Sports Illustrated Fortunate 50

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Sports Illustrated Fortunate 50

Sports Illustrated released their annual Fortunate 50, listing this year’s highest paid athletes. The list always interests me because you will be able to know where athletes earn their money form. Some got rich from contracts (Floyd Mayweather) or some mainly from endorsements (Tiger Woods). Here’s the top five list (courtesy of SI.com):

1. Tiger Woods $20,508,163 salary/winnings :: $70,000,000 endorsements :: $90,508,163 total

Even after arguably the most shocking scandal in sports history, Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods still is at the top. Simply put, Tiger is filthy rich. He is the first athlete ever to earn over a billion dollars in his career, but he is far from finishing his career. Who would think someone could earn over a billion dollars by playing golf? You could say that Tiger was in the right place at the right time. Nike was new to the golf market when Tiger was rising in stardom. As Nike Golf was starting up, Tiger Woods endorsed it and the rest is history. Nike Golf quickly becomes one of the best-selling golf products. It elevated his stardom because Nike did fantastic job making him the most marketable athlete in America. That is until, of course, we found out who Tiger Woods really is. Once he starts winning again, we will gradually forget his scandal and Tiger will continue to be top of this list for a couple of years.

2. Phil Mickelson $9,660,757 salary/winnings :: $52,000,000 endorsements :: $61,660,757 total

The top two hasn’t changed from last year. Even though Phil Mickelson earned chunks of money from endorsements, it is hard to think him as a marketable athlete. I don’t know about you, but Phil bores me. Don’t get me wrong; his recent Masters winning was a heartfelt story after what he went through with his family. But, I love Tiger’s nickname, violent pump fist, Sunday red shirts, tantrums and cold-blooded assassin’s instincts. Moving on before the entire golf fan base turns against me for my very casual golf remarks.

3. Floyd Mayweather $60,000,000 salary/winnings :: $250,000 endorsements :: $60,250,000 total

“The last Maybach I bought, I spent $411,000 cash. The McLaren, I spent a half million cash. Whatever I want, I go out there and buy.”

“I see it’s obvious that I’m a trendsetter. Now everybody wants to put their names on the back of their cars. That’s something that I’ve been doing since I was 21.”

“I got two Cadillac trucks. I don’t know, man; I got so many cars. I can’t name them all. I probably got 15 or 16. I don’t really drive anymore. I get driven in the 62. Lately, my guys are driving. I let all my dudes drive all my cars. I let them stunt.”

"There are stars, superstars, and supermegastars. Tom Cruise is a superstar. But I make stars starstruck. I'm a supermegastar.”

“Money” Mayweather, my favorite athlete at this moment, uttered all of the quotes above. It is evident that Mayweather likes to talk. He thinks the world revolves around him or simply God. Once you spend five minutes with him, it is easy for you to want to punch him in the face for being arrogant. I mean, so, so, so arrogant, but who could touch him after all? He has a record of 41-0. His nickname of “Pretty Boy” is very fitting because after his fights, he would look just exact same as what he looked like coming into the fight. In fact, after his big fight with Shane Mosley (hard-hitting boxer), he showed up in a club at Las Vegas. No one would be able to tell if he just came from his fight or not. It is difficult to lay a clean punch to his face. I respect him for his god-given boxing skills, but starting to hate him for his refusal to fight with Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather’s cockiness is preventing the super mega fight from happening.

4. LeBron James $15,779,912 salary/winnings :: $30,000,000 endorsements :: $45,779,912 total

I hope he never wins a championship. Moving on.

5. Alex Rodriguez $33,000,000 salary/winnings :: $4,000,000 endorsements :: $37,000,000 total

ESPN’s Johnette Howard wrote a fantastic piece about A-Rod’s chase to 600 home runs and fans’ surprisingly low interests in the chase. 600 home runs club is an exclusive club that is very hard to reach, but not many of us are following the chase. Why? We know that steroids forever taint his statistics. While he will always be in top 10 for highest-earning athletes list because of his massive contract, his endorsements earning probably will drop over the years.

Folks, that’s your top five for highest-earning athletes for this year. Right now, I am busy trying to catch cash Mayweather is throwing from his bus, so until next time.

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