Let Joe Haden Make What Joe Haden Makes

DISCLAIMER: My wife thinks that in this post I'm being a tad too confrontational. Maybe I am. But this is important, and timely, since NFL draft picks are negotiating contracts as I write this, and people all over the country are getting worked up over "obscene" contract amounts.

By the way, my wife agrees with everything I wrote. It's just that she's a lady, and a mom, and thus is less prone to poke people in the eye with a stick.



AND NOW. . . .


Joe Haden, the 2010 first-round pick for the Cleveland Browns, recently signed his rookie contract with the Browns. He will get $50 million over five years, and he will receive a $12M signing bonus just for signing his name. Of the $50M, $26M of it is guaranteed.

Sounds like a ton of money, yes? And he hasn't even done anything yet, right?

Now put that aside for a moment, and consider this question: why do I need to know how much Joe Haden makes? Isn’t that between him, his agent, and the Browns? When was Joe Haden’s salary ever my business? Why am I so concerned with what Joe Haden makes? The main reason, of course, is petty jealousy.

Let’s move on: In recent memory I can recall only one person who told me athletes were paid exactly what they deserved.

We’ve all heard some variation of this classic line: “why does a pro athlete make more than a teacher? How is that right?” Well, consider the argument Robert Murphy makes in his recent book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism. Murphy argues a pro athlete should get paid as much as he does because he’s a valuable commodity. Think of it this way: “a worker is worthy of his wages” (Luke 10:7).

Lest anyone get too excited, we must remember that on the whole we value teachers more highly than we do pro athletes (or at least we should). That doesn’t have any bearing on the value of ONE teacher as opposed to the value of ONE pro athlete. Murphy argues this is the same as claiming it is “unjust” that a Bible costs $5 when a Wii game system costs $150-$200. Which is more valuable inherently? The Bible. But how many Bibles are out there versus how many game systems? If I steal your Bible, can you go down to a used book store and get another one for less than $5? Yep. Can you do the same thing for a Wii? Does GameStop sell a used Wii for less than $10? Nope. In his book Murphy argues individual teachers shouldn’t make more than individual pro athletes, since we can more easily replace a teacher in the classroom than we can a pitcher who throws like Orel Hershiser, or a running back who can move like Barry Sanders (remember them?). It would take years of training, but I could eventually step into a Chemistry classroom as an instructor. Even with double the amount of training, I’ll never be able to throw a fast ball right down the middle of the plate in game seven of the World Series, and I’ll never be able to turn on a dime and cut up-field with the vision, quickness, and instinct of Barry Sanders. It stands to reason we need to pay those ridiculously gifted athletes more than we pay our teachers. As Murphy points out, this is called marginal utility (Google "marginal utility water diamonds," if you like).

But let’s leave marginal utility and go back for a moment to the jealousy angle. Most honest people would admit they are jealous of someone who makes a ton more money than they do—especially if that over-paid person simply “chases a little white ball down the fairway” or “throws a little white ball 90 feet.” When I make that argument I’ve set a “fairness line” which is entirely based on my own standard. But the guy in Africa who makes a buck a day would no doubt argue the same thing about me. And the least-paid member of the Browns is probably thinking, “man, Joe Haden gets paid too much money,” when HE makes a ton more than I and all my friends combined. It comes down to me worrying about myself, which is what Jesus taught. When I worry about others I’m not tending my own garden, and that is unscriptural. In the interest of full disclosure—until recently, I’ve felt the same way. . . .

The point is this: I need to worry about and govern myself. I don’t have the right to know what Joe Haden makes, and I don’t have the right to complain about how much Joe Haden makes.

Let the Browns and Joe Haden be at liberty to work their own deal. Joe Haden should make whatever the Browns decide to pay him, and I shouldn’t complain about it. The Browns have the right to pay Joe Haden a billion dollars a year if they want. It’s their money. What’s it to me what Haden makes? What’s it to me how the Browns spend their money? I need to do MY job (and collect my pay) and let Joe Haden do (and collect) his. Most people agree that I should get paid whatever my boss wants to pay me. And you can bet your bottom dollar I’d take a raise if he offered it. Say I make $25,000 a year and am living comfortably, and within my means. Then my boss says, “I’m giving you a $5,000 raise.” Would I decline the raise because I really don’t need it? Would I turn it down because there’s a guy in Africa who only makes a buck a day, and it’s not fair to him?

I need to mind my own business. Maybe I need to re-read Matthew 20.