Over the last few days, Ray Allen and Dwayne Wade have brought up a subject that seems to come up every time the Olympics come around, and that is whether or not the athletes should be getting paid for competing, specifically basketball players. Since Allen and Wade are NBA veterans, they have made plenty of money playing the game, and it isn't as if their entire financial future depends on whether or not they get paid to play in the Olympics. In my opinion though, they should. All of the athletes should.
The cities that host the Olympics make tons of money because people come to see the athletes compete. The television networks make money from people around the world watching the events on their broadcasts. The merchandise companies make money selling products with the names of the athletes on them. So why in the world should the athletes not see some of that money?
At first, I wanted to compare the situation to collegiate athletics, but it isn't the same. The argument against paying college athletes is that they are granted scholarships and they get their education and tuition paid for because of their ability to generate money for the school. Granted, there are a lot of athletes that do not graduate or take advantage of that free tuition, but that is their own fault. So I agree with the argument that college athletes do not need to be paid a salary along with the scholarships they already have received.
The Olympics are different though. The athletes aren't receiving any scholarships for competing. Many of them are in some ways damaging their financial value by competing. Dwayne Wade is under contract with the Miami Heat, and the Olympics take place in what is supposed to be his offseason. If he gets hurt playing in or training for the Olympics, and his play next season is negatively affected, his value goes down. If the bronze medal winning high jumper has to spend time training to compete when he could instead be working another job and making money, he is costing himself money. As I am writing this, I realize it sounds as though I'm turning these athletes into nothing more than commodities, but that is what NBC and Reebok and the city of London do as well. If Reebok makes money by selling Dwayne Wade's jersey but Wade doesn't get a piece of that profit, then that is unfair. So the next time you see someone wearing a Dwayne Wade #3 USA basketball jersey, realize that that is the exact reason Wade wants to get paid for competing. The company is making money off him and not compensating him, and you can't blame him for disagreeing with that.
Daily Rangers Update: A little shaky at times last night, but for the most part it was a good effort in front of a great crowd at MSG. A 4-2 win means a 1-0 series lead with Game 2 coming on Saturday. Keep it up, fellas!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: Ian Kennedy gave up hits to the first three batters of the game, but settled in after that and pitched like the #1 starter that he is. Chris Young hit his third homer of the season, Kennedy got his second win, and J.J. Putz locked down the ninth inning for his third save. Couldn't have drawn it up any better than that. 5-1 record to start the year and now it's off to Colorado with Daniel Hudson looking to pick up his second win of the year.
Daily Giants Update: The draft is already less than two weeks away. It seems like the season just ended, but any football is a good thing, especially when your team is the defending champion!
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