Is There Any Loyalty In Sports Anymore?

It seems that all of professional sports have insisted that is not about the money and that is about winning and winning championships. That definitely does not seem to be the case anymore around professional sports as teams will leave their teams that they played for from the start, just because they can go make some more money somewhere else. Starting with the latest development today, Albert Pujols signed a ten year $254 million deal to go to the Los Angeles Angels. Pujols has played on the St. Louis Cardinals ever since he started in the MLB in 2001. He has become the face of that franchise and even the face of that city for so many years as he has become, arguably, the best player in baseball. I never took Pujols for a guy that wanted the cash, but he proved it here by taking the money to play in Los Angeles. The Miami Marlins offered Pujols somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 million and he rejected it. I could understand that because they do not have that great of a team even with signing Buerhle and Reyes. What was wrong with returning to St. Louis though for Pujols, they just won a World Series. I never expected him to leave St. Louis, but he did and he will now be playing for the L.A. Angels for the next ten years. This is somewhat similar to what LeBron James did, he left the city that was his hometown and a place that he played for many years. I know that Cleveland was not that great of a team and he left and formed a super team down in Miami with Wade and Bosh at his side, but once again he left a team that wanted him back and he gave the fans of Cleveland the biggest slap in the face after his one hour 'decision' on ESPN. Pujols' deal comes as a huge shock to the whole MLB and so did LeBron James' move. Both of those guys left their respective teams after playing for them for so long. These moves were completely unexpected, and these guys have shown no loyalty for their teams. One guy that was completely loyal was Kerry Wood. Wood took a big paycut to play for the Chicago Cubs who he played for for so many years. This is the kind of sports player that is dedicated and loyal to his team, because he started out playing for them and he wants to end playing for them. For Pujols and LeBron though it is true what they say, "Money is the root of all evil."