I agree with Mr. Whitlock here. The pay in sports is getting ridiculous.

Dak getting $60M per year Shohei Ohtani almost getting a $1B deal Bench players in the NBA getting $10M per year

Then you add in social media and podcasting, endorsements, its like athletes care more about their brand and making as much fiat as they can then actually dominating in their sport.

In basketball players take random nights off to “preserve” themselves for a championship run.

In football quarterbacks can never be hit. Then when the players stink or get hurt they keep all the cash (not in football). If I was a Dallas fan I would be livid at the Dak deal.

Part of the reason I got so upset about the Sabres blowing a 4 goal lead is because we are paying the goalie and defensemen millions of dollars to stop pucks for going in the net. Owen Power is a 22 year old kid is making $8.3 million and he’s so soft!! Gets pushed around by NHL men. They abuse him in the crease. Yes management is to blame for giving a kid all that money but it has gotten to this point because the game is so disconnected from the fans. Instead of giving Power the time to mature and earn his way to a big salary he’s just paid on potential and once you “made it” it’s easy to lose your edge.

Whitlock does a great job explaining where is all this money coming from to pay these players. It’s not all ticket sales anymore. The players don't play for the fans anymore. Just like big tech most of their money comes from advertising and thus putting on a good show is more important than competition.

@grayruby had a great post about a stupid rule change to bring more people to baseball. I can see if MLB was on the brink of going bankrupt and need something to juice revenues but they aren’t they are just fiat greedy. Forget trying to serve the fans let’s grow at the sake of growing so the owners and baseball players can make even more money.

It’s all a joke. And of course I’ll keep watching. But will we ever see a return of athletes who give it all no matter what like Jordan? Or will be stuck with the LeBron’s and Rodgers types. Time will tell

One last point I will make:

The 24/7 sports media really diminished sports to championship or bust. In the 70s and 80s division titles conference titles they mattered to the players and owners. Now people can care less! People don’t enjoy the journey or the great display of competition. Its all about did you win? And if you don’t win it all the season is a failure. But even so it doesn’t excuse how gross the pay has become in sports.