It's just pocket change!!

Some things in the world of sports have been bothering me. Mainly when an athlete gets too angry in their sport and lashes out against someone. The Commissioner of their league looks at the tape and hands down their decision of a fine. But these fines are just ridiculous for the athletes. Take for example Serena Williams and her scream fest during the US Open.



She went way out of line when she screamed at an official. We all know that. She was fined a record of $82,500 by the Grand Slam Committee. But it is just a drop in the bucket of what she makes per year. She will make around $14 million dollars this year. That is more than enough for many people who are living month to month in a house. People are going hungry in the streets and she is going to pay a fine that is bigger than some peoples homes are worth. Ridiculous.

Rasheed Wallace also got fined this past week because of comments after this play against the Toronto Raptors.



He complained that Hedo Turkoglu gets most of his calls from "flopping." But most of his comments were not directed at Turkoglu but a the NBA officials. Chris Forsberg from ESPNBoston.com quotes Wallace saying,"This game is watered down, watered down with all that flopping. They're setting rules on us to the point where you're taunting if you dunk on somebody. Paul [Pierce] dunked it and then he didn't say nothing, but it's a tech." With these comments Wallace received a $30,000 fine. Again it is just a drop in the bucket for these athletes. Wallace will be making a comfortable $5.8 million this year with the Boston Celtics.

The only way athletes will be accountable for their actions if they were to get hit big in their own pocketbooks. If I were fine a commissioner of any of these big sports leagues I would increase the fines on all of these athletes for their actions. If the fines were one, two, maybe even three million dollars, then maybe they will think twice when they act out.