TweetThe Truly Elite Athlete

I heard today that Labraun James was approached by the Nike shoe corporation. Apparently Labraun at the ripe old age of 17 has the innate capability to slam dunk a basketball. Nike has offered this young man 25 million dollars to wear their sneakers while playing professional basketball.
It got me to thinking how disgusted I am with the state of professional sports and athletes of today. What makes this kid worth 25 million dollars? He can slam dunk a basketball. WOW. How many guys professional and amateur can slam dunk a basketball? A few thousand world wide? How many can kick a field goal from the 30 yard line, or hit a home run? Please! With professional training I’m sure you can take your average college athlete and teach him to hit home runs. I see high school kids down at the local park slam dunking basketballs all the time.
We have taken today’s professional athlete and placed them on a pedestal. They are revered more than any member of today’s society and for what? They are good at a sport where they receive the best training, food, equipment and supplements available. They get the proper rest, eat the proper diet and get to work out every day. It’s kind of like when Oprah lost 50 lbs., how tough was that? She had a personal trainer to work her fat ass out every day, a personal chef to cook her meals and a nutritional expert to plan her friggin’ menu. All she had to do was wake up every day and do what she was told. That must have been tough. What a great personal sacrifice she made.
I participate in a sport that requires tremendous physical, genetic and mental ability, as much if not more than any other professional athlete. For most of my career I trained myself, I had to read tons of literature to gain the necessary information I needed for diet and training. I have 5 kids and run a business for 15 hours a day. When I started Powerlifting I was a police officer working swing shift. My life is very similar to that of most powerlifters. What do we get for our dedication and sacrifice, contracts from Nike and Adidas, TV commercials, Millions of dollars? No, we get something much more. Self-satisfaction.
I have recently accomplished my long term goal of bench pressing 700lbs. There are probably 15 -20 guys alive that can bench press 700lbs., that’s well less than 1% OF THE WORLD’S population. How many guys squat over 1,000lbs? Mike Ruggeria, Ed Cohan, Brent Mikesell. Look at Gary Frank... The guy is a stud. Every time you turn around he is upping the total, he is virtually untouchable. Look at the Bill Crawford’s and Louie Simmons’s, not only are they accomplished lifters, but they are the best Powerlifting coaches in the world and they do it for little or no compensation.
Can Michael Jordan say that he has done something less than 1% of the world’s population has accomplished? I don’t think so. If you’re not a powerlifter you have no idea who theses guys are or that they are some of the most elite athletes in the world.
Professional powerlifters, the majority of the time, work a full time job, have families, must finance there own training, buy there own equipment pay hundreds to thousands of dollars in travel, food and lodging to do a few meets every year. Just so they can compete.
The fact that a 17 year old boy is going to be paid 25 million dollars to wear sneakers and play basketball sickens me. Today’s professional athletes, i.e.: basketball, football, baseball are nothing more than over paid cry babies. They walk around complaining about how they only get to do their sport because age limits them, they get really beat up from there sport and need millions of dollars so that when they are old they wont have to work anymore. What a bunch of crap.
If you are a competitive powerlifter you know how hard it is to reach elite status, you know the sacrifices you must make and most guys will never reach that level. Years of powerlifting will destroy your joints, take lots of time away from your family and most of us can’t make a living on it. Powerlifting requires tremendous dedication and love of the sport; most powerlifters have to train themselves by reading, watching videos and some trial and error.
I’m not saying it doesn’t take a certain degree of talent and physical ability to play professional sports, but it sure as hell is not worth the millions of dollars these guys are getting paid. Guys like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio got paid peanuts compared to what your average professional athlete makes today. Those guys played baseball because they loved it. Today’s athlete moves to the highest bidder, no loyalty, no long term commitment, no team spirit, all they care about is who is going to pay me the most.
If it were up to me these guys would all get paid on a sliding scale based on performance? The better you play and more games you play in the more money you make. There would also be a cap on it. No athlete in any sport is worth more than $100 grand. Also when you sign with a team you sign for 5 years. Enough with this free agent crap. I refuse to watch professional sports anymore, you can’t even keep up between expansion teams and free agent you r favorite team can be virtually rebuilt in a year.
I am proud to be a member of the Powerlifting community. THIS is where the truly elite athlete still lives. Athletes, who are able to maintain a full time job, manage a family and still compete at an elite level in a sport they love.
Powerlifting may or may not turn into a paid professional sport; I personally think if this happens the sport will change and not necessarily for the good. I know one thing; I definitely don’t want to see it enter the realm of Olympic sports. What we have will be ruined if the world wide Olympic committee gets their hands on it.
If you are a powerlifter you can be proud, your not beholding to anyone, you are your own person and you have one thing today’s professional athlete does not have, HEART.

Mike Miller

TweetThis could apply to many folks and sports. It's the same with martial arts. We train day in and day out. We endure painful joint locks and take downs to improve. We spend hours punching and kicking heavy bags, we condition our hands by striking makiwara and eventually can break boards, cinderblocks, etc. You win top honors at a top rated tournament and you walk away with a thousand bucks if you're lucky. There's no money in it (unless you land a contract with the UFC) but we do it for the same reason, self satisfaction and to some extent because not many people can do it.