{"id":79113,"date":"2016-12-21T16:15:32","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T16:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=79113"},"modified":"2023-04-14T19:02:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T19:02:31","slug":"behind-mic-christmas-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-mic-christmas-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic: “Their Christmas Club”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do any of you remember Christmas clubs?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if banks still have them, but I don\u2019t know why they wouldn\u2019t offer another way to keep your money and pay you very little for that privilege.\u00a0 Christmas clubs began during the Great Depression so that bank customers would set aside a given amount of money each week so they would have some to spend at Christmas time.<\/p>\n

My first Christmas club was a whopping $12.50.\u00a0 I would put aside $0.25 every week (I could afford it because I had my own business \u2013 a newspaper route) and receive a check from the bank the first week of December for $12.50.\u00a0 My younger sister also had a similar account except that she was subsidized by my parents (which didn\u2019t really seem fair since I worked for my December windfall).\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure what my youngest sister or older brother did for Christmas money, but I sure do not remember any significant gifts coming my way from those two sources.<\/p>\n

After receiving our checks, my sister and I would get on the local bus and head downtown to buy gifts for the five members of the family (three siblings and mom and dad).\u00a0 Do the math \u2013 that\u2019s $2.50 for each one.\u00a0 I assume this is where the phrase \u201cIt\u2019s the thought that counts\u201d was originated.\u00a0 The bigger problem, however, was that my sister always found something SHE liked while we were shopping.\u00a0 She would always make her first purchase a gift for, you guessed it, HERSELF.<\/p>\n

It was at that point that her shopping dilemma would rise up \u2013 she had about $2.50 left to buy five gifts.\u00a0 She knew I had money \u2013 heck, I was an entrepreneur.\u00a0 How could I refuse her?\u00a0 She would always come home with a gift for everyone and the best gift for herself.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like it, but I did it.<\/p>\n

This is a long introduction to the main topic \u2013 what kind of a Christmas \u201cclub\u201d might a top athlete have at their gift-giving disposal?\u00a0 I decided to look at the highest-paid sports figures of the year and imagined what they might spend on each person on their list.\u00a0 I\u2019ll use 25 people to buy for as the cost basis and one day\u2019s pay as the available amount of money (in essence, their Christmas club).\u00a0 And I will use the 25 highest-paid athletes as the gift givers.<\/p>\n

The athletes fell into the following categories: one boxer, three tennis players, three race car drivers, three NBA players, four golfers, five soccer players, and six NFL players.\u00a0 Their annual incomes ranged from $35.9 million to $88 million.\u00a0 The average yearly earnings for those 25 athletes were $50 million a year.\u00a0 If you divide that number by 365 days, they make $136,986.30 per day or $45,662 per hour.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking for their list of 25 people, some nice gifts are on the way.\u00a0 On average, their Christmas club would allow them to spend almost $5500 per gift.<\/p>\n

Now, I figure I have spent a great deal of my life working with and getting along with athletes.\u00a0 I\u2019m wondering if I could just convince one of them to let me take them \u201cdowntown\u201d to do some Christmas shopping.\u00a0 I think I remember my sister\u2019s ploy.\u00a0 Plead poverty.\u00a0 Get them to financially help me make some wonderful purchases.\u00a0 It worked on me for years.\u00a0 Perhaps, it would work on them.<\/p>\n

Heck, I would even buy my sister a nice gift.\u00a0 After all, that\u2019s the Christmas spirit.<\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Who is the best team in the NFL at the moment \u2013 New England<\/a> or Dallas<\/a>? Might it be Oakland <\/a>or the Giants<\/a>?\u00a0 Or are Seattle <\/a>or Pittsburgh <\/a>sleepers?\u00a0 No pro sport does the post season any better.\u00a0 The playoff scenarios are mind-boggling and maintain interest to the very end of the season.<\/li>\n
  2. Eagles<\/a>\u2019 fans can moan all they want about their coach, their quarterback, and the defensive secondary, but no one deserves more criticism than Nelson Agholor. He is a wide receiver who does not receive.\u00a0 In this past Sunday\u2019s game against the Ravens, he caught one pass, dropped a few, never fielded a punt as a punt receiver, and never got the one-yard necessary for a very important first down because of a poor decision.\u00a0 He did receive $14.5 million as part of a four-year deal with the Eagles.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure he RECEIVES that money.<\/li>\n
  3. The Roundball JAMboree held at Allen High School on Sunday was a huge success. The event was scheduled to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson\u2019s Research and honor Mike Schneider for his service to Lehigh Valley athletics.\u00a0 Mike is afflicted with Parkinson\u2019s.\u00a0 Our local teams split the four games with Parkland and Allen winning while Liberty and Whitehall were defeated.<\/li>\n
  4. RCN-TV finishes up the year with Emmaus at Parkland and Nazareth at Whitehall on Tuesday night beginning at 7:00pm and Whitehall at Parkland on Thursday at 7:00pm. It was another great year for Lehigh valley sports.<\/li>\n
  5. This is my last blog until after the New Year so I want to wish all of you a very happy holiday and thank you for spending time with the RCN-TV team this past year.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0\"Gary's<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Gary\u2019s Guesses: NFL Picks \u2013 (Last week \u2013 12-4; Overall \u2013 140-83-2 \u2013 63%)<\/strong>
    \nWeek Sixteen<\/strong><\/p>\n

    GIANTS<\/strong>
    \nWASHINGTON<\/strong>
    \nBUFFALO<\/strong>
    \nTAMPA BAY<\/strong>
    \nATLANTA<\/strong>
    \nGREEN BAY<\/strong>
    \nNEW ENGLAND<\/strong>
    \nTENNESSEE<\/strong>
    \nSAN DIEGO<\/strong>
    \nOAKLAND<\/strong>
    \nSAN FRANCISCO<\/strong>
    \nSEATTLE<\/strong>
    \nHOUSTON<\/strong>
    \nPITTSBURGH<\/strong>
    \nKANSAS CITY<\/strong>
    \nDALLAS<\/strong>
    \n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Do any of you remember Christmas clubs?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if banks still have them, but I don\u2019t know why they wouldn\u2019t offer another way to keep your money and pay you very little for that privilege.\u00a0 Christmas clubs began during the Great Depression so that bank customers would set aside a given amount of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic: "Their Christmas Club" - 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