Olympics – Australia closer to sports lottery for funding athletes

The Inconsistencies of Pro Athletes

Professionalism is the competence or skill expected of a professional. A professional is a person engaged in a specific activity as one’s main paid occupation. An athlete is or should be proficient in sports and other forms of physical activity. So, professional athletes get paid to play and are expected to do so, at the very least, on a more consistent basis than… non-professional athletes. However, most “professional” athletes do not play consistently and should be held accountable accordingly.

Being a professional athlete is or should be the highest level of athleticism possible, but that’s not the case because pro-athletes are consistently rated on the “what have you did for me lately?” theory, per-say, or the last time they had a chance to do something, what did they do? So they are constantly being rated, and everything that they do, fail or succeed, is accounted for, which would explain why some professional stars and professionals are not “stars”. And of course, the stars are the more consistent athletes in their particular field, and obviously, they take their jobs more severe than the average pro-athlete.

Though I’ve played on many different non-professional teams of many other sports, I have never had the opportunity to play on a professional team. Still, there was always an implied expectation of everyone on the team. If a player could not live up to that expectation, then change was essential because nobody wants to lose professional, non-professional, recreational, or any other level of play. Sometimes, no… a lot of times, I watch professional sports, and I don’t understand how these professional teams tolerate when these paid professional athletes don’t play up to their expectations. When we watch sports being played on TV, we expect to see how the sport should be played at its best, kind of like the example of perfection.

If a salesperson doesn’t close the sale, then they don’t get paid. Most doctors and lawyers only get one chance to foul up a patient or a case, then their career is, at least, seriously tainted, therefore affecting their income. A mechanic that can’t fix a flat tire is not going to make any money. None of those professions are compensated nearly as much as pro-athletes but are held to much higher standards. Yet, somehow, a pro-athlete can drop a game-winning touchdown pass and not only keep his job but also maintain his income while laughing and joking about how he disappointed his team and his fans. How is that? Anybody can do that. A professional baseball player who hasn’t gotten a hit in his last 15 games can still keep his job, and his income is not affected at all. How is that? Anybody can NOT perform. Anybody can NOT live up to the task. So, why are they still on the team, and why are they still getting paid? I don’t understand. If I were the coach/owner, I would be distraught and change would be necessary.

Most professional athletes take for granted the opportunity that they have been given. There are many more non-professional undiscovered athletes for every pro-athlete that could do the same job just as well, if not better. Professional sports tolerate way too much failure. There are professional teams that have never won a championship, yet they employ the same staff members for several years. Why do they continue to allow this to happen? Pro athletes get paid a lot of money for doing nothing, enjoying their lives, playing in the backyard. The least they could do is take their “jobs” seriously and perform when it’s their turn to achieve and set the expected example or are held accountable for not being up to the task.