Selfishness is ruining professional sports

Now that the New York Yankees have acquired Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield, who's next? Sosa? Nomar? Griffey? Maddux? Bonds would look swell in pinstripes, don't you think? Why don't the Yankees just sign every hitter with a batting average of at least .320?

When the Yankees made Rodriguez, "the $252 Million Man," the latest addition to their lineup, it didn't mark the end of the sports world as we know it, but it was another step in that direction.

At press time, the Yankees' payroll was about $184 million and counting. No other team is even close. Only six of 30 teams are even over 100M; 14 teams are below $60 million, less than one-third of the Yankees total. The Yankees have players who make more than the combined earnings of the entire Tampa Bay roster ($19 million last season).

Have you seen the Yankees' proposed batting order? Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui, Enrique Wilson.

That isn't a batting order, it's a wing in the Hall of Fame.

The reason the Yankees can collect superstars, including four of baseball's eight $100 million players, is because Major League Baseball has no salary cap, unlike the NBA and NFL. The reason baseball has no salary cap is because the players union won't allow it. And the reason the players union won't allow it is because the players want to suck as much money out of the game as they can even if they suck it dry.

And the reason they'll do that is because they don't care if they're destroying the game by eliminating competitive balance and reducing most teams to the role of the Washington Generals. They don't care if they're killing the golden goose and ruining the game for future players.

And the reason they don't care is because they're selfish.

Selfishness it ruining professional sports. If you could measure selfishness, we'd have a world record for it. It's an epidemic that has swept through all sports.

Maurice Clarett, and the other underclassmen running off to the NFL, don't care if they're ruining the NFL's free farm system known as college football. They want their money now, even if it means changing sensible rules.