"He's the best player in baseball, and the best players in each sport should be rewarded. It'd be nice to sign a 10-year deal worth $300 million." -LeBron James, reacting to Miguel Cabrera's 10-year, $292 million extension with the Detroit Tigers
I never used to think pro athletes deserved big contracts. I always felt that after a certain threshold, the benefit derived from each additional dollar or two or million had to be so marginal that to gripe about having earnings capped at multiple millions of dollars bordered on offensive. I was one of those people--and "those people," probably make up 90% of the population, so I guess I should just say I was a "person"--who recoiled in disgust at deals like A-Rod's (twice!) and Ryan Howard's. How could anyone be worth such obscene amounts of money? How could somebody even ask for such sums?
