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The Jex Dex: For love of the game . . . or money?

Fall is upon us. As you walk through campus you can look up at the mountains and see the beautiful scene of leaves changing. But it also means something else: It’s time for some playoff baseball, where every at-bat has the potential to switch the momentum of the series.

Will Miguel Cabrera redeem the Tigers from the whooping they received last year? Or does Boston still have some magic left in them after a great regular season? All of these questions will be answered soon enough, but I want to turn your attention to a player who is sitting at home rather than making a name for himself. His name is Robinson Cano.

Cano wants some money to play a sport he is really good at, but how much exactly? It has been reported that he wants a 10-year, $305 million contract, which would make him the highest-paid baseball player ever by a slim $500,000 a year. If he were to sign with the Yankees, they would pay close to $61 million to just two players.

Is a player worth that much money? What warrants a man to want that much money to play, as my mom would always say, “a silly game”? He is a five-time all-star, finished in the top five of the MVP voting twice and is a little over halfway to 3,000 hits. Those are good stats, and by no means am I saying Cano is not worthy of a pay raise, but really, $305 million?

What could you buy with that much money? Hot dang, that is a whole lot of tacos at Taco Bell or double doubles at In-N-Out. But just think about it: What would you do with that much money? Or would you even know what to do with that much money?

Cano could pick up the tab for 61,000 Utahns who wanted to go to Weber State for a full year. He could take him and his closest 6,100 friends on an African safari for about a week. Let’s say he has a car fetish and he wanted to buy a Bugatti Veyron he wouldn’t have to settle for just one. He could purchase 152 of the second-most expensive car on the market.

For me, it just goes back to the love of the game over the fame and fortune that it seems some athletes have an issue with. I guess I can’t really put myself in their shoes because I don’t have teams offering me millions to play for them; I am lucky if someone asks me if I want fries with that.

I just would like to see more of the attention put on the players playing the game rather than them negotiating these huge deals. Just remember that, when Nolan Ryan was throwing no-hitters as often as he gave up hits, he was making a mere $1,170,000 a year, compared to Cano, who could make $1 million for every home run he hits next season. Times have changed, but one thing shouldn’t: the love of the game.

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