Grievance: Pay Pro Athletes For the Olympics
I was reading an interesting article on FOX Sports this morning that mentioned some remarks given during an interview with Boston Celtics players Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen. Rondo stated that he had no interest, even if selected, to play for the U.S. Olympic basketball team. His reasoning: “I love my summers. I’ll leave it at that”. Ray Allen believes that the Olympic committee should “find a way to entice the guys”. According to the report, he feels that the basketball players should be compensated for their time and the fact that they are losing other opportunities to make money while they are playing for the U.S.
First off, while it is a privilege and an honor to represent your country on the world’s biggest sports stage, it is Rajon Rondo’s right to wish not to play in the Olympics. If he simply just doesn’t want to make the committment after a grueling NBA season, that’s his prerogative and he should not have to explain or apologize for it. What I ABSOLUTELY have an issue with is the audacity of Ray Allen to quantify the opportunity of a lifetime to compete in the Olympics. If you don’t wish to play, then don’t.
This is one of the biggest things that pisses me off with a number of athletes. It’s all about what you didn’t get or what the organization is getting. Is the Olympic committee benefitting from jersey sales, YES! Is it any different from any other larger organization that benefits from volunteers, employees, etc? Plus, the U.S. medalists DO receive monetary awards! Compensation is about $25k, $15k and $10k for gold, silver and bronze medalists respectively. Let’s not forget all of the endorsement opportunities that will come your way.
What about the pride and self-accomplishment of standing on that podium, hearing the Star-Spangled Banner, and knowing that you have achieved arguably the greatest honor in ANY sport on planet Earth? How can you put a number on that? Why must everything always come back to millionaires fighting over a damn dollar?
6 Comments:
Oh pause…They don’t get paid?! .
Bump that!! What if theygethurt? Who’s going to pay them workmens comp?! Lol
I would imagine there’s competition insurance or something. He’s not even referring to that. He’s talking about not getting a cut of some damn jersey sales.
Unfortunately, in today’s day and age “it all comes down to money.” That’s the plain truth. No one cares about the honor of representing their country. That’s not important. The NBA is full of a bunch (generalizing) of narcissistic, arrogant, selfish, cry babies who only care about themselves. That is evident in the way they carry on throughout the regular season. The days of pride in the game and for your team are long gone. It’s now a question of what have you done for me lately, and I blame that attitude on the league owners and operators. Jordan, Magic, Bird and the likes loved to compete for the sake of saying we are the best in the world. These clowns nowadays are clueless. The NBA sucks and will continue to do so for that reason.
AMEN!!!
When the name on the back of the jersey became more important than the name on the front of the jersey, that was the beginning of the end.
I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but when I think of ‘serving the country’ I think of the army, marines, navy, protecting us against terrorists and other nuclear threats. The Olympics is for pure entertainment where athletes are enduring strenuous training all the perform for everyone else. So why shouldn’t they be compensated.
Now I know the NBA has turned into a bit of a circus and gotten more away from the skill of bball and more ‘showy’. However, I don’t think it’s fair not to expect them want more. Bottom line, everybody isn’t like Jordan who could afford to play in the games for free.
Again I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Ray’s proposition. Then again I’ve been ‘stanning’ for him since ‘He Got Game’. LOL
P.S. When the hell do you plan on posting again?! lol
I said “represent”, not “serve”. I have no problem if the USOC chooses to pay the athletes…if it’s ALL athletes. Although, the medalists are compensated as well as the endorsement opps they get as well as the sponsors who fund their training. Now I’m aware that this doesn’t apply to all of them, but pay should be singled out. Not to mention, before the 2008 games, USA Basketball had become a joke.
Ask yourself this, would anyone know or care who Michael Phelps was w/o the Olympics? What about Marion Jones (although I did know her b/c I follow track & field)? What about Jennie Finch? This isn’t about the NBA players not getting compensated, this is about getting what they feel isn’t a big enough “cut” of the action. Basketball is a very small part of the Olympics. I actually spend more time watching the other sports (track, volleyball, etc).
Since Ray likes propositions, here’s one…I propose that he NEVER ACT IN A MOVIE AGAIN…EVER!
Btw, I’m working on it. Work’s been getting in the way.