolete technology anyway.

    Owners can save $ by carrying 10 or even 8 players on the team, only 8 or so get in the game anyway. And who cares, I’m a teacher of 13-15yr olds, and most of the kids don’t care about the NBA,, don’t watch the games, and cannnot afford tickets to our local team, Portland. regular season means nothing, playoffs are interminable, and champions is predestined. A big crash is coming for oorganized sports. The NCAA is a better product, and lasts only for a month. If it weree not for TV, NBA, NFL would not exist.

    Athlete salaries, like UAW wages, are the product of a market economy. If fans will pay $60/ticket retail to watch the game, and advertisers will buy expensive ad time on the broadcasts, the system can pay high salaries. Combine this with the deduction available for business entertainment and publicly subsidized playing venues and you have, unfortunately, non-fans paying some of this ‘freight’. Vote with your dollars — buy or don’t buy tickets and NBA doodads, vote with your ‘clicker’ — watch or don’t watch, and vote at the ballot box for or against the bond issues and politicians who are spending tax dollars to subsidize athletics.

    Wouldn’t it be nice of the taxpayers to build your company a new plant ?

    I think it is sad that Americans have gotten to the point of paying so much to be entertained. Instead of paying so much for NBA tickets, why not spend it on some organization that will put the money to better use. The reason all entertainers and athletics are paid excessive salaries is because there are people stupid enough to pay them. I stopped going to NBA games and will never go to another. I recommend others do the same.

    The NBA will have one less fan for the 98-99 season, no tv or games for me.

    Time: 8/6/98 (0:9:59)

    The NBA lockout is really no different than the GM strike. It’s about the rich wanting to get richer at the expense of those that make them rich. The players seek job security and compensation. The owners seek profitability and the ability to control costs. I don’t see the outrage. This is how our labor forces exist in the American economy. The only “outrage” is the exorbitant numbers that we are dealing with. They just need to work it out…. if it takes time, they will ultimately cut off their own noses. The consumers aka the fans, will spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere if the NBA is no longer an option. Labor and management must go along to get along or they will soon be seeking alternative employment or bankruptcy. The winners will be the athletes that invested in their college years and obtained a degree. They are the men that will prevail.

    I’m all for the ” American Dream “. You can do or be what ever you want. It depends on how much you want and how hard you’re willing to work for it. If the team owners are willing to pay huge salaries I say more power to the players. Don’t we all wish we were all in their shoes. I’ve know anyone to turn down a lot of money. This is to the shrink that’s wondering why he went to school for 16 years. I hope you became a shrink so you could help those in need. I think 120.00 an hour should be enough to live on. I live on a lot less and I love my job. I think everyone should stop worring about what these players make and concentrate on being the best they can be. Our big problem in this country is the government and how it’s set up to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

    I’m sorry that this may sound rude, but I’m an editor by trade and I was just wondering who exactly is Reggie Walker of the Indiana Pacers? Maybe I’m mistaken but I’m from Indiana and the only Reggie I know goes by the name of Reggie Miller.

    If fans choose to support franchises in exchange for their entertainment, so be it. However, public funds are often used in this process of making wealthy owners wealthier, spoiled players richer in this business – it’s NOT a game anymore. Unfortunately, the average, hard-working Joe (Jane), most of whom will never see a game, do not have a choice. While schools, etc. suffer, tax funds from all citizens are used to subsidize and enrich franchises for the brief entertainment of the relatively few. Check some of the innummerable books and studies that document, contrary to the propaganda, that franchises DO NOT deliver their stated economic and other benefits. (Example, do fans really stay home during the off-season – or do they spend the money on other entertainment such as dinner out, movies, etc. – that receive no tax subsidies? For every fan (spender) that comes to town with a visiting team, a home team fan (spender) follows his team to away games. The participants may do what they want – but stop the ripoff of taxpayers. MK

    If you want to talk about oppressed workers, consider the plight of the GM workers who recently struck with the support of the United Auto Workers.

