Sunday, January 24, 2010

Ridiculous Help for Haiti

I was watching Sportscenter last week in the days following the first massive earthquake in Haiti and I heard some news that initially sounded good but upon further reflection seemed a bit ridiculous. The NFL's Indianapolis Colts were donating $10,000 dollars to aid in the relief fund (their wide receiver Pierre Garcon is from Haiti), and the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball were donating $500,000 dollars to the relief fund. Now don't get me wrong...every bit helps and I'm sure the people of Haiti are thankful for anything in the way of relief right now but lets look at things in perspective. In December 2008, the Yankees, who donated $500,000 to the relief effort, signed three players (C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Mark Texeira), to contracts worth a total of $428.5 million...857 times what they donated to Haiti. The Colts, who donated $10,000 to the signed their future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning to a 7 year deal in March 2004 with $99.2 million. (an average of a little over $14 million per year). The money that Peyton Manning makes alone playing for the Colts is 9,920 times what they donated to the Haitian relief effort. Is it just me or is something wrong here? I am an avid sports fan...but it seems ridiculous to me that we pay people this much to throw a ball around but by comparison, neglect the human needs of those less fortunate than us. Anyone else think maybe this is a little bit backwards?

3 comments:

  1. This is a unique and interesting perspective, Matt. The priorities are evident, aren't they?

    Great blog, too. Thought-provoking, a bit controversial, insightful. Keep it up!

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  2. Great points, i love sports too but it sickens and puzzles me that hard working blue collar people who make this country run will never come close to the money these athletes receive. Those figures are startling to pay a man 9,920 times more to play a game then amount donated to Haiti is absurd, shows where priorities are at.

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  3. They can really shock people and send their players down for some relief work... or at least a militia-ish police force.

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