Please, raise your hand if you would turn down that oh-so idolized $1 million per year salary.

Please, keep it up if you would walk away from $5 million per.

You’ve got to be thinking, “Who on earth would have their hand up?”

Athletes. It’s a simple answer that blows my mind.

The man who represents not a team, but a country makes less than Major League Baseball’s minimum salary.

That’s right: Obama earns less than half of what the now infamous Jason Motte makes.

From when I was just a little kid, it was understood that the harder one worked, the more one would get in return. Prospective doctors spend their twenties (and their life savings) memorizing entire textbooks knowing that one day they will be rewarded with due compensation.

Then there’s the case of athletes.

JaMarcus Russell, the top overall selection of the 2007 NFL Draft, decided that he was just too good to play for anything under $11 million per season. He missed the entire training camp and has never lived up to the hype. His so-called unlimited potential seems to have been no match for karma.

Sports agents call it “smart financial advice.” I call it greed.

Okay, I’ll admit, they have God-given talent. Unfortunately, they seem to think they have a right to make more than God Himself.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. The owners and those who run these sport organizations have buckled one too many times.

In all honesty (I’m not just taking this opportunity to bash the Evil Empire), many blame the New York Yankees and George Steinbrenner for driving up the markets of the sporting industry over the past 35 years.

Steinbrenner expected to win the World Series every year and used cold hard cash to wipe away the tears when the Yankees would not win. He paid Dave Winfield a then-unheard amount of $25 million over 10 years to bring him to the Bronx.

Others players followed, and then it forced other teams to fork out the same kind of money. Then football players thought they deserved as much as baseball players; basketball players followed.

Now, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant both make $40 million for playing 82 games. And apparently, that isn’t enough.

The National Basketball Association has a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Players’ Association that expires in 2011. Recently, a new CBA has been drafted. It includes cutting the maximum contract to $60 million spread over multiple seasons, a cutback for some players approaching 66 percent.

Of course, the players immediately laughed it off most likely believing the minimum should be $60 million per year.

I applaud the owners, though.

Sources close to the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) say that a lockout is likely for the 2011 season. That’s right, Rams fans: Orland Pace is now causing problems for yet another team.

I just don’t understand why sitting and refusing to earn $5 million is better than playing and earning $5 million…

Don’t get me wrong, I love going down to Busch Stadium, but I don’t understand why I should have to pay $55 to have to squint to see the outline of Albert from my 1,000 foot high seat.

The now embattled Tiger Woods made about $125 million last year. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. made about $50 million. I think it’s safe to say that Pope Benedict does not make quite that much.

So if I hear one more NFL linebacker saying how he is unjustly forced to earn only $9.875 million, I very well may cry.

Please, raise your hand if you agree. ü