Go try the salary crunch…

And realize how much money athletes actually make. ESPN created the Salary Crunch for you to compare what you make to a professional coach or athlete. My friend had tried this and encouraged me to find it while I was on the phone with him. Yep, it was as amazing as he said. Without disclosing what I make, I can say I usually do what I want, when I want and do not worry too much about the cost, although obvious I have a sense of reality. Apparently if I made what Detroit Tiger stars Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera make, I could absolutely this sense of reality.

How long would I have to work in my current job to make Verlander money in a year? Oh, say about 200+ years. Not 2, not 20, 200 years. Not let’s assume that Oreo and Coke Zero intake are not shortening my life expectancy, and that I, like my late great-grandmother makes it to 110. I would still be 90, yes 90, years short of working towards Verlander’s salary…..NEXT YEAR!

The large figures athletes make are thrown around all the time. Gate receipts account for a small portion the revenue used to pay them. The larger portion is coming from TV deals, which are funded by commercials during the games, which are paid for by products you and I use, which increase their marketing spend to put ads on during sporting events, which means the companies have to increase consumer goods’ prices in order to pay for the marketing they used to try and get you to buy their goods on TV during a sporting event. Yes, you are paying for the salary that would take 200+ years to earn.

If any pro athlete starts to chirp in the coming years, and let’s expect to hear it from the NFL and NBA stars as they face league shutdowns in 2011, please get ready to tell them to shut it. They could forfeit an annual salary and make 200 Average Joes day by giving them a free annual salary.

How many games does Miguel Cabrera need to play to make my salary? Well, actually, not even 1 game, and not even an official game. A rain delay somewhere in the bottom of the fourth and he’s covered my annual earnings for the year. Verlander gets strike 1 on a batter during a strikeout. Done, Lockhart’s out for the year. On strike one. Unreal.

Great tool by ESPN. Big ups to them for puttting this out there.

Goodnight and God Bless,

Scott