    Anyone watching the news coverage of the strike may have noticed that the workers, who are some of the highest paid factory workers in the nation, were supported in their actions by the president of the UAW who appeared on television in a golf shirt which looked like the type of shirt available in expensive pro shops in country clubs everywhere. Obviously a man of the people, representing people who were living on $150 per week strike pay.

    Everyone I have known who worked a GM line commented on how slow the pace of their work was in comparison to other, lower paid jobs they have held.

    Now the president of GM has laid off customer service personnel in response to the money lost during the strike. Who will suffer? The consumers who purchase GM products. Now who is oppressed? The guy trying to get his overpriced, because of labor costs, GM vehicle repaired because the assembly was so shoddy.

    I have to agree that all of America’s entertainers are overpaid, from your NBA players to your moviestars. And it is a shame that in the shadow of all this success and excess there is homelessness and poverty. But let’s face the facts, America is a decadent nation peopled by a lot of decadent citizens and those that make the rules. So what can you do? I personally do not support these people’s salaries by not paying the outrageous ticket and parking prices to attend any of these events, and I very rarely pay full price to go to any of the movies. So I feel I am doing my part to regulate their incomes, but I am but one out of millions. And in the final analysis, if I was given the opportunity to trade places with any one of the multi-millionaires in the entertainment industry I would do it in a heartbeat, and I bet so would you!

    So God bless America, there is no other country I’d rather live in, but God help us too. For we are only on this earth for a short time and there will always be haves and have-nots. I just wish there was more intelligence on this planet.

    I should be so bad off. I don’t even watch them anymore. I don’t figure I was getting my monies worth. My heros work for a lot less.

    I don’t like basketball very much. For one thing, we should be free to carry the ball. We should be allowed to carry it all the way down the court, until we cross the line on the other side. There might be some way to use those flattened cricket bats as well, but but I haven’t thought that out as yet. Hmmm…. And perhaps a net going across center court…

    All this money floating around Hollywood, sports and the entertainment business and we still have homeless and hungry people on the streets regardless of how they got there. People that consume themselves with this crap should be asshamed of themselves. Nobody is to blame but the sucker fans that want to see entertainment. Just ignore the needy and attend to only ‘your needs’ attitudes. Entertainment rules most people’s daily lives and don’t be suprised if someday DI$NEY and Turner own the world.

    You guys have it all wrong. It’s Reggie Miller NOT Reggie Walker. Are you guys from New York or what?????????? Other than that… I agree with your opinion on this lockout. It’s a difficult situation when the union is involved. GM is a good example. Keep up the work. Micheal Johnson is the greatest player in the NBA….. Oh….. I mean Micheal Jackson….. oh ….. I mean Micheal Jordon.

    It’s Reggie Miller, not Reggie Walker, of the Indiana Pacers.

    The shrink thinks that just because he went to school for 16 years, he is entitled to more pay than an athelete. You arn’t doing badly at $120.00/hour & I think that you are worth it, even though I don’t know you, because people are willing to pay your fee.

    It is the same with an athelete as the owners & fans are willing to pay their fee just because the super stars bring the stupid fans to the gate and they spend money.

    Don’t knock what others are able to do to make their way in life.

    The statement made by one rager was certianly correct & that is if the government protection racket was ended (NRLB), all working people would have an easier and more fruitfull life.

    All this bruhaha over the salery that sports players get is just some people lashing out against the players because they are jealous that they don’t get the same. Who has ever heard of Joe Smith whereas Michael Jordan is a household word even if you aren’t a basketball fan.

    Every player is worth the salery they get whether they earn it or not because someone is willing to pay. The stars bring the money to the gate. It makes no difference whether the owner is making money or not. The owners have agreed to the high saleries for that reason and the fans keep going to the games and pay for the increased saleries & usually spend much money for the goodies sold at the stadiums.

    The answer is for the owners & fans to refuse to pay the price & you would see the saleries come down.
    As for the labor dispute, leave it to the players associations & the owners. It should not be judged by the people as they are stupid because they keep going to the games and pay the entry fee.

