An Obvious Excuse to Look at Anna Kournikova Pictures on the Internet

I have a question for you: how bad are you at your job? Go on ahead and think about that for a second.

Chances are pride got in the way of your objectivity and you started thinking you're actually pretty good at whatever it is you do...in fact you're (probably) under-appreciated and (certainly) under-paid, despite the fact that you're reading this from work with 30 unreal emails in your inbox and reports stacked up on your desk. We generally don't extend this same amount of genial slack towards professional athletes...our shortcomings are understated and inconsequential, theirs are unforgivable. Consider how we all dismissed Anna Kournikova during her prime. “Sure she’s hot,” we all said, generally followed with, “Too bad she sucks at tennis.” Well AK may not have won many (ok any) Tournaments but she was consistently ranked between #10 and #15 in the world over a three-year span, topping out at #8 in 1999. So as bad as you think AK was at her job, she was still better than you are at yours. Way better.

If that makes you depressed, rest assured that you are significantly better than these four guys who are currently soaking up a bile-inducing 31% of the Dodgers' total payroll this year. That ought to make you feel a little better.

1. Jason Schmidt: $12 million.


2. Andruw Jones: $9 million


3. Nomar Garciaparra: $8.5 million


4. Esteban Loaiza: $7 million

These gentlemen have accounted for essentially nothing this year and in the case of Jason Schmidt truly nothing. While it may not be fair to hold his injury against him, it’s not like he was much better before he went down anyway. Every team has dead payroll and every team has to deal with trips to the DL and under-performing stars but these numbers are sickening (notice Juan Pierre didn't even make the S List) and indicative of Ned Colletti's inability to actually pay people what they are worth. Let's not forget that he cut his teeth with the Giants and we all know the state of their organization at the moment. At what point do we have to start demanding Ned Colletti’s head?