kate jack

If you were a professional athlete, would you rather play for money, or play for the love of the sport?


Love of the sport.

I honestly didn't care how much I got paid, as long as I got to do it.

Cheesy as it sounds, I've had a few jobs like that in the past, where I loved it so much, I didn't care what I got paid, even if it was shit.

Its about passion, to me. Greed for money just turns you into an ugly person.

gladiator

i think that playing for the name of your country is the best, making it proud of u, the best thing when u get a gold medal and listen to your national anthem , it would be the best thing

Bear Cub

If you're not getting paid for it, you're not a professional athlete. You can't do something you love for a living if you can't make a living from it.

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The_Jazz

I'm sorry that I can't be nice about this, but this has got to be the dumbest topic I've seen in a while. It completely overlooks the amount of dedication that it takes to a sport to be able to play it on a professional level. "Love of the game" is a luxury that you only have when you're winning or at least doing well. If you're struggling or not suceeding, it's the worst possible way to spend your time, especially if you're injured.

As someone who spent 12 years competing and has gotten paid for his efforts, this OP sucks.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

Ilow

I find this to be unnecessarily harsh. It is true that you have to get paid to be called professional, and that a certain level of dedication is required in order to get there, but love of the game is not just a "luxury" for some. I know plenty of people who play professionally in lower level leagues (Can Am baseball, for example) who don't get paid much, but love what they do. I am certain that they would play for free in most cases. I have also met professional paintball players (didn't know there was such a thing until 2 years ago) and I am certain that they would have also played for nothing. Love of the game is that feeling you get when you still love to compete even when you're not necessarily successful. I am glad you got the opportunity to get paid to play but I don't think that you can generalize your experiences to everyone else.
If I got the chance to play games I love, even for nothing, I would.

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"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
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The_Jazz

llow, it's easy to say you'd play for free when you're preforming well, winning, etc. It's entirely different when you're going through a tough training cycle or just plain old not performing. That's when it's WORK, even if you're not getting paid for it.

For me, it was being 6 miles into a 20 mile run on a hot, humid day in August all alone and realizing that it just plain old sucked to be there, regardless of how much I knew it would help me in the long run.

Most of the time, practices just plain old suck. You don't get paid to practice, but if you don't practice you'll never get paid. And that is the reason I think that this OP sucks. It fails to realize how anyone who can possibly hope to make a living at sport has to practice just to even begin to consider the possibility. Greedy? Hardly.

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The proud dad of Max since 2/15/06 and Andrew since 1/9/08!

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

highthief

I agree.

There are a lot of athletes who ply their trade, even today in a world where even crap athletes can get paid a small fortune, for a relatively small or even non-existant amount of money. While they'd all love to make more, certainly, there are tons of guys playing semi-pro hockey, soccer, baseball, grinding away on the mini-tours in golf and other sports, who know they have no hope of making it big but who love what they are doing and accept they'd make more working at Home Depot or selling cars at the local Chevy dealership, but keep grinding away anyway.

Even looking at amateur athletes - real amateurs who get fuck all - who train dozens of hours a week prepping for a marathon, triathlon, etc. They could be making money at their regular jobs, working OT, a second job, taking additional training, but do what they do for love of competing.

Yeah, you'll take the money if you can get it, of course, but their are enough people who do it for other passions to make this an arguement and it should be dismissed by so casually by staff.

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punkmusicfan21

I actually agree with Jazz; it is far more complicated then the two choices.

I would play for the love of the game until I was underpaid. I would play football for half of what they pay stars.

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"So many years my heart has waited, and who'd of thought that love could be so caffeinated" - Taylor The Latte Boy (as sung to me by every person who ever order coffee from me)

Ilow

I do get what you mean, Jazz, it is so much easier to be excited about training if you see positive results, or are having fun, and often play is work for serious athletes. That being said, High School football players get together for "captains practices" and train during the summer, when i'm sure they would rather be at the beach. It probably also gets complicated with college athletes, who are practically professional, especially if they have scholarships or are at D1 schools. Anyone can quit the sport anytime, pretty much, it just seems easier if you don't risk losing tons of money.

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"Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about"
--Sam Harris

QuasiMondo

If I was good, then I'd play for the love of the sport, the money will follow.

If I was mediocre, then I'd play for money. Who knows when that gravy train will last?

