Survival of the Richest by Donald Jeffries

Author:Donald Jeffries
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

10 NATURAL TALENT

Everything in life is luck.

—Donald Trump

SOMETIMES THOSE WHO MAKE IT do so despite not growing up in a stable, financially comfortable family, or being related to someone with influence. However, these persons usually succeed for one of two reasons: either they are exceptionally good looking, or they are physically large and strong.

The most popular spectator sport in America is professional football. Not far behind are college football, professional basketball, and college basketball. Pure genetics goes a long way in determining potential success in these sports. Someone like Shaquille O’Neal, for example, had such limited athletic skills that he would probably not have made his high school team if he had only been six feet tall. But the fact he was over seven feet tall, with a wide, powerful build, enabled him to prosper at basketball even though he couldn’t dribble, shoot, or run very well. Even if one considers playing a game for a living “work,” O’Neal never honed his skills at all (just look at his laughable free-throw shooting) and relied exclusively on overpowering the opposition in close proximity to the basket. Most dominant, big men in the history of basketball were dominant because they were big, not because they were exceptionally talented.

To play at the higher levels of basketball, one must be very tall. No matter how well you can shoot, or dribble, or pass, if your genes limit you to a height of five-foot-six, you are going to be very fortunate to make a high school team. This doesn’t mean that every tall person is going to be a successful basketball player, but clearly most successful basketball players are tall. In football, the same thing applies to important positions such as wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, and defensive line. Most quarterbacks are well over six feet tall as well nowadays. So again, no matter how well you might be able to play the game of football, you’ll be limited to beer leagues with your friends if your genes max you out at five-feet-five inches in height. Linemen, especially, possess virtually no special athletic skills at all beyond their abnormal size, which provides them with greater strength.

Because of the fact the marketplace compensates professional athletes in an extravagant way, enabling them to accrue more wealth in their short careers than most Americans can accumulate in fifty years of full-time employment, it’s fair to ask if they are worth what they’re being paid. Since genetics is purely random and is such a crucial factor in athletic success, isn’t it fair to acknowledge its contribution? Pro sports pensions are the best in the business, outside of the ones devised by CEOs for themselves. Using numbers provided by Investopedia, an NBA player qualifies for a full pension after only three seasons of play. Where else can one collect retirement on three-years-worth of work? And the pension they get is pretty lucrative; the minimum yearly benefit presently is $56,988 upon retirement at age sixty-two. If one plays eleven seasons, it grows to $195,000 annually.

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