    Rolls Royce

    I am a shrink. Recently an NBA superstar came to me for help with his relationship. If felt funny charging him a paltry $120 an hour for treatment. All through the session I kept thinking “I can’t belive this guy makes this much!” On top of it, he looked great and was in pefect physical shape. For me, it was like an abusive experience to see such a person. After each session I felt like, “why did I go to school for 16 years? Now, I think that such tall gentlemen should pay a proportianately larger amount of money for services. Not just my fees, but for anything. That way, we won’t love to hate them, but we’d feel like we’re getting a cut.

    Only in this country are people goofy enough to adore NBA “stars”…you’re right a kid’s game..little bitty kids I might add…if it weren’t for the NBA some of these people would be unemployed…

    Time: 8/5/98 (8:50:14)

    While it is nauseating to see these NBA players getting paid these salaries, it is the fans that should get the blame, not the players. I do not watch the NBA nor most professional sports. This is the only way to vote to end this societal morass. I side with the owners that are running a legitmate business with legitimate risks. Players have nothing but themselves to worry about. Owners are like any other business owner. But, as with all things, the unions make it virtually unbearable. Only government protections save the existence of unions. Without their protections and the NLRB, all Americans, especially the workers, would be better off.

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  5. Why do sports players get paid so much?

    You want to know why because they worked there ass off for 10 years to get to where they are today

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  6. i AGREE WIT MA BIO LUIS BOUT ATHLETES GETTIN [AID TOO MUCH IZ ALL GOOD CUZ HOW BOUT IF U HAD N E BODY CLOSE TOU HOO MADE IT REALLY FAR IN A PRO LEAGUE GETTIN PAID OVER A MILLION I TELL YA. DAMM DAT BE LOADED. DA REASON I AGREE IZ CUZ I BELIEVE DAT MY LIFE WIL END UP IN A LEAGUE.

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  7. i think sport stars dnt get paid too much. The average pay of aa sports star is 500,000 a year. There sports carear last about 4 years.Some sports players get paid more becuase they are better.Sports starts spend there hole life reaching for 1 goal and that to be the very best. If NBA players want a raise give them a raise we go to watcgh them jump high and run fast. There a freak show on display. There deserve every penny they get !!!

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  8. While it is true that it’s a free maket and one is free to choose not to buy a ticket, what one doesn’t have a choice in is paying taxes. Taxes which go to building sports stadiums and relocating teams to new cities. Tax money that goes to subsidize these sports teams frees owners to spend more money on exorbiant salaries for their “superstars.”

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  9. The amount of money being dished out to athletes is absurd. There is no man on earth worth that price tag.
    The players need to realize that they are human like me.
    They put their shoes on one at a time just like me.
    It is horrible when an athlete like Rodrigez gets something like 45,000 per at bat. I mean come on.
    pro sports are nolonger played for the love of the game it’s all about egos and the benjamin.

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  10. My opinion is that if we were in the same position as todays players, we too would want the money. It’s only true!

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  12. HELLO?? Have you people completly lost your minds!!! The only reason athletes are paid sooo much is because all the fans come and pay to watch them!!! The Solution?? Less fans!! Duh! Come on!!

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  13. How stupid can u get?! You could use that money for paying people with real jobs instead of athletes who don’t have any effect on our world! Athletic jobs are pointless accept for entertainment!

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  14. I think they do get paid too much…some athletes make more money than a freakin Brain sureon that helps saves lives each day, if anything doctors and surgeons should get paid millions of dollars a year!

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  15. Let Me Entertain You, Let Me Give You A Thrill. I’ll Hit The Home Run YOU Pay XThe Bill.
    What kind of fool am I, should I go on this way, or am I just pretending there’s an ending I’m dreaming of.
    What Kind Of Fool Am I? Not ME. YOU pay the bill to see these people who can’t even spell the name of the sport they’re playing. Remember those two old songs; Let Me Entertain You and What Kind Of Fool Am I?

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  18. u don’t even know me i worked my butt off to get here and just because i make more money then u doesn’t mean u have to be so jealous! if u woulda had the talent u coulda been earnin the bucks but nooooooo… u sleep in your parents basements now all u just shut up and work harder to make more money!!!

