Every Penny

Kobe Bryant earns 26 million dollars per year, and he deserves every penny.    Every year athletes get paid more and more money, and every year, more and more people start to complain that they're paid too much. According to a New York times study and survey, in the 1980's, the average sports star was paid 90,000, with the highest salary belonging to an NFL quarterback who made 160,000. Salaries rose from there in 90's according to a report from the Sun the average salary was 422,000 dollars, which is an 18% raise from what it was in the 80's. Fast forward to today's time and the average athlete is paid 4 million dollars.
                      Why shouldn't they be paid that much money? Also keeping in mind, that is just  the average. Superstars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are making over 20 million dollars per year. They deserve it! Take Kobe Bryant for example, he has a shoe company, he has merchandise, he has a clothing line, he brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to the Los Angeles Laker franchise, why shouldn't he be paid hansomly for it?  He is the reason people go see the Lakers play, people are buying that particular shoe because its Kobe endorsed.
                        Kobe and LeBron are not the only ones making this much money, there are dozens of athletes from each sport that are making millions of dollars per year. What doesn't make sense, is why so many people have a problem with how much they are getting paid. A good handful of these athletes do a lot of good with their money, they have charity's, they help fun programs, they make donations. All with their own personal money. It's not Kobe's fault that he is in a profession that is able to pay him that much money. It is not Kobe's fault that people want to buy his shoe. On Kobe's shoe alone last year, Nike was able to profit 50 Million dollars according to Forbes annual listings.
                        Understanding that people like police officers and firemen, and school teachers, many would argue and agree that they are underpaid, and rightfully so. They are underpaid, but just because they are underpaid, does not mean someone who makes more than them is over paid, even if that over pay is in the millions of dollars range. Most people who choose their profession know what they are getting paid, they know what the average salary is. Yes, not many people can just wake up and decide they are going to be in the NFL or NBA, or that that is going to be their career, but they do decide if they want to be a police officer, or a store manager, or a janitor, or work for the city, you get the point that is being made, people choose their profession, and have no right to get up set with someone who chooses or is able to do something different and is paid more for it.
                  There is a price that comes with fame though and a price that comes with money. Take the current scandal going on right now with Ray Rice who is an NFL superstar, bringing in millions of dollars per year. How many people do things like this every day with no consequence? People like Ray Rice who are in the news every day, have to put on an image to the public. Ray Rice along with many other stars with a lot of money, have made mistakes that have been highlighted in the media and all over the news for things they have done that are more common then people think. Ray Rice was charged with hitting his wife. He has been fined, released from his team and has been indefinitely suspended by the NFL. How many cases of this do you know of personally where a guy you knew hit his wife? Did that person lose his job, have to go to jail? Pay a fine? Maybe in some cases yeah, but how many have gone un-attended to? They have to live their lives a certain way and act in a certain manner, because when things like what happened happen, it becomes a national story line, where as you wont hear a single word on the news about it when it happens to your neighbor down the street. So yeah, they get a lot of money, but it comes with a very steep price, and very high consequences when things go wrong. It's not all just fun and games.
            Athletes put in a lot of work, they sign contracts, and in those contracts there are certain stipulations, so many promotional appearances are required, so many games played are required, autograph signings for fans, interviews after each game, and so on, all seem little prices to pay for the million dollar pay checks they are getting, These people have lives too, they have family's, they have hobbies, they have needs and wants just like anyone else, but they are held to a much higher standard then most because of the position they are in.
               If you had a job, and every person that ever came to see the company, or paid the company, was there paying to see you, and you were the reason that company was doing so well, dont you think that you would want to be paid for that? And not just paid,  but paid well. If you were the main reason your company maid 100 million dollars that year, wouldn't you want a good chunk of that? And rightfully so, you deserve it, you are what the people are paying for so why not get a piece of the pie at the end of the day?
                Athletes get paid a lot of money, their is no debate about that. They do get a hard rap for it, and many choose to not recognize the good that comes from these sports stars money. They make them all out to be selfish, greedy, jerks who only want money, and though that might be the case for a lot of them, it does not encompass all of them, and it certainly doesn't determine whether an athlete or any person for that matter should make 1 million or 20 million dollars. We the people, the fans, the merchandise purchasers, the game attenders, we are the ones giving them that much money. We have absolutely nothing to complain about.