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Strange Famous

You play to make a living - until you reach a stage of your career when you are simply playing for history - whether your personal legacy, or against the record books.

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"Lying in bed on a summer morning, with the window open, listening to the church bells, eating buttered toast with cunty fingers.” (unknown man, on what it meant to be English)

"And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." (Holden Caulfield)

dlish

i'd play for nothing when i was in Little Athletics. sure. i was a young teenager.

but it'd get to a stage when its no longer fun, and even though as you're older you're making money no amount of money will keep you happy. this pain may come in the form of injuries, which can also bring mental anguish, as well as pain in not succeeding.

so i can see where jazz is coming from. although ido think that the OP was made in haste. i do hope that the OP does come back for more input though.

i know quite a few proffesional athletes in boxing and rugby league and they work their butts off. some more successful than others. all love the game, but not all enjoy it. at the end of the day you need to make a living. the amount of dedication needed to be a true proffesional athlete means that in this day and age you cannot dream to be a proffesional athlete without getting paid for what you do. whether ou love the game or not!

so while jazz may have come across harshly i can see his point of view. especially for someone who dedicated so much to a sport.

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pan6467

I look at Ken Griffey Jr. for this answer. He could have gone many other places for far more money but he chose to go to his home town team, Cincy. He worked a deal that wouldn't bankrupt them and had he not had bad hammys, he would have truly been great there. He wanted to be where he was comfortable and bring pride to his hometown, to me that is a great man, not just an athlete.

Then I look at a Manny Ramirez or an A Rod. They went out only for the money. In the process A Rod bankrupted Texas and played only for himself. It must be a miserable feeling to have fans and teammates hate you, your money will never buy you their love. Manny once he left Cleveland for more money has never been Manny, he has constantly changed himself and has become a selfish nutjob, who again fans have come to hate.

What exactly is a few more million going to buy you? Jr was able to keep his smile and who he was injuries aside he was home. Manny and A Rod I don't think truly smile anymore nor have in a very long time. A Rod's money never bought him a ring. Jim Thome's money never bought him a better back or his reputation as a nice guy back. Manny's money never bought him sanity or the happiness he had in Cleveland.

If I were a player, I'd play for my smile. A few more million will never buy a true smile. I'd be willing to take lower pay so that my team would be able to pay enough out to be competitive and a contender. With the right investments, endorsements and so on, I wouldn't have to worry.

And this whole thing, "well if you are the best why not be paid the best".... is bullshit. A Rod in Texas looked like a greedy bastard as his team went nearly broke and never came out of the cellar.

In the end you play for pride, rings and championships not the money. I can almost guarantee after he retires, A Rod is going to wish he had had a world series ring and the love of the fans more than that couple extra million.

One thing about greed, when you live by it, in the end you never know who your true friends are, who loves you for just you and because you were out for all you could get, you believe everyone else to be also. It is a horrible, sad life greed..... and that I know first hand.
-----Added 12/8/2008 at 04 : 08 : 04-----
Here ya go a great example..... Lebron James, he's got 2 years on his contract with Cleveland and all he talks about is leaving for more money.... NOT ABOUT FUCKING WINNING.... He doesn't say, "I want to show the world I can bring championships home, I'll worry about my contract when it's up."

That is LOSER mentality.

Now when Tiger came in, he didn't say, "I want to make the most of any fucking player ever", he said, "I'm going to prove I am the best golfer ever, I want to beat Nicklaus' records."

How much is enough? When do the fans step up and say enough?

Look at Brian Giles he stayed true, Cleveland offered better money... he said "No, I love San Diego, my family is here, I grew up here....." Traded to Bosux... "Naw, I want to stay here with my home team and family, even though I can make 2 million more."

THAT'S A FUCKING MAN. THAT'S A MAN TRUE TO HIMSELF...... FUCK YOU LEBRON.... FUCK YOU MANNY, THOME, AROD, AND ALL YOU OTHER GREEDY FUCKS THAT RUIN THE GAME. HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH???????

And when noone can afford the tickets to watch your games, the teams have to rape the networks for more money until the games can only be shown on pay per views and the kids YOU once were can't see you play like you saw Puckett, Molitor, and so on play will you be happy with your extra million or two???????

FUCK YOU.

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Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted. You're just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You've got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It's all down to you, mate.
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