THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 18, 1995 TAG: 9509180130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Asked about the introduction of the NBA rookie salary cap, No. 1 draft pick Joe Smith said, ``I think it cost me a couple million.''
I hope Joe was just explaining, not complaining. Nobody likes it when a soon-to-be wealthy athlete whines that he could have been even richer.
``It's like taking money out of my pocket,'' Smith explained.
Before we cue the violins, Joe, think of all the people you know who have nothing but lint in their pockets.
Every cafeteria worker and pipefitter can understand Smith's disappointment. Naturally, it was a shock to his system to discover that he is being limited this season to the menial wage of $2.06 million.
Too much sarcasm? In the case of Smith, a decent, genial young man, maybe so. What can I say? The preponderance of money talk in sports has made me cranky.
We all know pro athletes are rich and (despite what Smith may think) getting richer. But somewhere along the line, the style of reporting on players' fortunes has changed. Somebody in the media decided that people couldn't live without knowing everything about every athlete's finances, right down to the decimal point.
It all began years ago when baseball writers started reporting salaries as if they were batting averages.
Today, as the trend escalates, some of us find only tedium in the obsession with dollar signs. We wonder why anybody should care that a free agent signed for $4 million after asking for $5 million.
We aren't resentful of the salaries, just bored with the numbers games being played out in the papers and on the airwaves. Bored by the talk of hard caps and soft caps, and long-term deals vs. short-term deals.
There are numbers and then there are numb-ers.
What's needed in sports right now is a cap on all the blather about salary caps. But, of course, it may be too late for that. The money talk is inescapable.
Saturday night, a fellow called Mort, an NFL maven, appeared on the radio to announce that Richard Dent had returned to the Chicago Bears ``. . . for $200,000, plus incentives.''
Why the need to report the $200,000. What's the point? To make us feel sorry for Dent, an old pro hanging on? Or to remind the working stiffs who are listening that we earn a fraction of what a broken-down football player can command?
There was more from Mort. Deion Sanders, he said, reportedly signed with the Dallas Cowboys for $35 million over seven years. But, in fact, it is closer to being a five-year deal for $25 million, which, in reality, could turn out to be a three-year contract for a little under $14 million.
It leaves you breathless, yes. But bored.
Free agency in the NFL has led to almost non-stop gab on TV and radio sports shows about caps and contract extensions. The game and the personalities can hardly be found under the avalanche of dollar signs and decimal points.
In other areas of entertainment, the approach is similar, and just as soulless.
The showbiz media, for instance, place far too much importance on how much each new movie grosses every week. We are a nation that keeps count.
The sports version of keeping count is to monitor Smith's contract negotiations to the nearest .06 or .01 of a million dollars.
The media will be watching and wondering, sure.
But it's got nothing to do with why we watch the games. by CNB