show me the money

We all know runners aren't in this sport for the cash, but this article on Runner's World puts it in perspective.

The men's & women's winners at Boston each get $150,000. By comparison, Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling makes $13 million a year, and played in 24 games last season. That averages out to $541,666.66 per game. He gets paid half a mil to hurl a ball 70 times a game, give or take. Meanwhile, runners are just about killing themselves for what this guy makes in the first 3 innings. That sucks.

During the 2002 winter Olympics, my roommates & I devised a "calorie compensation" formula. Seriously, we worked on it for like 2 hours! We decided athletes should be paid for exactly that, athletics. Makes sense, right?

Under our formula, marathon runners & cross country skiers were at the top of the pay scale. Triathletes and cyclists ranked very high as well. The bottom of the barrel was reserved for baseball, bowling & golf. It seemed like a really good formula, I wish I could remember it.

Although, it could be good that runners are vastly underpaid. A fat wallet in an athlete's pocket can lead to stupid behavior like; battery, assaulting a stripper, cock fighting, dog fighting, kidnapping, witness tampering, or DUI.