OT-Extra millions on top of mega millions or winning?

[schweig]

1. Level. There are 5.5 million people in WI, 6 billion in the world. To even say it's close to compete among the 500 best ____ in WI instead of among the 450 best basketball players in the world, I don't know where you're coming from. I mean, if I worked hard enough to be the best in WI at something, I'd at least be curious about how I matched up across the region or country. I was in this thing in high school called Destination Imagination a couple times, and one year we won regionals, won state, and finished in the bottom of the top third at "Global Finals" in Knoxville, TN. That was a fun trip and it's a lot of fun memories that I hadn't thought about in a while now, but I'm not comparing it to Magnus ver Magnusson winning the World's Strongest Man however many times.

2. Individual versus team sport. I don't want to pick on this one too much because my comparisons would be as flawed as yours. For Bonner I think of someone who helped you practice and train, was part of a group that had a lot in place to be successful and enjoyed it when you won but also knew that it wasn't them getting the heavy lifting done. But like you said, you were the only one who won, and that's a bad comparison.

3. This is a big one and goes back to level, you made a big commitment to your field, but comparing that to the commitment professionals make is a huge reach. It's just not the same. I'm not that competitive either, and it's great that you chose your field, reached the peak and then did what you decided was best for you, but there were probably more levels above where you would've had to really multiply your commitment to compete successfully. Like the Olympics, how much harder would you have had to train if you decided to go for that in your field? For someone who puts in all that extra time, the results come to mean more. They might identify themselves more with the results too. Also, these guys try to reach the top over and over again, there has to be some motivation even after you've bought everything you could want. It sounds like you walked away on top, which is a great place to be. But repeating probably would've been harder.

4. Charles Barkley's and Dan Marino's lives would be a lot different if they had won. Maybe they'd be worse off in some way, but at that level there's some effect. Brett Favre's would be a lot different if he didn't win. This comes at the highest level for players at the top even of that, who believe their impact on a team game should still be enough to bring them out on top. We have people here from all over the world, following their guy from their place. If Szymon Szewczyk was on the NBA champs, some people in Poland would care.

Maybe in 200 years none of it'll matter. Money may or may not last that long either. 2000 years ago, Aztec and gladiator losers were put to death and maybe their heads were used as the ball. Maybe there's a drop of that left over in our blood, some more than others.

Edit: Now as fans, we're more than a little goofy... and I don't know if someone who spent three full weeks of 2007 watching Brewer games can give a rational defense of the fan. It might be five times as long and make that much less sense.

[El Duderino]

My guess is if you ask Beno Udrih or Matt Bonner's grandkids if they'd rather have millions in the bank or the ability to say their grandpa won a title with the Spurs, they'd rather gramps took the money. How does the ability to say gramps won a title improve their quality of life one iota? Now how would a few million improve their quality of life?

I clearly was never talking about guys like Bonner or Udrih, players who have never been given big money and likely never will. I fully understand why the more fringe players in pro sports chase every last dollar, they aren't choosing between say a 70 million dollar contract offer or an 80-85 million dollar offer.

There probably isn't a need for anymore back and forth on this topic because we don't agree on what would matter most to either of us. If i'd be filthy rich regardless if i took an offer/stayed with a winner or could get even more filthy rich by playing with a poor team, i'd take less to play with the winner.

Billups is a good example for me. If i was in his shoes and say the Bucks offered 10 million more than Detroit, i'd have stayed with the Pistons. Being on a well run winning franchise for the rest of my career would trump having even more mega millions on top of all the mega millions i already have and would continue to earn. You would rather grab the extra cash and play for the Bucks.

That's fine, not everyone views things in life the same.

[Profound23]

One thing not being mentioned here, is Marion was rumored to be traded every year, and the Suns never once came out and denied it. In fact this past offseason they admitted to considering certain deals such as AK47 possibly coming off of his worst season.

I would be fed up with that too, and happy to go as well as long as I wasn't getting traded to the Bucks.

[InsideOut]

I guess I'll just sum up my thoughts and try and not be so long winded for a change.

Who won the World Series in 89? Who won the NBA title in 1990? Who won the Super Bowl in 2001? Who won the pole vault in 1992? Who won the F1 title in 1999 or the soccer world cup 3 tournaments ago? Who won the NCAA basketball tournament in 2004? MY guess is you either couldn't answer any of these or you had to sit and think a while to try and figure out an answer. I'd also guess 99.9% of the people in the world couldn't answer most of these questions. My point is nobody knows because nobody cares so how important can a title be?

I'll also say a title must not be that big of a deal to the NBA players themselves. How many players do you see turning down the higher offer? Name me the guys that took 5-15 million less to play with a better team. You think Redd thought he had a better chance to win a title in Milwaukee than Cleveland? When he signed his deal do you think Mo figured Milwaukee would get him a title faster than playing with Wade and Shaq? Guys take the cash...it's just that simple. What that tells me is that if the guys that actually play the game value the cash over the title then us fans that would rather have the title must be missing something.