Another reason(s) the world of sports might actually be a different world
Sports Illustrated has released the Top 50 American citizen athletes who made the most money the past year. (This means people like Yao Ming and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are out.) I was listening to the radio when the guys (John and Lance, Sean and John—geniuses) over at 1560 The Game got a hold of it. All of us being from Houston, we shared some delight in the article for a number of reasons which I will recount here. (You can also check out Lance Zierlein’s blog.)
First off, it’s always fun to guess at the top 3. Number one is pretty easy, number two is not, number three most people probably think should be at number two. Anyway, got your ideas? OK. Read on. (There are also the mind-numbing crazy ones coming up, as well.)
Number one on the list: Tiger Woods. (For everyone else out there, that’s his wife Elin Nordegren in the picture up there.) This is pretty simple. Dude wins every golf event there is, and if he’s not in the final pairing on Sunday, it’s like all is lost. I’d venture to say that he is the best athlete at his respective sport than any athlete anywhere in any sport. Kobe can shoot a basketball, but you can double team him sometimes and drop his points significantly. He’ll have some off days where he’ll shoot 25% from the field. Not Tiger Woods. Get him on the links and every shot he makes—and they’re all way more important than a free throw—is almost dead on.
Just how much money does he make? Read this from SI:
With close to $800 million in total earnings on and off the course over his 13-year career, Tiger should become the first billion-dollar athlete in the next two years — and he’s still only 32.
Only person to do something like that at 32 is, like, Alexander the Great and he conquered the known world. I feel like Tiger isn’t far off.
ANYWAY, the number two guy is Phil Mickelson. This is hard to believe. He doesn’t win all that much, but apparently he wins enough and makes six times his earnings in endorsements. (Just FYI: Tiger makes five times his winnings in endorsements. He also wins more.)
Beyond that, LeBron James is three. That’s another fairly easy one. And for all those wondering, A Rod’s number seven, Jeter’s number 10. (Way to go Yankees!) But the good ones are later in the list. For example, rookie sensation and forever-Longhorn Kevin Durant is at #13. Can you believe it? There are only 12 other people IN AMERICA that make more money in sports than him. Hey—I’m all for Longhorns making that kind of coin.
But here’s the best one. Number 31: STEVE FRANCIS. AHHAHAAHAHAHHA! Now THAT is good. The Rockets’ own doorknob of a benchwarmer makes a TON of cash. He played in 10 games total, only started in 3, racking up a whopping 5.5 points per game. Let me put that in perspective. You know who’s sitting in at number 32, right behind him? TOM BRADY.
Exhale.
Other notables:
- Number 21: Michael Finley. The collective, “Who?” I heard you all. If you don’t watch basketball—and I do—he sucks. And so do the Spurs.
- Number 25: Stephon Marbury. He sucks, too. Knicks suck. They’re the worst.
- Number 26: JaMarcus Russell. You’ve got to be kidding me. He started three games at the end of the season and STILL makes more money than another QB who will be mentioned later in this post. What a joke.
Highest Houstonian? Tracy McGrady rockin’ number 17.
On the Internet: SI.com - The Fortunate 50