George Steinbrenner has died at the ripe old age of 80 of a heart attack. Steinbrenner was the bit of a controversial MLB team owner of the most valuable team on the earth: The Yankees. Early on Steinbrenner figured out that the more money he spent on players, the more championships the Yankees would win and thus the more money he’d get back. His theory on team building is now used by many other dynasties in plenty of sport including American Football, Basketball and European Futbol. Steinbrenner’s death may have a major impact on Basball, and will no doubt affect the Yankees – be that good or bad.
Vladimir Putin “Blinkinblogs is my favorite read with glass of Vodka.”
Barack OBAMA “Blinkinblogs? Never heard of them.”
Steinbrenner R.I.P.
antagonist view: he made sports not about winning for the thrill of the sport. but winning for the profit.
there should be a salary cap on every player on every team – mandated and enforced by the league (for every sport). when the equation becomes “winning = spending more + earning more”, this is no longer a fair “playing field”. it is no longer about the game. it is no longer about an american past-time. it is about ONLY the $$$.
again, our national priorities are f’d up.
Look, when professional sports players can be paid $50 million for one year (Euro futbol team is paying a guy that) and a teacher makes 35k then yeah of course things are jacked up.
That said I see the NFL having serious issues next year because of the pause in the salary cap this year.
agreed. i say let the league fail.
take china as a baseline country to serve as a comparative model. their biggest sport is table tennis (not even on the same planet as american professional sports) – although they are fascinated with basketball. and their biggest export is knowledge workers. they award well over 50,000 advanced degrees in a year. and that rate is projected to increase by over 80% next year alone.
so… in the realm of global competition who is setting themselves up to take a fall in the next decade? 24-year old, Beijing-based Ling Lu with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering dreaming of making $30K a year or 24-year old, Philadelphia-based Frankie Washington who works as a waiter, likes his free-time, and has an addictive fascination of all things “Eagles”.
It is obvious that the USA gave up on education years ago – just look at the first place that cuts are made – Military? Nope. Education – every single time.
With any luck little Johnny can get a NBA contract – else he will be flipping burgers for years to come talking about how he got screwed by the man. Indeed sir, you did.
hmmm… i’d blame the american people moreso than the “man”. our popular culture reflects our priorities… so the “man” is simply taking advantage of the character flaw of the hive mind to promote his own agenda. and why not?
johnny (if positively-reinforced by family, friends, and cultural touchpoints, such as; television) could get a grant (uncle sam loves giving those out to the “disadvantaged”) and push himself through an education and better his stead in life.
but following the old adage in updated format… “where there isn’t a will there isn’t a way”.
it is easier to blame his lack of ambition and drive on nebulous elements, like “the man”, instead of tangibles, like his family, friends, and culture.
p.s.; i’m planning on moving to norway.
education doesn’t bring $$ to big corporations! maybe we should privatize education so that they get the lobbyists they need in DC. —more government! That’s the solution!