Behind the Mic: Humbug! The Holiday Budget

The holidays – it’s the most wonderful time of the year, right?  Well, to some extent.  However, there are the trips to the malls, the list of gifts to buy, the holiday parties, the forgotten present, etc.  So right about now, you are probably starting to become concerned about your holiday budget.  You may have set a cost limit on gifts and entertaining and are now realizing that your budget may be totally unrealistic.  So you begin to stress over finding the money to pay the extra bills associated with the end of the year.  Imagine if that stress was totally eliminated because you earn so much money that you do not have to think about money at all.  There are many, many athletes who have that luxury.  Here are the Top Ten moneymakers for 2014:

1. Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan earns $43.8 million a year or $3,650,000 per month, which is $121,667 a day and he is #10!
2. Tennis player Rafael Nadal makes “only” $14.5 million playing tennis, but gets $30 million in endorsements.
3. Golfer Phil Mickelson does much better endorsing products ($48 million) than he does playing golf, which brings in a paltry $5.2 million.
4. Roger Federer of tennis fame made $4.2 million on the court, but brought in $52 million in endorsements.
5. No one does better by not playing than Tiger Woods. He earned $55 million in endorsements and “just” $6.2 million playing golf.
6. The NBA is represented by two players. Kobe Bryant makes $31 million in endorsements and $30.5 million from the Lakers.
7. Lionel Messi of soccer fame kicks the ball around for $41.7 million and receives an extra $23 million in endorsements.
8. LeBron James does quite well playing basketball, taking in $19.3 million, but those commercials and product deals garner another $53 million for a grand total of $72.3 million.
9. The highest-paid soccer player is Cristiano Ronaldo who makes $52 million playing and another $28 million selling himself to advertisers. That is a cool $80 million.
10. Boxer Floyd Mayweather topped this list this year, earning $105 million WITH NO ENDORSEMENTS! He earned it all in the ring – $8,750,000 per month, $291,667 per day, $12,152.78 every hour of the day!

So there you have it.  Or rather they have it and you, not so much.  So as you trek out one

more time for that gift, that outfit, that box of candy, or bottle of wine, it is important that

we remember that not only do we wish for “peace on earth”, but also for “good will towards men” no matter how much money they earn. But we still have to check the price tag first!

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

• Very quietly on Sunday night, Kobe Bryant moved past Michael Jordan in career NBA scoring and into third place. He scored 26 points against the Timberwolves and now has 32,310 points in his 19 seasons.  He trails only Karl Malone (36,928) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387).
• Johnny Football (Manziel) became the 21^st starting quarterback since 1999 for the Browns and threw for just 80 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions as the Browns lost to the Bengals 30-0. The Browns will not make the playoffs for the 12^th consecutive season and are probably looking for their 22^nd
• Speaking of a bad day at the office, Aaron Rodgers of the Packers may have had his worst day as a pro as the Packers lost to the Bills 21-13. He threw no touchdowns,  two interceptions, fumbled, and had a quarterback rating of 34.3, the worst of his career.  By the way, the Bills swept the NFC North this season.
• If you are an Eagles’ fan, you just became a Colts’ fan. You need Indianapolis, already the AFC South winner, to beat Dallas on Sunday and the Eagles must win out.  Just a note, the Colts are 2-4 against teams with winning records.
• Next Tuesday night, the Whitehall High School gymnasium will be dedicated and named for Dick Tracy. It will be a special night for my long-time fellow announcer and one of the great Lehigh Valley coaches ever.  RCN-TV will be there.  Please join us.

(Last week – 12-3)  (149-72-1 overall – 67%)
            
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