2/16/11

I'm a day late and a dollar short.  I missed my post yesterday as I was entangled in mounds of hair.  I got this novel idea to finish removing my micro braids - a task that started at 5:30 and finished up 5 hours later.  Add another 2 hours to wash, condition, blow dry, grease, and flatten the afro on my head and the night was shot.  But I digress.  Consider this post yesterday's stew, and I'll do another for today.

As I picked my way through unbraiding the mess atop my head, I left the TV on for some background noise to my neverending task.  After I saw UC beat Louisville, I watched the Nuggets/Bucks game, or should I say I watched the commentators debate over what jersey Carmelo Anthony would wear after the All Star break.  Ok, to say I'm not a huge basketball fan would be an understatement.  I couldn't care less about stats, points, jerseys, or players unless they pertain to my 6th grader's team.  It was the figures that caught my attention; the sheer amout of money these players make per season.  Carmelo stands to make roughly 22 million a year if he signs a 3 year contract with the Nuggets.  Did you hear what I said?  $22 million a year.  I can barely fathom making $100k per year, much less 22 MILLION.  And while it's a nice chunk of change, he by no means is one of the richest athletes in the game.  He's most likely somewhere in mid-range, moving towards the top.  The main thing that came to my mind the broadcaster said aloud.  It was something to the effect of, "Anthony's challenge now is deciding if he wants to sign the contract for $65 million over 3 years, or if he wants to go to another team.  I'd like to have those problems."  That summed it up for me.  I'd love to have the "problem" of do I want to play a sport I love for 65 million dollars, or put on a different jersey and play for more than that?  Take all the x factors - if he got hurt, who his teammates are, can they win a championship, will the city support him, etc. - away from it and focus on the problem.  Sign for $65 million, or go elsewhere and most likely make more money.  I say damn.  I'd much rather have that conundrum than "which bill gets paid in full, and which one do I pay on?"  I'm glad Mr. Anthony and the rest of the professional athletes with that problem chose the path of professional basketball and made it.  But on behalf of us poor schmoes who sit and watch from the barstool or the couch, we WISH we could have those issues.  Good luck, Carmelo.