Imagine training your whole entire life for one goal. You give up your childhood, take countless injuries, and work every possible moment to get there. When you finally reach your goal, you don’t stop. You just work harder, train more, and never, never give up. You do all this, and then someone who had never even met you, or even knows your name, accuses you of being overpaid simple because of your job. They say that because it’s something you enjoy, it’s automatically a hobby. They assume that because it’s not a typical, academic, office job, you do nothing and never work. But these people are completely, 100%, wrong. Professional athletes spend their whole lives focused on one thing and make countless sacrifices to get there.  They deserve all the money they make.

First of all, most professional athletes spend their whole lives trying to be good enough to go pro. This means they give up their whole childhood for the sport. With practices up to seven days a week, they're constantly busy. This causes them to have less time to spend with friends and family. Contrary to popular belief, the sports star often isn’t the one throwing parties every weekend and hang out until midnight every week day. Between sports and school, the only free time they have is spent sleeping. And speaking of school, these kids aren’t exactly stupid. They have to get into a Division 1 college, and that means good grades. Vanderbilt, one of the top schools for baseball players, isn’t exactly known for being easy to get into. You need topic scores in top classes. The people that do all this and become professional athletes gave up their childhood for what they have, and they deserve to be rewarded.

 Secondly, there are so many injuries in sports that athletes need the money for their own health. According to the NFL, 1 out of every three retired football player suffer the effects of long-term brain damage. These people will never be the same again because of this. But does that stop them? No. All players will take crazy risks and go through insane things so that they can keep playing and win the game. In the 1997 Super Bowl, Broncos player Terrell Davis was temporarily blinded in the second quarter of the game. Forced to sit out 15 minutes, he went in as soon as his vision wasn’t completely black. Although he could still barely see, Davis managed to score three touchdowns, setting a new record, and received MVP. Yet, some people still think athletes are lazy people that do nothing and don’t deserve any money. Right. They totally do nothing at all. Who cares if they break records with their eyes blinded or never think right again? We should just immediately judge them based off inaccurate stereotypes.

The third and last reason athletes should be paid more is because they’re the top of the entertainment industry. Honestly, if we didn’t have sports to watch every Sunday, we’d have nothing left to do but destroy each other. Also, the people that play sports professionally don’t get paid more than other people that are on TV all the time, like actors and actresses. Jennifer Lawrence got paid $500,000 upfront for the first Hunger Games, not to mention all the bonuses, opportunities, and extra money from box office sales. How is a professional athlete any different? In fact, how is the top person from any field different? The best lawyers, doctors, and businessmen all get paid more than triple the average person. The richest person alive is someone who’s the top of the business world, not sports world. In retrospect, an athlete’s pay is pretty reasonable.

 Overall, why do so many people accuse athletes of being overpaid? Although it is widely agreed upon and rarely argued, it’s not a fact. Athletes deserve every penny they make, despite what most people think. They gave up their childhood, suffer countless injuries, and are the best of the best. Their salaries may be high, but they’re not highly unreasonable. They’re just unreasonable judged.