As football season gears up the news is full of stories about signing contracts and the high cost of buying an athlete. In perhaps one of the biggest deal this year, Sam Bradford got a $78 million, 4-year contract with the St Louis Rams. Thirty years ago a $30,000 signing bonus was considered a nice deal. Even taking into consideration the value of a dollar then and now, it is still obscene what athletes are getting. And the more they get the more they think need.
There’s a syndicated cartoon, Plugger, that leads with “You know you’re a Plugger when…” It pokes fun at people of a certain age and a certain economic status that is far, far below the lifestyle Sam Bradford will be enjoying. I came up with one, “You know your a Plugger when your after-dinner mint is a Tums.”
Here are a few headlines from this past week:
Right-Wing Pundit Phyllis Schlafly Decries Government Assistance for “Unmarried Moms.” Oh, right. Let’s do all we can to encourage unwed mothers.
SEC Lets Citi Execs Go Free After $40 Billion Subprime Lie. And the thousands of people who lost their homes paid the ultimate price.
Puerto Rican Man Still Working at Age 104. Emilio Navarro, former professional baseball player for the Negro League, still works at the business he started and likes to go dancing. It is said he prefers to dance with blondes. You go, Emilio.
$3 million for Chelsea’s wedding. Talk about a waste. How can people justify paying that much when so many others are struggling just to survive. One columnist wrote that Chelsea deserved it all because she has been such a model daughter. So wouldn’t a nice wedding at about $100,000 have worked?
Right is Right, Wrong is Discretionary. No comment.
I see one of the biggest problems being the media. They focus on the celebrities, those with umpteen million dollars, the celebrity athletes, the politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, and allot about one minute in a news cast to the people like Emilio Navarro.
I sound like a curmudgeon, don’t I?
Helen
Emilio would be lucky to get a minute!
I honestly believe there is very little “real reporting” in the news these days.
I too have become a curmudgeon.
I think my blog appeals to curmudgeons. Maybe because I am one????
I love your sarcasm, Maryann. There are times when nothing else will fit.
人不能像動物一樣活著，而應該追求知識和美德............................................................
Curmudgeons rock!
As for that wedding, I think $25,000 is extravagant, so I’m appalled at the million+ number. Better they had spread the money out to food banks all over the country. Or given it to cancer research.
On the other hand, a lot of perfectly nice vendors made a bundle, and they probably provided quite a few jobs, even if temporary. So whatever…