Over the past decade or so I’ve noticed a scary trend in which the world of sports is becoming less about the actual sport and more about business and money. These days, athletes hold out and won’t play until they get the extra $5 million signing bonus or incentives package that seems so important to them.
I miss the good 'ole days when athletes played simply for the love of the game, not for money. I miss the time when sports were a genuine form of entertainment, not a mega-billion dollar industry.
No sport over the past few years has become more money grubbing than European football (the real football- get used to me saying that). It seems like every year, foreign billionaires are taking over clubs rich in history and tradition so they can pump in billions of dollars in an effort to buy championships.
This year, that club is Manchester City. The club is a quite mediocre English Premier League team; however, its new billionaire owners are convinced they can use their money to turn the club around. They’ve already spent several hundred million dollars on new players, yet still find themselves sitting 12th in a 20 team league.
But there is hope, and it comes through Brazilian footballer (soccer if you haven't figured it out) superstar Kaka.
In a final effort to launch Manchester City to the top, the owners posted an absurd $145 million dollar bid for Kaka, who is often considered the best player in the world. The $145 million wouldn’t even cover Kaka’s salary, that’s just the fee City would pay to his current club AC Milan to obtain him. City were willing to pay Kaka close to $1 million per week. Per week?
Unlike so many athletes before him, Kaka chose the sport before himself. He rejected the offer to continue playing for a winning club and focus on earning trophies (take notes Stephon Marbury, T.O. etc.). That's worth something in my book. Granted Kaka already makes probably around $100,000 week (boo hoo for him right?), no amount of money is worth him playing for a bad team trying to buy greatness.
So respect to Kaka, may he begin the revolution of athletes valuing titles more than their money. But don't hold your breath.
