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Christian Living

thefinishline 03/07/11

Christian Athletes and Contract Negotiations


Christian Athletes Under Contract Negotiations Hold Out for More Money - Greedy or Not?

by Shawn Brown

There’s a lot going on in professional sports these days. On one hand you’ve got a power struggle raging between NFL players and owners. On the other hand, you’ve got the opposite in the NBA. It seems as though there is a power shift between players and owners.  It started with LeBron leaving Cleveland and joining good friends, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade in Miami. Regardless of how anyone feels about it, that was a big power play that no one could do anything about.  

More recently Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups left Denver to go to New York.  It seems to me that players in the NBA are taking their futures in their own hands, and based on their own assessments are putting themselves in the best positions to win championships.  These transactions may or may not be about money, but in most cases they are.  Now here is the question. If an athlete wants more pay and his current franchise fails to meet his terms, can it be considered greed if he moves to another franchise?

Let’s look at the case of St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols. Recently a Huffington Post article (2/24/11) reported that Christians were asking what his hold out for more (potentially the biggest contract in the history of baseball) says about his faith testimony? With that in mind, I’d like to ask again, ‘Is a man wanting a raise greedy?’

I look at it like this, if he has a normal desk job, does the job well and is paid more than anyone else in his field, then that man is blessed. Why should we hold professional athletes to a different standard than everyone else? The only thing that separates them from the rest of us is the size of their bank accounts. 

Put your self in his shoes. You’ve been working for a company for a few years, the relationship is great, and your agent tells you, ‘Hey man, I think I can get you more money this year.’ What would you do? Say no? I refuse to believe Albert sat and thought, ‘Yes, I want to be paid more than everyone else.’ If you’ve ever met him, you’d know that he’s pretty humble. He does lots of community service through his charities. If you have goals you’d like to achieve (Orphanage in Africa, starting a charter school for under privileged children etc.) and had an opportunity to make enough to cover it all, what would you do? I’d like to know what you think about this. If he is indeed holding out, can that be considered greed?

Any opinions out there?       

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