Falcons Pro Bowl wide receiver Roddy White recently tweeted his disbelief and disdain over the fact that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will make a salary of $20 million in 2019, which is at the end of the contract extension he signed earlier this year. 

White noted how "players make (the) league", not the commissioner. 

He has a point, in that people pay tickets and provide the NFL with higher television ratings than any other American league/sport because they want to watch the players. 

However, the leaders of such profitable organizations are usually the highest-paid. 

Roddy's point appears to be it's the players who put their bodies on the line, and should be well-compensated for doing so, particularly when the sport draws the ratings and revenue it does. 

But Goodell is the head of America's most powerful and seemingly impenetrable sports league, so why shouldn't he make the same amount in seven years that Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig makes today?  That's right ... Bud Selig makes $20 million a year right now!  Goodell currently earns a $10 million salary. 

I don't know of many of us who would take less money if more is offered to us.  Would you give back money?  So why should Goodell or anyone else? 

Music critic/show creator Simon Cowell made $90 million in 2011 according to Forbes.  Is he overpaid? 

Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck made a combined $104 million to seemingly insult people. 

There will be 13 different MLB players who will make at least $20 million in 2012.

The top-paid player in the NBA this season is Kobe Bryant, who will make $25.2 million. 

(Just for the sake of looking back at history and FYI:  the first Black player to sign an NBA contract was Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton.  For $25,000 in 1950.  I just happen to think that's an interesting nugget.)

Not many would argue Kobe is overpaid, because of what he's meant (and currently means) to the Los Angeles Lakers.  But what about the player who ranks second in the NBA ... Rashard Lewis?  He earns a salary of $22.15 million this season with the Washington Wizards.

Many might feel Lewis is overpaid.  But overpaid in what way?  Using what analysis? 

The Wizards actually had a chance to wipe his salary off of their team's financial books, but didn't.  Why?  Because his soon-to-be-expiring contract can possibly be used as an asset in the near future for trade purposes.  So Lewis' salary is actually a major trade chip and very valuable in that organization's eyes. 

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen made $45 million.  Or ... approximately $14 million more than her All-Pro quarterback-husband, Tom Brady did in salary and endorsements.  Which of them is most overpaid? 

The point is ... the same way beauty is in the eye of the beholder, what people make is subject to discussion and certainly opinion. 

But what people make is what they make. 

It's also their business. 

This is America.  And whatever you can get, you get. 

I, for one, won't begrudge Roger Goodell or anyone else for making the money they make.  I also won't begrudge Roddy White for having an opinion on it. 

Because for the same reasons we're able to make whatever living we can in this country, it's also important to celebrate the fact that we have the freedom of speech to question those earnings.