Salaries

As much as we can't stand pro athletes for the money they make, I've always stood to the fact that given the enormity of the industry they're in, they're paid at least somewhat properly. What's ridiculous, is the size of the industry. Okay, why doesn't everyone try and think of what job has the greatest combination of difficulty and importance. For example, coal mining: Extremely difficult, but one coal miner? Not all that important (as far as business is concerned). A little more time to think...okay. One of the jobs I keep coming back to is the President. May not be #1 on the list, but that's a debate for another time. All in all, the stress, public pressure, and impossibility of the president's job would merit one of the higher salaries right? $400,000 a year. Certainly a pretty solid amount of money, but...here's a few persons who make just "a little bit" more...for doing a lot less.

Todd Pinkston: I apologize, Eagles fans, for mentioning the name. For those of you who don't remember the good old days of #87, here's a brief recap:
Todd Pinkston, WR. Notorious for dropping easy passes and shying away from contact. His attributes include: Being several steps behind his man with an easy 80 yard touchdown awaiting when he suddenly stopped and braced himself against the safety who was closing in, letting the pass fall incomplete. Playing as the #1 receiver in an NFC championship game against Carolina and catching less passes than Carolina cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. And dropping even more. After making one really nice catch in Superbowl XXXIX, heading to the locker room midway through the first half with a deer in the headlights look on his face that seemed to say, "Wow, I had no idea the Superbowl was this nerve racking. I'm glad this cramp gives me an excuse not to go back out there." Need I say more? So how about his pay?
Over Pinky's final four seasons of bumbling mediocrity at best, he racked in $6,598,100. To put it in perspective, that's over four times the amount the president makes in the same amount of time.

How about another Philadelphia "Great?" How many of you remember Jose Mesa? If you are still reading this, you 1) are not a Phillies fan, or 2) just resisted a strong urge to put a brick through your monitor. Now, Jose Mesa had two abilities that aren't found in very many Major League Baseball players. The first uncanny knack was to find a way give up game losing home runs almost day in and day out. Fortunately for Jose, his other amazing talent was being able to find a job. Despite his loaded portfolio of blown saves, he was somehow able to convince teams that he would magically go back to the form he was in during his one or two good seasons way back.
During this beach ball thrower's highest paid eight year stretch, he wasted $23,700,000 of his employer's money. That's over $20,000,000 more than our commander in chief was paid during the same stint. And over seven times more money.

Jake Long: The offensive tackle out of Michigan was the first pick in the 2008 NFL draft. So the money he got paid was based off of what he did in college. No real NFL performance to back it up. What did he make in his first NFL season? $6,225,000. Over fifteen times more than Obama will make in his first year in office.

Okay, so even though it is just sports, those aren't the easiest sports jobs. What about the New York Yankees manager? I've always thought baseball managers had the easiest coaching jobs in all of sports, so a manager who has over $200,000,000 worth of players to work with? $2,600,000. Per year. But at least the Yankees make the playoffs nine years out of ten, and when they don't, they have a record over .500.

Now take my good old Baltimore Orioles. They're a team that finished 68-93 last year and haven't had a winning season in over a decade. By common logic, how many of their players deserve more money than the president? Umm...let's see...1-2-3-ZERO. But believe it or not, 26 members of the 2008 Baltimore Orioles had a more profitable year than George W. Bush. Financially, at least (although otherwise could also be debated). Shouldn't there be a rule that if you don't win even close to half of your games and vastly under perform, you shouldn't make as much as the president?

Dikembe Mutombo: Unlike some of the other's I've mentioned, Mutombo had a great basketball career. While I couldn't find any current information, I did run across a rather stunning figure from one of the last few seasons. During a season for the Knicks in the tail end of his career, Dikembe averaged 6 points and 7 rebounds a game. For the he got paid, oh nothin, $17,894,735. For those of you on your knees begging me not to do the math on that, sorry. It's a strange world we live in. What higher a degree of strangeness is there than a basketball player getting paid almost 45 times as much as the president for 6 points a game?

Established: One of the most overall difficult jobs in the USA gets paid pocket change in comparison to mediocre athletes. So what is one of the easiest jobs that gets the most pay? Without doing a whole lot of research, here's my #1:
Job Description: Be on TV. Say "yes" or "no." Give prewritten insults to 20 year old ditzes. The pay? Somewhere around $36,000,000 a year. It's an enigma that no mathematician, logician, or lunatic could possibly understand. Simon Cowell gets paid for 22.5 presidential terms (90 years) each year by American Idol. If anyone can truly figure out why, they're the one person that deserves higher pay than the president.