Show me the money! Sports Illustrated this week came up with the Fortunate 50, the highest earning U.S. athletes in 2007. It didn't really come as a surprise that Eldrick "Tiger" Woods topped the list, but the figure was staggering. For whacking a little white ball around the park, Woods pulled in a whopping $127,902,706. Yes, nearly $128-million dollars.Doing a little research revealed a few of these savory tidbits:
- The PGA Tour raised $123-million for charity in 2007, or $5-million less than Woods earned individually
- Woods would have been the 6th highest paid Major League Baseball team, (just behind the World Champion Boston Red Sox)
- Woods' earnings were higher than all 32 NFL teams payrolls (Washington Redskins 2007 NFL highest payroll $123.4-million)
- America's Second Harvest, the country's largest hunger-relief organization, spent $127-million in 2006 to help in feeding the country's poor and starving
- If all pre-K through 12th grade teachers in the country earned the $40,000 annual starting salary advocated by the NEA, Woods could hire 3,200 new teachers for one year
- In 2007 the annual premium that a health insurer charged an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $12,100. Tiger Woods could provide 10,578 families health insurance for one year
- If Tiger Woods gave each person in the United States one quarter, he would would still have $52-million (plus 3 quarters) left over for himself, his wife and child
This has always troubled me. It also disturbs me that so many professional athletes (mainly football and basketball) who make gazillions of dollars AND got a FREE college education, when interviewed, cannot speak English at much above the level of the average four year old. Perhaps I'm bitter because I'm a no-college (but VERY intelligent), $30,000/year, uninsured female with no athletic ability whatsoever. Or maybe it really does suck as much as I think!
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