Re: god

["MICHAEL ZAINO" <mz3096@student.law.duke.edu>]

> Date:          Sun, 27 Jul 1997 11:48:08 -0400
> To:            bocelts@scsn.net (R. Bentz Kirby)
> From:          "Ronald H. Evans" <ronald_evans@pipeline.com>
> Subject:       Re: god
> Cc:            celtics@igtc.com
> 
>         IMO Jordan's greed and basketball's problems with salary, are just
> an indicator of greater problems in America. Greed is not basketball's
> problem alone. For every Jordan there are twenty CEOs trying to get more
> money at the expense of their employees. For every CEO there are millions of
> workers trying to screw each other over to "get ahead". 
>         America has lost any coherent unity. People think of their
> individual needs and wants rather than the needs of America or humanity as a
> whole. Whatever they do they do strictly for their own personal gain --the
> rest of the world and future generations be damned. Basketball is only an
> extension of this malady. Why should Antoine or Michael settle for less
> money for the benefit of the fans? The owners sure don't. This is an
> American evil not one of basketball.
> 
> Responses welcomed
> 
> Noah  

Greed is not necessarily a bad thing, nor do I positive that Jordan 
is being greedy. Would you prefer that Jordan play for say $1MM? 
That doesn't seem like a bad bargain for Jordan, or does it? If he 
plays for $1MM, that means Jerry Reinsdorf (a much more detestable 
figure than Jordan) makes, say hypothetically, $39MM. Now is this a 
good deal for Jordan? Of course not. Negotiation is about finding a 
happy medium. Both Reinsdorf and Jordan are entitled to their fair 
share and it is up to them to determine what is fair; not you or I. 
As for greed, of course each of these people as an ego and both need 
to feed that ego. What you call "trying to get ahead", I call 
competition. It drives us, both as individual's and as a nation. The 
very thing that you detest (getting ahead) on an individual level, is 
what you are implicitly calling for a national level. Do you want 
America to "get ahead" of other countries? You do mention  all of 
humanity.  If we all work toward "humanity", we will never 
accomplish it, or even come as close as we do under a system of 
competition.