Minter working towards front office job...

I know, and I'm not arguing the points. I guess my tastes are too simple. I don't see why folks feel the need to live in monstrous mansions and drive cars that cost nearly as much as my house. Blue jeans and t-shirts suit me fine. I guess I look at it from the viewpoint of someone who could live the rest of my life off one year's football pay INCLUDING the lower paid guys. Pay me 2 mill for one year's work even if I get injured and have to retire, and I don't think I could spend it all. My new car would be less then $30,000 likely and a good trail horse isn't very expensive, a big tv, and maybe some day a new BUT SMALL house and I'm happy.

 

Because coming from nothing means wanting everything. The cars you see that equal glamour, being able to help out your mother that saw you through the poorest times and helped get you there, help out

Money's the great equalizer. Living in Piper Glen or at Birkdale beats the holy hell out of living between NoDa and downtown on the seedier parts of Davidson, and that's far from the worst you can do in CLT. Especially for a 25 year old black man.

Even at the average person's level, $45k means a better house, better neighborhood, maybe better car, helping pay for the kids' college, $30k means the wife has to work, can't afford to have kids right now, and you're going to college yourself to try to get the raise so that the above can happen.
There's a big difference between those two lifestyles. There's also a big difference between the lifestyle Jeno was offered here and what he'll have in Miami.

And if you're not materialistic, then I applaud you. Me, I've got wants in life, and a lot of them are selfish. Most of us do. So I can't fault Deon for looking to have, from his team, the same respect others would give and the financial security that comes with it.

 

the fact that you EVER had a "good trail horse" means you've had more money than most NFL players did growing up

 

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:
Thanks, Mal, it's a problem everywhere in the good ol' US of A, not just confined to pro sports. If everybody thought "greed first" we'd be in worse trouble, culturally and socially, then we are now.

I graduated from Cornell with an engineering degree, could have taken the job in industry, gotten the big bucks, lived in the big ugly Ballantyne house and driven the obnoxious Escalade but decided on teaching instead. Character beats scratch every time in my book.

Mags, I don't agree - often the difference between two contracts in pro sports is far, far less, proportionally, than the difference between a HS teaching job and an engineering job. And I came from nothing too. Often the only difference in real purchasing power shows in the size and quantity of bling bling on the body and the type of rims on the Escalade. Thank God some people choose to maximize overall benefit rather than simply maximizing nothing but cash.

Guess Larry's gonna have to move this thread to R & R!

 

How did you go to Cornell if you "came from nothing"??

 

Yet, these athletes come from nothing and get free rides to some of the finest schools in the world? Really don't see how you can feel sorry for any of them, they have more resources to get college educations than a non-athlete.

 

It's called getting good grades in school and actually earning a scholarship, I bet. Along with students loans out the ass. I know because I went to a good private school, Pfeiffer University, and had a trustee's scholarship. It paid for half of my tution and books, but I am still paying off my loan. I only have about $800.00 left to pay ,after 7 years. And, I didn't have a parent to pay for my college.

 

Proportionally, sure. Jeno signed for double what he would've gotten here. $25k and $60k are more than that difference, proportionally, apart.

It's the same as the old tax argument. Top x% of tax bracket pay a disproportionate amount of tax, but the other side of the coin is that they least need a tax break. It's how you approach it. And of course, engineers and teachers work to 60, 70 years old. Most of these guys, if they're still playing two years on into the next contract they've long since beaten the average.


>>Often the only difference in real purchasing power shows in the size and quantity of bling bling on the body and the type of rims on the Escalade.

So it has nothing to do with saving, preparing for the future, making sure that your parents aren't in a gov't home and that the kids' college and future are set aside? It's what you make of it, but that's just as with anything. Like I said, I'm materialistic, but am I going to spend till my money runs out and not invest in my family, in interest-bearing entities, in profitable enterprise? Of course not. So it comes down to whether said person is stupid and blows their money, but overall, this nation was built on being the best you can be, and reaping those rewards.

 

I worked through engineering school myself. I wrote football articles and reported, I played in bands, I worked odd jobs, I did whatever I could. And I got on by.

Yeah, Rez, they do get good treatment as scholarship athletes, undoubtedly. And considering the money the institutions get from said athletets, expectedly so. Just as the greater part of TV revenue bears what the market pays these athletes. It's relevant.

 

I'm not saying the athletes don't deserve it, they do generate a lot of revenue and support for the schools. I just found it funny that brain asked how louie went to cornell if he came from nothing, while these athletes do that same thing every semester.