Beautifully stated. I would imagine the time requirements and commitments are exponentially greater for those with big time corporate sponsors as well. How much of his precious free on the lake would SVB give up for a few million.
Money is no big deal if you have never known it. Priorities.
Well said, but the original post was intended to compare the highest achievers across various sports. There's no doubt that money is a more serious matter for those who can't afford life's necessities.
I don't think you know how to view a post. If you did you would see it wasn't a reply.
Well, I have given up on worrying about the money issues with pool. I personally think what is much more sad concerning this great game/sport is how over many, many years billiards sort of lost it's place as a main event for social gathering for small groups of guys. At one time, almost every mansion built up to post WWII had a dedicated billiard room- everywhere throughout the U.S.
I grew up with very little money. I wasn’t too happy about that. Great parents but man I just couldn’t fade the old cars, no air conditioning, etc. We were a happy family and made due with what we had I wanted better. So at a very very young age I took it upon myself to fix that problem.
And scenic too...played on big, beautiful, and well groomed...pool halls.
This is a good point, and very thought provoking. Taking other sports out of the equation, SVB made more in 4 days than most police, fire, teachers, etc. make in an entire year. On the surface it seems crazy, but then it also bears mentioning that for those four days, he was THE. BEST. IN. THE. WORLD at his profession.
Very few run-of-the-mill guys running down the football field make tens of millions of dollars. Remember those run of the mill guys that get to that point have been training and going through the weeding out process since a very young age. By the time they are making those millions they are the elite of the elite. BUT your point still stands as far as why we choose to pay elite athletes millions to entertain us while the average soldier who we expect to fight and die to protect us makes 44 grand a year.
Yes, you are correct our values when it comes to reward in certain sports participation vs. reward for other more meaningful work are very screwed up . But that begins way before young people even get to work for a living. How many really dumb athletes get to go to college for free via scholarship and are taken care of in every way while " enrolled" in so called institutes of higher learning- Thousands every year- and how many children of ours who are not superior athletes and don't quite qualify for any type of assistance because their parents are the backbone of middle America get even a crumb from our colleges and universities to help pursue their dream of becoming a model citizen-- ZERO!
There is still time. Do it.
I was a only a fair poker player and twice I won more than first place in the U.S. Open and did not win either tournament (finished 5th and 7th).
Whatever the Players don't make, the owner does.
Great post. Certainly, the contention that the public overvalues entertainment is less than clear, but you've framed the debate well. That said, there is definitely a tie between entertainment and stress management and the benefit that is brought on by entertainment is, consequently, largely unquantifiable.
