Do we really need all this money?
By: Kyle Grabowski
By: Kyle Grabowski
Does anyone remember who won the Stanley Cup in 2005 season? No one did because the season was locked out due to a player’s strike. The NHL and NHLPA (NHL Player’s Association) could not come to an agreement over a salary cap (total amount of money teams are allowed to spend on players’ salary) and how to deal with that salary cap. The league wanted a fixed cap that could not be exceeded no matter what while the PA wanted something similar to the NBA and MLB where the cap can be exceeded, but the team must pay some sort of luxury tax to the league for spending too much money. In a nutshell, the players wanted more money and the league didn’t want to give it to them. Eventually the league and players agreed on a $39 million cap after cancelling the first entire season in North American professional sports history. The biggest question is: why? Are hockey players really that selfish to deny an entire season to legions of endearing fans? Apparently they are. The 2004-05 NHL lockout represents a disturbing trend in American sport: the want for more money. Every year stories come out about top-tier draft picks holding out for more cash. The average amount of guaranteed money for a top ten pick in the 2007 draft was $18.2 million. Is it really that impossible to live off of $18.2 million? Do you need the extra million or two for your Lamborghini, or for bail money just in case? There are people in the world who live off of pennies a day and have to do back-breaking physical labor to get their little part. In Sierra Leone , people work from before dawn to after dusk searching for the diamonds that will make their earrings and pendants. Unfortunately that’s just part of American society. We always have to have the biggest house and fastest car. Debt is no problem because there are companies out there that can save you like InCharge or Ameriprise Financial. The drive for financial success dominates American life to the point that our most grandiose figures have been relegated to gracing bills, so the next time you pull out your buddy Lincoln to buy something consider whether or not you actually need it or if it’s just the American in you.
