Attending an NFL game: $260, Getting Shot at to Defend our Country: $29,000, Playing with a Football for a Living: Priceless

I'm sure you've all heard about our impending recession. Gas prices continue to skyrocket, as does the rate of home foreclosures. Roma tomatoes are going for a whopping $1.68 a pound at Wal-Mart and a six-pack of Mr. Goodbars has gone from $2.50 to $2.68 (let's not dwell on how it is that I'm so painfully aware of that particular fact, okay?). People all across the country are tightening their belts and preparing for the bad times ahead. Well...almost everybody. There are those among us who probably don't need to worry about such trivial things as; "can we afford next week's groceries" or "will winter outlast my heating bill budget". People like Ben Roethlisberger, who is the starting quarterback for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben's a very valuable guy. He must be. The Steelers recently announced they've signed him to an 8 year, $102 million dollar contract. That's $102 MILLION. That translates to almost $13 MILLION dollars A YEAR. To play football. Yeah, tough times for Ben, huh? Talk about making huge contributions to the human race, right? But wait...there's more. A few months ago, it was announced that Bob Stoops, the head coach of my beloved Oklahoma Sooners football team, will earn at least $5.77 MILLION from the University of Oklahoma in 2008. Of course, that figure could go up, when you factor in the additional income he could gain from various performance bonuses. The man coaches college football. To be specific, he coaches a college team that hasn't brought home a National Championship Title since 2000 (but who's counting championships, right-o?). And he's worth how much? Geez. Just last year, Mr. Stoops earned a paltry little $3.5 million salary (which, by the way, was 36 times that of a professor's salary at OU during the same time). Again, he's a football coach. Period. Just to put this in perspective, let me point out that, in 2005-06, the average cost of attending a year at OU (tuition, fees, books, room and board and related expenses) was $16,790. For out-of-state students, that number was $24,677. Who would have thought these sort of inequities would have ever been excepted by us, the American public? But wait. There's more! Anybody know who Adrian Peterson is? He was a running back for OU back in 2006. A pretty darn good running back, too. In January 2007, he announced that he would forgo his senior year at college in order to play professional football. The Minnesota Vikings signed Adrian for a pitiful little $40.5 million over 5 years (with $17 million of that guaranteed). Doesn't seem like much compared to Ben of the Steelers, eh? But don't fret for Adrian. Like so many of today's professional athletes, he's found a way to scrape up a little extra cash. For example, on the 15th of this month, he'll be appearing at a sports memorabilia store in the Ft. Worth area. And all of us common folk can come by and get an autograph (if we act soon enough, that is). The "autograph tickets" are going fast. Yeah. They sell "tickets" to get an autograph. For a mere $99, you may have a magazine or a card signed. For $129, you can have a mini-helmet signed. For $149, you can go for the gusto and have a full size helmet, a jersey or a ball signed. And just to prevent any confusion, let me clarify...the cost of these "autograph tickets" does not include the cost of the card or the magazine or the jersey or whatever it is you're having signed. Yes, Mr. Petersen is charging us, the people who already pay his salary in one way or another as fans, for the honor and privilege of owning a copy of his signature. What a deal. 'Course, the sports memorabilia store is getting a cut of those figures, too, so it's not like ol' Adrian is completely robbing us blind. At least not single-handedly. By the way, do you know what the average cost of an NFL ticket is? Somewhere between $65 and $80 each. So it will cost a family of 4 at least $260 to go to an NFL game, plus the cost of parking, plus the cost of refreshments, plus the cost of any souvenirs. For one game. Wow. No wonder all these teams can afford to pay these athletes so much money. We keep handing it to them hand over fist. So what in the hell does that make us besides stupid, gullible and starstruck? What does it say about us that we have people losing their homes, we have couples working 2, 3 and 4 jobs between them just to make ends meet, we have high school graduates unable to go to college because the costs are just too onerous to bear...yet we hear about salaries such as this and all we do is shake our heads at the egregiousness of it all as we're forking over copious amounts of money to pay for the tickets to their venues. Here's a thought...why don't we just quit buying the tickets? Why don't we quit buying the merchandise put out by these teams and organizations? Why don't we quit acting like imbeciles and take our power back! The fact that most of us can't afford to attend an NFL game because it costs too much is our own fault! The fact that buying a football jersey to "support" our team of choice will put us back about $80 is our own fault! The fact that our children can't afford college without benefit of their parents savings and/or scholarships is our own fault! Take this power back, people. Quit supporting these organizations that have stopped caring about US. Stop revering athletes and coaches and teams. They are supposed to be entertaining us, not holding us hostage. I for one have decided that I've bought my last Oklahoma Sooner t-shirt, jacket, baseball cap, whatever. Same goes for the Eagles stuff I've bought my sons and the Seahawks stuff I've bought my husband. No more. If they want to pay players and coaches that much for what they do, they'll do it without my support or my money. Oh, and before I end this...I'd like to point out what a real hero makes in our country...a staff sergeant in the United States Air Force brings home somewhere around $29,000 per year. Yep, that's right. Our service members who are fighting a war, getting shot at and/or living halfway around the world away from their families (and sometimes all three!) make about .5% of what a college football coach makes. Shameful. That's the only way to describe it. Shame. Full.

P.S. Meme from Jennifer at Dust Bunny Hostage:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more (no cheating). Find page 123. Find the first 5 sentences. Post the next three sentences. Tag 5 people.

My computer is located in our "Star Wars" room, which means the nearest book to me is, naturally, a Star Wars novel. Specifically, it's the one I just finished: Legacy of the Force; Revelation. (Yes, I'm a geek. Sue me!)
Anywho, here goes:
"Commit fully to the attack. Don't let up. Don't stop to think. "

These sentences are what Boba Fett was thinking to himself as he went to speak with his ex-wife who had just been released from carbonite after 30 or 40 years. That Boba. Facing personal relationships the same way he faced his bounties - like a chore to be gotten through in order to get a reward. Typical male. I won't tag 5 people to play this, though. I'm just too flippin' tired after my "athletes are overpaid" tirade. Feel free to play along if you'd like, though!