The Lesson Alex Should Have Taught us

http://nypost.com/2014/03/27/with-cabrera-splurge-tigers-fail-to-heed-the-a-rod-lesson/


In today's game of baseball, super-sluggers steal the show. With some of the highest contracts ever paid out going to the guys that can really swing the bat. In the recent offseason, the Seattle Mariners signed Robinson Cano, an ex-Yankee second baseman, to a 10 year deal worth $240 million dollars. In Detroit, two-time defending AL M.V.P. Miguel Cabrera signed an eight year extension totaling $248 million dollars. With two years still left on his contract, his total payout after ten years will total $292 million dollars. Everything seems fine and dandy until you realize that Cabrera signed his contract three weeks before his 31st birthday! By the time his contract runs out he'll be 41 and with recent, high dollar contracts falling through the cracks, it begs the question, why? Looking at the "Alex Rodriguez Example", it makes the everyday baseball fan question how someone could make the same mistake twice. Plus, it is happening all over the league. In Anaheim, the Angels signed first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10 year $240 million dollar deal. It seems as though the game has lost its sense. Organizations are paying players enormous figures while they age past their prime. The league has yet to see one of these deals work out for the better. The game will just have to wait and see, when the old enemy, age, will be conquered.

The Argument Against Ambition

Ambition is what built this country. So a little ambition has been known to have its benefits. But, according to Fox.com, ambition may be detrimental to your happiness and the longevity of your life. According to the article, a group of researchers followed a group of 717 people for decades. They followed the people over a span of time from college until they retired. This group was considered "high-ability" and smarter than average. Most received degrees from prestigious schools. However, some received degrees from high-school only or from a community college. Those people that were identified as the most ambitious had a 15.5% higher mortality rate. Those who were the most ambitious but didn't realize their goals were impacted even worse by the effect.



In my opinion, I feel that everyone needs to be somewhat ambitious. But i feel that people also need a reprieve. People need a chance to relax and stop being so worried about money and holding prestigious jobs and getting degrees from prestigious schools. However, ambition is what the American spirit is based on. People believe that in America, if a person wants something bad enough, they can work hard and achieve that dream. This is a positive form of ambition. Ambition begins to hurt a person when it begins to engulf their whole life and take over the person. Ambition can become negative when it begins to interfere with a person's family life, it becomes the only thing they care about, and when it sends them down a path that isn't true to what the person believes in. That being said, ambition is just like a lot of things in life, a person needs to find a balance for it to positively benefit them.

About the Author

Hello internet! My name is Grant Fee. I’m a sophomore in high school and I have a plethora of hobbies and activities I like to do! I enjoy playing baseball very much. I’m on my high school’s baseball team and I love watching the Boston Red Sox. I also really like to hunt and fish. I don’t play any instruments but I really enjoy listening to music. Some of my favorite artists are Kendrick Lamar, MGK, Childish Gambino, and Mac Miller. I also love to travel. I’ve been to many places around the United States including Arizona, Florida, and Massachusetts. My favorite city I’ve traveled to would have to be Miami. The weather is perfect and the city is full of life. I also really enjoyed Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve been there many times to watch Spring Training games for a multitude of baseball teams. My favorite teams to go watch are the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago Cubs. The weather is always perfect and the atmosphere is very relaxing. One day I would really like to travel around Europe and maybe even live there for a period of time. I would like to live in Paris or Barcelona. I would like to travel around and see the many historical sites and museums in Europe. I think it would also be very interesting to live in South America. I would really like to live in Chile or Argentina. But if I am unable to live in these places at some point in my life, the number one place I would want to live would have to be the Caribbean. I have visited the islands of St. Thomas and St. John’s and have dreamt of going back since. Although I would love to see the world and travel, I’m stuck writing this blog for right now.