How much does a person have to earn to afford the essentials of life, food, water and shelter? According to the Department of Labor, the minimum wage for Colorado is $7.78 an hour. At 40 hours per week you can earn a whopping annual salary of $16,182. Most people will in fact argue that there is no way to live off this, but that is a completely different argument than mine. A professional athlete should be paid millions of dollars a year, when there are people out there who can barely scrape together change to afford their monthly bills. Peyton Manning earns over $18 million in a single year performing in public and playing a simple sport for the enjoyment of others. This is more than most people can earn in a lifetime. Should we really pay Peyton Manning $18 million to play a 16-game season when others barely make $17,000 to support themselves? This is not at all practical or fair considering that a firefighter earns an average of $43,000 per year. Yes, that number is true. A man who goes out and risks his life daily to protect others earns a significantly lower salary than a professional athlete who entertains the masses. We are just scratching the surface of this dilemma. Alex Rodriguez made $33 million last year in Major League Baseball. How could anyone ever spend $33 million on themselves? It's crazy to think that America devotes most of its attention and money to entertainment when people are homeless, starving, or living on welfare. But as long as LeBron James can spend $3,000 on a suit and tie, he'll probably wear once, and play head-to-head against other athletes, we're satisfied. There is a lot of money floating around among the giant franchises in the sports world, but honestly how much do you really need to get paid to live a comfortable and sustainable life. The minimum annual salary of a player in the league (mainly benchwarmers and