"Show me the money" was maybe the most memorable line for everyone from Jerry McGuire. One of my most favourite movies of all time and not for this line. But off late everybody has been feeling the lasting impact of this line and not the real spirit of this movie.
Show me the money is offcourse true, who wouldnt want money? But how much money is enough? That reminds me of another line from Wall Street, "Greed is good" but is it really?
These are a few questions that players need to answer for themselves. In most cases unfortunately the sequence of events have been such that people have been forced to make this connection between slide in performance and increase in endorsements. Though it is paradoxical somewhat but i guess poor players cant do much about it. Just see the cycle :
Player does well-> gets selected into the team -> if he does well in the team -> starts getting endorsements -> by the time endoresements come into effect law of averages catch up with him -> lo and behold!! public thinks money has made him lose his head.
The last part is partly true as most of these people tend to think of themselves as infallible and forget basics of the game, a momentary lapse of reasoning and then comes the dark side of the moon as they hit dead end of the wall. A regular sportsman somehow cant juggle these many things at the same time and specially when he is faced with situation of losing his bread and butter both, compounded by the fact that he somehow cant figure as to why his bat stopped talking or his balls seem to turn into lollies for even number 11s.
I think indian sportsmen would do a great service to themsleves and nation by devoting their time to play and let money be a by-product. Board should be served by people who believe in nurturing the game and players. It is board's duty to keep the game attractive for players and spectators. Board should make a transparent system where players playing at the highest level would earn highest rewards during their playing days, relating them to performace and wins for nation.
In a democracy board cant afford to put a cap on earning potential for players what they can do is ensure to put a system in place that would extract performance for anyone who wants to see the money.
