New Year's Resolutions...

Unlike a lot of people I know I like the idea of New Year's Resolutions. The new year is a time to reflect on the things we are thankful for and the things we wish to continue and change about our lives. Resolutions, even the ones that are hard to stick to, are ways for us to recommit ourselves to being a better person, taking better care of ourselves and those around us.

I have a many many things to be thankful for in 2011 and a lot of things I want to do in 2012. One, I want to volunteer my time more. I know that their are ways that I can contribute to making other people's lives better other than donating money. Donations are critically important to most charity and service organizations but it allows many people (myself included) to remain somewhat emotionally and intellectually detached from the issue that the organization addresses. One of my goals for the new year is to be more involved by volunteering for charity.

The other thing I would love to do starting next year is to take a photo everyday of the year. I think it would be a cool way to chronicle my year. Plus, photography is always something that has interested me.

If I Ever Have A Boy...

If I ever have a boy he will grow up playing baseball, and not basketball. I have made this decision not just because I love baseball more than basketball, but because it just makes more sense financially if my child is athletically inclined. I came to this decision the morning after going to the Watch The Throne concert at Staples Center with a friend of mine.

As we were checking Watch The Throne hashtags on Twitter I mentioned that Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers would be at the concert the same night. My friend, Kati, looked at me puzzled?
"Who is that?"

I explained that he was the best player on the Dodgers and had just come in second place for the Most Valuable Player award in baseball. Kati had no clue who this guy was. Kati is not clueless when it comes to sports. She knows the basics and follows her favorite teams and knows their star players. She just didn't know who Matt Kemp, a star baseball player in the second largest media market in America, was.

The next day I realized something, Matt Kemp is a great player, but unless your a Dodger fan or a pretty tuned in baseball fan you probably won't know who he is; and you can't be blamed for that. In spite of that fact he just signed a new 8 year contract for (wait for it) 160 million dollars. That's right 20 million a year!

Compare that to Kobe Bryant. Even if you don't know anything about basketball or care about sports you probably know who he is. My 98 year old grandfather who doesn't speak a word of english knows who he is. Do you know how much he makes a year? 25 million dollars.

More than Matt Kemp.

But what isn't mentioned is that the amount of money Kobe Bryant can make playing basketball is limited by salary limits. If Matt Kemp is "worth" 20 million dollars a year how is Kobe "only worth" 25? What would this guy be paid if there weren't salary limits? 35 million? 40 million? 50 million?

To put this in greater perspective, LeBron James (another household basketball name) only makes 16 million a year compared to Matt Kemp's 20 million. All I am saying is that if I ever have a boy I am putting a bat and a baseball glove in his hand immediately. There are no salary restrictions in baseball and you can be as fat Prince Fielder and still make over 20 million a year...