Philip Yancey writes:
Sportswriters calculate that the year after Michael Jordan retired (the second time), he earned from his endorsements more than twice as much as all U.S. presidents earned for all their terms combined. He earned more endorsing Nike shoes than all the workers in Malaysia who made the shoes. He may pay $200 for a round of golf, but earns $33,390 while playing that round. I like Michael Jordan and wish him all the best, but a society that pays him more in one year – – for not playing basketball – – than it pays all their presidents combined seems to me a society out of balance. Rumors of Another World, 34.
So, you’re saying there should be some kind of limit on what he can earn? Karl Marx had a similar idea…
No, Ben that’s not what Yancey was saying.
What’s the issue then? He negotiated a price for his services and someone wanted to pay it.
Ben, Yancey is very careful and very explicit in saying that he has no problem with Jordan. I think what he is questioning is a society that is willing to spend so much money on sports and entertainment. The point is neither to criticize Jordan nor is it to suggest socialism or communism. Rather, his point is that society is out of balance.
Does that make sense?
Then it’s been ‘out of balance’ for thousands of years. People have always loved athletics and they most likely always will. The kind of ‘balance’ Yancey is probably trying to get at is a pipe dream.
Rather than a “pipe dream,” I think Yancey would prefer to call it “biblical hope” for a New Earth where with resurrection bodies Christ’s people can enjoy athletics for eternity.
See Piper, http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/sports-in-the-age-to-come ,
As one who has always enjoyed sports (see braunsphotos.com !)I am looking forward to the New Earth!