What makes an athlete?
Looking at the history of super famous athletes, some names come to mind such as Sammy Sosa, Muhammad Ali, and Babe Ruth. If you think about the way they promote themselves and virtually nothing comes to mind. But times have changed. There are too many sports filled with too many athletes to share the limelight. No one can rely on skill alone to make them money and keep them famous. Not unlike the modern musical artist, today’s athlete has to actively seek corporate sponsors so they can briefly appear in commercials, make gobs of money, and maybe have one or two extramarital affair. Let’s face it, the athletes are starting to figure that bad press is easier to get than good press, therefore they have essentially given up on trying to generate good press altogether.
The real money making strategy lies in one or more ad campaigns that athlete can build up. Derek Jeter alone has ad campaigns with Nike, Gatorade, Fleet Bank, Discover Card, VISA, Skippy, Ford, and XM Satellite Radio. So I have to think to myself: What makes fame? Endorsements or athletic prowess? We would all like to say athletic prowess, but you know that’s bullshit. Ask anyone. The majority of people will tell you that their favorite player is the one that has an awesome commercial or an interesting sex scandal. Sports are only an afterthought to the players. 
