Yeah, I only have that picture because as you said she is super hot, I couldn't care less about the show, I never watched it. I know sports are important to people and it is a great way for people to come together after tragedies. But why should it always take a tragedy for people to come together like that? College sports are the only ones I have seen that regularly sell out and that is mostly due to donations from people and students are able to get in for free. For the average person, sports are better watched on television because you don't have to fork out so much money to actually go.
I'm just saying, do you really think these guys deserve millions of millions of dollars for dribbling a ball or throwing a football? In my mind, they don't. It is the people that work the actual blue collar jobs that have no glamour, no one coming to ask for an autograph, no endorsements.


And there are few, very few players in today's games that I actually see risk everything out on the field or court, and that has mainly to do with new rules and officiating.
The NBA calls every touch foul, especially for the stars like LeBron and Kobe (even though he's my favorite player, it's true). Why do these players even weight lift or get in peak physical shape if every little thing is called, what used to be a good hard foul is now a flagrant. I haven't watched a full NFL game in two years because Goodell is ruining the league. I'm all for keeping the players safe too, but it's getting ridiculous. 1 player gets hurt on one play (TO & Brady) and suddenly there's a rule against it, because they want to protect the stars. I for one want to see the backup come in and get an opportunity to play; if it weren't for Brady's injury, Cassel wouldn't be a starter. I mean really, nobody is holding a gun to their heads making them play, if they're worried about getting hurt, they should retire.

I totally agree. The fact that these players make what the make is the fans fault and now the NFL and NBA are facing "labor issues" I work my butt off 5-6 days a week 8-10 hours a day 51 weeks a year to take my 4 day vacation and pay my bills etc.. on my $50,000 a year and with that and 3 kids I am lucky to go to ONE sporting event a year now. Meanwhile these players are making $20 million a year and have an issue with that. I understand they get hurt etc... Police officers get shot at and make $47,000 to start suck it up and admit that you have it made. The minimum salary in the NFL is about $420,000 a year it will take me 8 years to make that much, and for me to go see you perform I am spending $60 a ticket, $10 to park, and $7 for a BEER!!!! totally rediculous. If and I guarentee this if the NFL holdout cost us the overpaying fan ANY games (including preseason) I will NOT attend a NFL game for the next 8 years (unless the tickets are free)
In this economy and hard times I wish that athletes would realize how damn spoiled they seem.

These are the kind of people I am talking about. People that work hard and earn every cent they get paid. And those guys that make the minimum in either the NBA or NFL won't even play in the games most of the time! They get paid to workout, practice, and sit at the end of a bench. For all of that "hard work" they get $420,000 PER YEAR!! And they don't even have to work an entire year, it's just ridiculous... If prices go up any more, I won't even watch games on tv. I'll watch college sports (which is where real passion for the game is shown) and the closest I'll come to the pros is in the video games.

It rubs me the wrong way when people blame the players. If the players are making this kind of money how much do you think the owners make? A player can only negotiate what owners are willing to pay also most of these stadiums or arenas are paid by us taxpayers with marginal money being paid by the owners. The concessions alone they make a killing a beer for example cost you roughly $8 or so the owner 85 cents give or take. It sucks that they are basically pricing out the "loyal fan" but even if the players all cut their contracts in half prices wouldn't go down trust me.

That is true, and I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming the players, I'm really placing the blame on the leagues as a whole as well as the fans, because if we weren't willing to fork out so much money to go to games, they would have no other choice but to lower the prices. (Unless they enjoyed playing in front of a few hundred fans...) All I'm saying is, it's the fans that need to come together and say enough is enough, we won't attend games until prices are brought down.

