2011-07-16

Subsidizing Sports

Personally, and I've freely said so on this blog in the past, I don't think sports teams, stadiums, or arenas should be subsidized. 
 
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Speaking of high salaries and Derek Jeter. I have no problem with how much money they make. If the market bears it so be it - even though somehow, someway, athletes' salaries are skewed because of subsidies and the ironic player's union for millionaires.

Don't like it? Stop paying for the Yankees channel or going to games or buying Jeter jerseys.

I stopped paying the going rate for pro tickets years ago; to say nothing of paying for perpetual mediocrity. I get enough of that through my taxes that pay for government sponsored products.

No skin off my back. To me, it hit a line I refuse to cross. Not interested in, say, paying $300 to watch Lebron James and other athletes act like immature boobs, while watching and reading hack sports journalists defend poor behavior trying to convince they're "interesting" personalities.

Mind you, you may persuade me to pay a shot deal to watch football in Green Bay or even a cricket match in India. I'm more interested in the classics anyway.

By the way, if you're over 35 and still wearing the name of another person on your back it's time to reassess things.

Value to society is another matter altogether. 

Jeremy Bentham time!

In any event, determining a person's salary and value is not an exact science I've learned.

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What do I think about Jeter reaching 3000 hits? Great accomplishment no doubt. But is he the "greatest short stop" ever? I've lost patience with all these arbitrary milestone figures; especially when it's used to justified putting someone into a hall of fame. In hockey, by the way, it's 500 goals

It's one thing to hit these "magical" numbers and quite another to contextualizing them.

In any event, Jeter has had a solid and great career with some magnificent moments. His 3000th hit was a home run. Typical Jeter.

But was he more dominant than Honus Wagner or even his own teammate Alex Rodriguez before the latter switched to third base?

No, I think.

In fact, by some measurements he's not even top 10.

Personally, I think he makes top five. 

Playing in New York (like Boston and to a lesser extent Los Angeles and Chicago) indeed magnifies his career but if he played in Kansas City or Milwaukee. I wonder how he'd be viewed or does it even matter? He did perform well on the biggest stage of them all after all.

Actually, Jeter is up against this guy in Milwaukee.

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