Show Me the Money

Although the film Jerry Maguire stands as one of my all time favorite movies, its takeaway line unfortunately reveals so much about what sports agents and what players really want.

Show me the money.

Scott Boras stands as an instructive case study to illustrate this insatiable hunger for more and more money. The representative of extremely high caliber players including Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, and most notably Alex Rodriguez, Scott Boras challenges the limits when it comes to player contracts. Boras constantly renegotiates contracts even if his representative’s production has improved only marginally. This often leaves teams without their star player, team owners furious, and fans unsatisfied.

I am realistic and I know that athletes don’t play professional sports solely for the love of the game. With the possibility of a career ending injury always a threat, paying players for their talents and entertainment value is perfectly reasonable. However, agents like Boras that demand ever increasing sums of money for a gain in commission stain the beauty of the game. Let the players play, let the fans watch, and leave the contracts alone. At the very least, agents like Boras should not encourage player holdouts that only hurt their teams and their consequent value as an entertainment entity. What these agents and players forget is that the fans still have an innocent love for the game, even if they might have dollar signs in their eyes.

For more information visit: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/04/sports/sp-boras4?s=g&n=n&m=Broad&rd=www.google.com&tnid=1&sessid=5051d92f52395ad9a1226c7cc43f52919be3cb14&uuid=5051d92f52395ad9a1226c7cc43f52919be3cb14&pg=0&pgtp=article&eagi=&cat=sports&page_type=article&exci=2008_11_04_sports_sp-boras4