    P.S. i make more money a year then any one of you will make in your whole life!!! hahahaha!!! i love u bob

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  19. Im a sports fan and I watch sports and go to the games, but when I see players walking around like Bill Gates who actually does somthing to earn that much money. Professional Athletes get paid to much!!!! When Athletes are injureed they get paid. To me being an athlete would be great, but when I see players with 12 million dollar per year and they do not produce or get injured it makes me sad not just for the people on the team and managing but the leagues to. So, from here on out I hope that everyone agrees that there be a cap or perhaps you should be a bum someday cause athletes are getting all your normal money and they keep it to themselves !!!!!!!!!

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  20. Half the people in sports probably aren’t smart enough to hold a job at a McDonalds. Yet they think they deserve an 8 million dollar salary for batting .232. It’s nuts…go to a game and sit behind home plate, have a couple beers, and something to eat and guess what? You’ve spent $100. These people live in mansions and travel with bodyguards, chauffers, and gofers. They think they are gods because they can catch, throw, or hit a ball. Meanwhile poor ole workin’ joe fan who wants to take his kid to a game picks up the check.
    It’s time for fans to take their sports back from these millionaires. Boycott their games. It all goes away if we want it too. They need to understand that. Choose minor leauges, college or even high school sports. Where there is still a respect for the game. Not cold hard cash. It would not take long for these pampered “professionals” to find out what the real world is like. If we (the fans) do not stop it they never will. Take your sports back, or you’ll keep getting screwed. We don’t deserve that, so let’s stop it! Boycott!

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  22. All of you people say that we are stupid and that we dont deserve our salrys and that anybody can do that.Then why dont you? And ask yourself if you were a profesional athlete how much money would you want.

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  23. Atheletes are overpayed, worthless bumbs who expext a handout from the common everday poor man. I say who needs ya.

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  24. Listen Right now i am a Female,13 years old and when i grow up i am GOING TO BE A BASKETBALL PLAYER.No doubt.Now came across this web page looking for the salaries of the wnba now i was reading the cmment and i feel yall need help,because most of the basketball love what they do and is good at it.Plus comared to bill gates the make about a penny. I am a very educated 13 year old with a bright future and hearing this ignorance is reall getting me sick.bill gates is making about fifty billion dollars while basket ball players are only makin about 10 million(that is only a famous basketball player& all regular player makes about 8 million dollars)you know what i got to finish my homework.BUT I WILL BE BACK

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  25. I believe atheletes are paid too much. I am a huge sports fan and I also play sports. I believe their are people that work harder that deserved half the money atheletes are earning like Police officers, Fire fighters, Doctors, Other medical personel, Judges, etc.

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  27. You’re all a bunch of jealous losers. The reason they make so much is bCuz they can. Otherwise the billionare owners would just make way more money. At leat by paying an athelete a $40 mill the money is going to the right place

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  28. You mother truckers are all the same WHO CARES IF THEY GET LOTS OF MONEY?!? HAVE YOU BEEN A PROFESIONAL ATHLETES SHOES LATELY? its alot of work, and STOP TALKING ABOUT THE NBA!

    PS: Learn how to spell you jordans

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  29. im a senior in hs and am doing research for a sociology project on social movements, and I chose to write about equal salery distribution, thanks for all your posts, they defend my point–the do get paid too much though..every been to Mexico, do you knwo what its like to starve? it even goes on in our own country–are you all proud of that?–i didnt think so

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  30. Ballers and many other athelets deserve the money they make and it’s noy fair to them for you all to bas the fact they are good at what they do so why don’t you back off. And for all you that think brain surgeons deserve more stop and think, how many children look up to doctors and surgeons and how many children look up to atheletes?

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  31. YOu are all complete idiots, I played in a Minor league baseball team when i was 15ish, i didn’t get payed 10 million dollars a season to do it.. people watched me play, it was entertainment for everyone, the provincials are even on tv. Please, just fook the stupid athletes that think they need 10 million as opposed to 8 million, because their average went from .310 to .330, and let’s pay doctors for saving people’s lives, firemen for putting out fires, thus saving people’s lives, and police men for locking up “bad guys”, thus saving people’s lives.

