23 September, 2011

Why do athletes say these things?

Gone are the days when I used to care about the Sawks/Yanks rivalry with any real passion (granted I thought it was amazing to see Boston come back from 3-0 to defeat the Yankees). It's still one of the best in baseball (if not the best) but I'm just not into baseball as I was when I was a kid.  Mind you I've had some good times at the ballpark. Most recently at Wrigley Field for the Giants v. Cubs.

While checking out the ESPN New York app on my Android I came across an article about how Yankee catcher Russell Martin, "hates the Red Sox!" My first thought was, "who's Russell Martin?" Then I looked him up, http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/martiru01.shtml. Basically he's a guy who grew up in Canada, drafted by the Dodgers & signed a free agent contract last winter with the Yankees. I'm curious to know how a kid growing up in Ontario learned to hate the Red Sox? If he had signed with the Blue Jays would he still be a Sox hater? 

 Why do pro athletes say stuff like this? It reminds me of when CC Sabathia was a free agent & after the Yankees offered him a contract that dwarfs the GNP of most countries he stated something along the lines that it was always a dream of his to pitch for the Yankees. I'm sure that the money had nothing to do with it. The same goes for Carl Crawford who grew up in Houston & how he was so happy the Sox signed him. It's because these teams throw ungodly sums of money at them and that's it. I'd bet that Sabathia's dream would've been to play for whomever offered him that much.

What I wouldn't give to hear a pro athlete just once say, "you know what I didn't want to sign with so & so but they made me an offer that floored me so I signed on the dotted line." After Carlos Beltran had his great run in 2004 and became a free agent he was courted by a lot of teams. When the Mets got serious it came out the Beltran was hesitant about playing in NYC. We there probably wasn't a much hesitation after a 7 year $100 million contract was dangled in front him. After that I'm sure that he always wanted to play int New York.

We live in a world where it's all about the money. Just admit it. I don't see pro athletes as money grubbing carpetbaggers, it's the owners that pay them (or overpay in some cases) but I'm tired of hearing how much guys want to play for whatever the team that offered them a ton of money.
 


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