Doofus Of The Day #455

I'm sure many US readers were as infuriated as I was to read the comments of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Petersen concerning the labor dispute between National Football League (NFL) team owners and players.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson compared NFL owners' treatment of players to "modern-day slavery", according to an online interview published Tuesday by Yahoo! Sports.

. . .

"The players are getting robbed. They are," Peterson told Yahoo. "The owners are making so much money off of us to begin with. I don't know that I want to quote myself on that."

When discussing other players feeling the same way, Peterson said: "It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money. ... The owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. I understand that; these are business-minded people. Of course this is what they are going to want to do. I understand that; it's how they got to where they are now. But as players, we have to stand our ground and say, 'Hey, without us, there's no football'."

Peterson is set to make $10.72 million in base salary in 2011.

There's more at the link. Bold print is my emphasis.

Hmm . . . According to Wikipedia:

The median income divides households in the US evenly in the middle with half of all household earning more than the median income and half of all households earning less than the median household income. In 2004 the median household income in the United States was $44,389.

. . .

Another common measurement of personal income is the mean household income. Unlike the median household income, which divides all households in two halves, the mean income is the average income earned by American households. In the case of mean income, the income of all households is divided by the number of all households. The mean income is usually more affected by the relatively unequal distribution of income which tilts towards the top. As a result, the mean tends to be higher than the median income, with the top earning households boosting it. Overall, the mean household income in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau 2004 Economic Survey, was $60,528, or $17,210 (39.73%) higher than the median household income.

Again, more at the link.

I'm not going to argue whether the team owners could afford to pay their players more, or whether they should do so or not. The fact remains that the 'slavery' of which Mr. Petersen so eloquently complains will earn him, this year alone, a base salary (not including bonuses, endorsement contracts, etc.) 241.5 times more than the median household income in the USA in 2004, and a mere 177.1 times more than the mean household income in the USA in the same year.

Tell me . . . where can I sign up for a 'slavery' contract similar to Mr. Petersen's, please? Meanwhile, he earns an instant Doofus Of The Day title.





Peter