@ wallofhate I totally agree that if prices of athletes went down I doubt that we would see prices go down but, one could only hope. I don't blame the players if I was a pro athlete and they were offering me $17 million I don't think I would say "nah $4 millions cool" It is just the fact that in the current lockout and such the players want more just because the owners are making money. In my buisiness I work day in and day out and the head of the company is bringing in $$$$ on my hard work but, that is the nature of the business world. I think owners and players are forgeting how they made all that $$ through us the fans.

very good read my friend. the biggest thing is that u are right, if they would lower the price of tickets more people would go. the raiders had on home game on tv vs the chiefs( the other games blackout because not even poeple went) and the reason why it was on tv is, the tickets were 29$. like you said people would go if the price of tickets went down. but the nfl, nba and others love money more then their fans they can say different but we know the truth

Yeah and I hate that way of thinking, I mean of course they want to make money, just like everyone else, but without the fans they wouldn't have a business...

The NFL and NBA look at their fans and and only see $$ their is zero customer service

I have no issues with athletes making what they make. Other entertainers who don't put their bodies on the line and have longer careers (most athletes play 5 - 10 years depending on sport and position). Athletes get most of the attention because their salaries are made public. We have no idea what Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman or other A list actors make when they are in a film so it goes unnoticed.

Ticket prices have nothing to do with the athletes. It is all owners. They make a killing with TV contracts and merchandising. They sell courtside seats at higher prices because there are people out there who will pay. What kills me is the cost of food and beer at stadiums. That is where people get ripped off...

One thing I do when I go to Braves games is I pack my own food. I usually wrap two hot dogs in tin foil along with a bag of chips and a bottled soda (or water), and I'm good to go. I'm a fan of beer, but not when it costs $7. If I want to drink beer and watch sports, I'll do it in the comfort of my own home or at a sports bar.

To me, beer is the easiest thing to boycott at games. Sure, it's nice to have a beer while you're at the stadium but I'm astounded by the amount of people who will wait in line 40 minutes for ONE beer. Come on. You pay money to come watch the games, right?

There are ways to undercut the concessions, but most folks are just going to continue forking out ridiculous amounts of money for them instead of bringing their own items in. I understand the appeal of concessions because I've bought them myself, but if you aren't raking in the money (and I'm certainly not) then it's a great way to enjoy the game and eat while you're there at the same time.

First of all, great post.

Now, the NFL generates an outstanding profit, true. The NBA however, doesn't do nearly as well. In fact, most of the owners are hemmoraging (sp.?) money. However, I do not necessarily agree with lowering tickert prices. From my personal point of view, yeah that would be great. I could afford to see more games. But from an owners POV, no. The goal of any investment or business is to make $$$. I think they all care about the fans, just not as much as they proclaim, and not for the reasons they say. If ppl are willing to buy, they should be willing to sell.

For the players, they are entertainers. The only thing that seperates LeBron from Tom Hanks is type of entertainment... and maybe cash... and vertical leaps... I could go on forever but you catch my drift. I love the arguement " I work 6 days a week" or "I work 75 hours a week". Lots of people can do that. Lots of people have the same skills that you or I possess. These same people (and myself) can't throw a 98 mph fastball or windmill a dunk. Point of the matter is athletes are where they are because of the skills, determination, and opportunity fell right for them. They are good @ what they do, even the so called "scrubs" or "bench warmers".

Oh yeah, there's no argument there, they are extraordinary athletes. All I'm saying is, that if we as fans decided to watch more games from our television instead of spending so much money to go, we could see a decline in prices and then attendance would be out the roof for almost all of the sports teams. I guess cause I go to ECU I see school spirit all around and that's what separates college from pro and I would just like to see an atmosphere like that in the pros, it would make for a more enjoyable experience.

I don't blame the owners, if people are willing to pay, yeah they should go out an make the money, the blame should go back to us, the fans.

I agree. However, for those of us who don't live in big market cities (closest professional sports team to me is 2 1/2 hours) will suffer as will everyone else. All they would do is start to charge "pay-per-view". These guys are going to make some coin one way or another. But, I doubt it would come to that. Actually, what would you normally pay to see a big name in a concert? Capitalism is the suckiest great thing ever...