The highest paid people in the world should get paid for their hard work and effort in the field they choose. But in today's society athletes are the highest paid people "in the land". Athletes are supposed to play for the fun and love of the game they play, and not for the dollar signs they see going into their wallets. Professional athletes today are greedy, lazy, and not loyal because all they play for is money, fame, and not for the true love of the game.
Money makes the heart of a man turn "green". Athletes today display a greedy personality when it comes down to their contracts and merchandise. They try to get as much of the "mean green" as possible. Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers makes about 30 million dollars a year. But the baseball year is only from March until October. The President of the United States only gets paid a mere $250,000. He might as well not be the President. Athletes don't have to make decisions that could cause the downfall of our country or war, so why do they make so much money? All they have to do is practice and show up to games to play. Alex Rodriguez's Texas Rangers came in last place and he still makes that kind of money. I would have trouble finding things to do with 30 million dollars a year. The fact that money is what athletes care about causes them to only do the minimum to get that money.
Laziness is major characteristic of athletes today. They only do what they have to do to make their money. They don't go that extra step to make them better or their whole team better by helping them improve upon their weaknesses. It is as if they don't even want to win anymore. The older generation of athletes kept swinging after practice was over until they got the process down, and kept shooting when the game was over to get better. But today's athlete only practices to the bare minimum. The old saying, "Practice as if it was a game" is not taken to heart by today's professional athletes.