Soccer Players Do It for the Love of the Game

It seems these days athletes have lost sight of the real reason of the game. Money seems as though it is playing the bigger role in sports. Some of the top athletes seem to just be playing with dollar signs in their eyes and not focusing on the love that they once had for their sport.

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, LaDanian Tomlinson, and Reggie Bush are just a few "commerical" athletes. To me it's almost like we see them in more sponsorship ads then we do games. They're all making hundreds of millions of dollars for just putting their name on something.

When thinking about this I wonder do they really care about the game anymore? Is it more important to have tons of money then it is to have a championship ring?

Don't get me wrong here, all the aforementioned athletes are very talented and give some of those megabucks to great charities but at the end of the day their still going home to their eight million dollar homes and 200 thousand dollar cars.

How about a sport though that is commonly overlooked, disregarded, put to the back of everyone's mind until they hear the name David Beckham or Freddy Adu.

Soccer, played by millions all around the world and not ever really received as greatly as football or basketball. This is a sport where I feel the athletes are whole heartedly in it for the love of the game.

This is not as high of paying sport as the other ones out there unless you are lucky and your name is David Beckham and you happen to one of the greatest soccer players of all time.

These athletes do it for the sport, for the real reason they went to practice everyday, and gave their blood, sweat, and tears to be on the USA soccer team. These are the athletes who are always overlooked, forgotten about and bypassed in sports story after sports story.

So why then do young American athletes opt for soccer than another sport? I think I made that answer pretty simple. They love what they do and do what they love.

I am sure that if you asked any one of those young people out there on that field they would chose the game over the money. Sure the money would be a nice perk, but doing something they love to do is even better.

I am not saying that other athletes in other sports do not feel the same way, but they just let the money show a little more than they let the passion, and sure there are the David Beckham's out there in the soccer world, but its rare.

He still has that passion, that yearning and that want to play the game.