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  33. I personally think they get paid to much. but lets face if it wasnt for pro sports so many athletes would be unemployed, and who knows what they would be doing. If athletes wont play unless they get paid Godley amounts than who cares i love sports and couldnt live without them

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  35. You know what I think! I think that they do do a lot of work on that field but not 10 million dollars worth. I think that all of the pro athletes should have to donate some of that money to the national debt. I did some stats on this. Alone the basketball players could pay it off in a few years. Take 5% from the saleries and in one year basketball players can donate 3 billion dollars and that is rounded down. I think it is a great idea! dont you…

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  36. I think athletes are paid fairly. They get criticised and put on the spot, I think they deserve to get paid that much if agents are willing to pay them taht much. Besides I think people admire athletes who can shoot a puck 100 mph or throw a football 80 yards.

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  38. Here is an example of a Professional Athletes Salary. Kevin Garnett is a 21 year old
    Basketball player who had taken the A.C.T test three times in High School, failing all
    three times and had also taken the S.A.T Test once and failed. Kevin decided that he
    would not go to a collage even though he was the highly recruited #1 basketball player in
    the nation, and could have had a scholarship to any collage he wanted. So his decision
    took him to the NBA draft, where he was selected in the first round to the Minnesota
    Timberwolves.The Timberwolves signed him to a 6 year $125 Million dollar contract to
    play for them. (Tom Lenard-Opinion columist) Every year we hear of some new name,
    some new player in the sports news getting a new record contract which sets a much
    higher mark and blows away the high from the year before. So we ask who’s fault is this
    that theses men and women are getting paid more and more? Most fingers point our way,
    the peoples way, the fans way. We are the ones that go to these sporting events pay $50
    dollars for a ticket, pay a $100 dollars for a jacket, and $20 dollars for a cap of our
    favorite teams. We are the ones who support these teams and the players. The reason
    ticket prices keep going up is because money is needed to pay all of our great players. It
    doesn’t help that they know that we will pay these ticket prices no matter how ridiculous
    they start charging. Michael Jordan makes 33 million a year plus another 40 million in
    endorsements. Just because our favorite Athlete wears this brand of underwear and our
    favorite Athlete eats this brand of a hot dog, should we? Should go out and pay these
    outrageous prices just for an ordinary product? Mr. Jordan makes $170 Thousand dollars
    a day!(ESPN.com no page) Considering our President of the United States of America
    only makes $250 Thousand dollars a year , whats does this tell you about our Country that
    we think that a person that play’s a game for a living should be making more than the
    person that makes some major decisions concerning America? When players get paid this
    much it puts more pressure on them to perform. When players are not making so much,
    they are actually working for money , but when they sign a new Million-dollar contract
    “Underachieving Millionaires” (Gary Horton-ESPN.com no page). A big payday is a good
    thing for the person and his family, but might not always be good for the locker room and
    the Organization writing the checks. When you see a million dollar Running Back and a
    hundred thousand dollar lead blocker you can see where the problems start.They players
    will start playing worse if they are unsatisfied with their current contract and the guy who
    plays with makes way more than you they start thinking about how much their worth.
    “Professional Athletes are making too much money in a society that’s salaries and wages
    are traditionally based on the values of ones work”(Jon Shepard-ESPN.com) Professional
    Athletes are constantly getting in trouble with the law.The players have all this money they
    are going to go out and spend it and have fun with it.You can turn to the Sports page and
    read about Rae Carrot a Wide Receiver for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL going to
    court for murdering his wife, Michael Irvin or Darryl Strawberry once again getting busted
    for possession of Cocaine and Marijuana or the crazed out lunatic Dennis Rodman kicking
    a cameraman in the groin.Whethar it’s Drug violation or Sexual Assault, it seems that the
    money is making these players behave badly . If we pay these players millions of dollars to
    entertain us, then it would be great if the could stay out of jail long enough so that the us
    the fans can see them play, but most of them end up getting out of prison and found not
    guilty of the crime because of who they are how much they are worth and how powerful
    they are. Professional athletes are getting paid millions for just games that are supposed to
    be fun I mean come on we all play and played them when we were kids and we enjoyed it
    for the fun of the game and the fun of the sport and the fun we had with the people we
    played them with.

