It's Not About The Money, It's About Respect

How many of you out there are like me and tired of hearing that?

Every year, in every sport, you hear some athlete complain about how the organization is "disrespecting him". Why? The player will come up with a bunch of reasons why he's being disrespected but he'll make it a point to say "it's not about the money"! Yeah right.

I'd have a lot more respect for some of these guys if they'd just come out and say they want more money and would sign with whoever gives them the biggest contract. What's wrong with that? I don't have an issue if someone said that. Hell, I'd be doing that if I was in their shoes.

Now obviously you need to phrase it the right way, something along the lines of "I love playing the game of basketball, and while it's true I've been fortunate to have made a lot of money already, I'm just trying to set myself and my family up to be as financially secure as possible. It would be my pleasure to play for any team that wanted to give me a contract in the $60 million dollar range".

What's wrong with that?

Bill