I know it qualifies as “news,” but I’ve never been much interested in what pro athletes make for playing their games. But you have to like Babe Ruth’s rationale (“I had a better year”) for making more than the president (Herbert Hoover). It’s still a classic.
It’s a function of the marketplace, of course. Sports is part of the entertainment industry. It’s also a parallel universe.
But in a grim economy that hits home in so many ways to so many Americans, now is not the time to be reminded that the New York Yankees spent nearly a half billion dollars on three free agents this off season. Or that Manny Ramirez finally settled for $45 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers for two year’s worth of good hitting and bad, adolescent behavior.
Or that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was recently rewarded with a hefty raise to $17.5 million per annum, which is 40 times what the president of the United States makes. It also smacked of an AIG bonus. He’s not called “Bud Light” for nothing.
Or that Bucs wide receiver Antonio Bryant was less than ecstatic with the “franchise player” tag that resulted in his option-limiting, $9.9 million, one-year deal.
Or. OK, enough.
Normally I’m for transparency in matters of public record. But I could live with this opaque exception.