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  39. It’s amazing to me how many ignorant souls there are that believe professional athletes are of any importance. I’m not saying sports suck. I can party just as hard as the next person during the Super Bowl. I’m a huge fan of football, but it wouldn’t kill me if I never saw another game. I can’t even imagine that there are people that believe a prof. athletes’ salary is perfectly fine. One of the lowest paid members of society is THE MOST IMPORTANT member of society. Teachers!! Who taught these athletes? Who taught the doctors, lawyers, policemen, firemen, and even the President of the United States? These people wouldn’t be where they are if it weren’t for teachers. And to the person who said they believe a brain surgeon shouldn’t get paid more than an athlete because children look up to the athletes and not the surgeons, forget you!! If it came down to it, heaven forbid, and a child needed brain surgery, what the heck do you think the poor kid is going to say? No sir, I want Dan Marino to perform the surgery because I look up to him. Heck No!! If Dan Marino or Michael Jordon needed surgery of some sort, whose going to do it? Their role model? No, I believe it would be a doctor. If it weren’t for doctors, we’d be short quite a few athletes. If they screwed up their knee or their back or their wrist, who fixes it to where they are able to play again? I used to think that deep down people had good sense even if it didn’t show very well, but I do believe that I was mistaken.

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  41. To tell you the truth I real dont think pro athletes saleries are that bad. I mean they may get paid alittle to much, but they worked for it practicing every day when they were a kid from sun up to sun down.They worked hard to get where they are they wanted to make alot of money like everybody else wants to.

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  42. it is a known fact that 98% of all professional athletes have compleated some kind of degree in college. So who ever said that pro atheletes cant even hold a job at mcdonalds is stupid. Pro athletes work countless hours on and off the field all year long. There is no breaks or weeks off. They deserve every penny that they make. They provide there city with tourists that leads to city income and a good reputation. With out some pro teams some cities would have no tourists and no income to have major renivations done to improve there life styles to the updated culture.

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  43. im 14 and my dream is to be a n athelete im told that they arnt paid much at all is this true how much do they ussually get paid??

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  44. Yes, athletes do work all year round and do deserve money. But the amount of money that frofessional athletes get is rediculious. Not even the president of the United States earns what they do and he works as long as they do with real thinking. Heck the president has to think practically for the whole country while a basketball player has to only think on how he is going to get the ball into the basket. The max they may should earn in a year is 5 mill and that is even pushing it. Heck what they actually get out of playing a sport is better shape and to play a GAME! Not a JOB a GAME!

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  46. Hiya!
    Ight, I am an exceedingly smart 14 year old and I think this is all bull because when I’m older I’m definately gonna be in the WNBA. No questions about it. These people (pro athletes) are lucky enough to have the rarity to be athletically talented enough to be Pro. They hardly any time off. they are always practicing, or playing games. If they have family they hardly see them because they are so busy. The reason they get all this money is because of the tickets, mercahndise, and other things sold. Which produces MONEY. I’m not wasting any more time on this stupidness. I have better thing to do right now, like I got to finish my book report.
    LATA,
    JULIA 🙂

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  47. Hey! HEy! i would agree and dissagre because not all athletes are in it for the money(i think) but a lot of athletes have had the dream to play professional basketball or any other sports. we just can say tha’s no fair.sure some athletes don’t do any thing to get paid what they are getting paid.think of the athletes out there that are workink thier butts off totry to entertain you, they are trying to make you happy.without sports to watch or do klife would be dull and boring. alot of the mokney that players get donate it reading programs and other programs. so stop penalizing the players and get used to it they want to help us to.
    Pedro lopez

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  48. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRage! There i raged back. You are all retards if you think that professional atheletes do not get overpaid.

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