|
For Love of The Game...Or the Dollar
"It’s about time pro athletes all over the United States think back to when they were in Little League or playing their first peewee football game"
Listen
to this Commentary!
By Steven Johnson
Whether I'm watching the Atlanta Braves on TV, sitting front row when Duke beats UNC, or playing nine holes after school, sports surround and engulf my life. I enjoy sports for the simple emotion that comes from seeing Michael Vick weave through defenders or Tiger Woods drain a birdie putt and pump his fist in celebration.
But I wonder sometimes why the athletes I so enjoy watching don’t seem to get the same pleasure I do. Sure they’re probably excited about playing professional sports, but it’s hard to put that into perspective when the majority of focus is placed on the number of zeros in a player’s contract. Athletes these days are paid millions of dollars a year to play a sport, but they practically pee in their pants when they can’t double or even triple their already absurd salaries. Because of this, ticket prices have skyrocketed everywhere and teams find it harder to retain their players.
It’s about time pro athletes all over the United States think back to when they were in Little League or playing their first peewee football game. Once they do that, they might just realize that they should be way more concerned with how much they’re enjoying what they do than, say, their 50-acre mansions or their clothes closets the size of the very stadiums they play in.
-Steven Johnson is a senior at Grady High School.
Youth Radio Atlanta is produced in cooperation with WABE and funded in part by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
|
|
