Who ever accused money of having good taste?

I wouldn't go so far as to say I dislike sports, even when I'm not participating in any way. I'm pretty faithful with the big events, your Olympics and World Cups and the like, and I've practically been to every home USC home game during my lifetime. Still, as someone who has never been anything resembling an avid fan, I'm as baffled as anyone when it comes to the huge amount of money that flows endlessly into the sporting world. Assuming they haven't cured cancer or solved world hunger, does a football or basketball player really deserve $30 million? Is that even remotely fair? 

Well, maybe not. Then again, look how much money we as a society have given to the Kardashians or Justin Bieber or the people on Jersey Shore. Or Stephanie Meyers—objectively, I think it's hard to argue that writing four lowbrow vampire novels should earn someone upwards of $100 million. But hey, if you the consumers are willing to spend that much on these things, more power to you. That's capitalism! The power to make wholly unremarkable people appallingly wealthy in return for whatever inane entertainment they (or the corporate puppetmasters being them) are peddling. Making millions upon millions to participate in a seemingly fun pastime may appear unfair to those who have to show up to work every day—to those in the military or civil service, to scientists or teachers—but a point Jack noted should be some consolation: their careers will be over soon and they'll have blown through all their money in a flash.

Really though, it's not like we've ever striven for complete fairness in the way we compensate people. Supply and demand can look illogical. You don't get paid based on how kind you are or how intelligent you are, or even by how much good you do for others. There's definitely no perfect correlation between salary and level of effort put in.

If we're going to go back to the sports topic, just look at college athletes. A star college football player has to put in as much work as an NFL player and can generate just as much revenue and excitement from fans. This on top of having to keep up the "student-athlete" pretense, and yet they aren't paid anything at all. Personally, I don't think the amount of money in professional sports is half as troubling as the amount in the NCAA. And yet somehow with their billion-dollar profit they receive tax exemptions as a non-profit organization.