Back in the mid-90s, I was walking the Royal Lytham golf course on the opening morning of the British Open when my friend and I found ourselves in the washroom with Greg Norman. Robert Williams Jersey . The Australian star was struggling with his first round but not as much as my mate who lived and died on every swing after putting a large bet on the Great White Shark the day before. Norman was valued by the bookies as a 14/1 shot at winning the Open. After a few words of banter with us, just an hour into the event, that value had dramatically changed. He would have a bad day, yet still get paid; my friend had an awful day and would throw his betting ticket away after the second round. I have never really been a large fan of golf. I understand the appeal of walking outside watching people do what you wish you could but, Majors aside, tournaments didnt do it for me. This has mainly got to do with the way their governing bodies rank players. Pull out a newspaper in the middle of summer and head towards the standings section and amongst actual league tables, dictated by wins and losses in many sports, is golfs money list. A ranking that separates players by the amount of money they earn has always seemed pompous to me. I understand they make way more than most people and good luck to each of them but printing it in the form of standings was just a way of rubbing it in for me. There are just some things as sports fans that we do not need to know. What sportsmen and women make is one of them. There is a reason that the pay slip you get from your employer is sealed. There is a reason you likely have no idea what the majority of the people you work with make. There is a reason you have no idea what your neighbour makes or his neighbour. With that information available, people start to judge people differently. Why dont I get what he has? What does the boss see in that person and not me? Most people in life tend to overrate their own capabilities and believe they are worth more to their employer than they get. Giving them private information on people is counterproductive and brings out unfortunate traits such as jealousy and greed. Professional sports are no different. In fact, it is much worse where a culture has been created that allows players, who believe they are of a similar talent, to use a colleagues salary to challenge their company to make sure they get paid what they believe they are worth. Thankfully, in Europe most sports salaries are hidden. We do not know what the England cricket captain, the star Welsh rugby full back, or even the Formula One World Champion makes. Even the Premier League does its best to not advertise weekly salaries of players. Those negotiations take place where they should - behind a closed door. In North America, where the salaries of all major stars are easily accessible, these battles take place in front of the public eye, allowing agents to make names for themselves and become stars on television programs and radio shows. On Monday, Toronto FC paraded Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley as their new signings and it certainly created a buzz around the world. The MLS club was allowed their moment in the sun for a few hours before the attacks started around the salary given to US midfielder Bradley. It is now the end of the week and they are still coming. ESPN analyst and former MLS star, Alejandro Moreno, went out of his way three times during the MLS SuperDraft coverage to question whether a defensive midfielder is worth that much money. Bradley is far from a defensive midfielder but that is not the point. The point is Toronto FC believes the salary - reported to be $6.5 million per year for five years - is very much worth getting Michael Bradley. And that should be enough for people to think he is worth it. However, some have written that Bradleys salary now means comparable MLS midfielders, such as Kyle Beckerman of Real Salt Lake, are underpaid. A simple google search shows us Beckerman is paid over $300,000 per season; one of the highest salaries in the league. That is a value he has created after some phenomenal seasons at that level. Beckerman is not coming from Europe. He is, however, part of the Major League Soccer Players Union that agreed to league rules that allows teams to only go above such a maximum salary for up to three players per team. If his team is willing to do that for him (and no one will know better than them if he is worth it) the rules are in place to do so. Last year, on league DPs, Beckerman told the Salt Lake Tribune: "Its good for our league, its good for teams, its good for young players, its good for everybody. Its a win-win situation. If you can find one that fits in your team, then I dont see any reason why not to do it." Toronto FC have found three reasons to do it this winter. Signing three DPs was called financial suicide by MLSE President Tim Leiweke this week but in reality, for his owners, these are key opportunities for them in a salary cap league to differentiate themselves from many of the other clubs. That is why Bradley is getting paid what he is. A US international left Europe at 26 to come to a club in Canada who have gained just 85 points in the last three seasons, winning 17 of their last 102 league games. If the club achieve the lofty goals they want to while Bradley is at the club, they will put past disappointments firmly in the rearview mirror but no one should forget about them when assessing Bradleys wages. Over the next five seasons when the salaries are printed, we are going to see a large seven figure sum next to the name of Bradley and it is important to remember why he is getting that money. Many would argue that the US international had 6.5 million reasons to return home to Major League Soccer and that is hard to question, but now onlookers have 6.5 million reasons to look at Bradley differently and that is a pity. Seeing that has already started, you can guarantee we will hear the words he isnt worth that much money once he starts playing. This is not a knock on Bradleys talent. He is, after all, arguably already the most talented midfielder in the league, but it is just the nature of how people will judge a player who wont score goals every week and show up in highlight reels. However, what he is is a player who was available and willing to listen to Toronto FC when they were a laughing stock around the league. What if, privately, Toronto FC bosses knew how difficult it was to get him to even pick up his phone and talk to them? Two numbers are talked about with Bradley and thats the transfer fee paid to Roma and his, now, much reported salary figure. What if, privately, Toronto FC bosses created a third category for him called convincing money to help him say yes to a team synonymous with failure? What if, privately, Toronto FC felt Bradley was worth, on the field, more like $3.25 million per year but had no problem paying him the same amount of money per season to come and represent them and change a losing culture? This is the major problem with salaries being available. They are simple numbers that have no instructions next to them from who decided them. It is a pity they are accessible to allow people to judge players differently but if the information is going to continue to be made available, it is essential those who point the figures gather all the facts before doing so. Larry Bird Jersey . Seth Smith hit a towering drive for a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers in baseballs North American opener Sunday night. Gordon Hayward Celtics Jersey .J. - New York Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara left Monday nights game against the Indianapolis Colts with a torn biceps. http://www.authenticcelticsproshop.com/Reggie-Lewis-Jersey/ . The All Blacks played their best rugby of recent years when they beat South Africa 38-27 in Johannesburg two weeks ago, clinching the Rugby Championships in a match which has been hailed as one of the best ever played.LOS ANGELES -- The puck was sitting underneath Sharks goalie Alex Stalock when Justin Williams whacked at his pads and the narrow space between them. Like a magic trick, the puck popped out behind Stalock in the San Jose net. While Sharks coach Todd McLellan decried the legality of the tiebreaking goal, the Los Angeles Kings celebrated their latest, greatest escape yet. Down 0-3 just a few days ago, the Kings squeezed through that minuscule opening and emerged in Game 7. Williams scored the go-ahead goal with 8:04 to play, and the Kings beat the Sharks 4-1 in Game 6 on Monday night, rallying all the way back from a daunting series deficit. Williams and Anze Kopitar each had two goals and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves as the Kings became just the ninth team in NHL history to force a seventh game after losing the first three. "We certainly didnt want to go away quiet," Kopitar said. "Were only thinking about one more step now. Were going to have to play our best game of the series up there." Just three teams in NHL history have rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a series, and Los Angeles has earned a shot to join them. The winner of the California rivals third playoff meeting in four years will face the top-seeded Anaheim Ducks in the second round. After watching three Kings goals and several violent scrums in the final minutes, Los Angeles fans roared with an intensity that likely hadnt been reached since the Kings Stanley Cup run two years ago, sending their team back to the Shark Tank on Wednesday night. A tie game turned when Williams whacked home Robyn Regehrs shot at Stalock, using the opportunistic scoring sense that has made the two-time Stanley Cup champion into a clutch playoff performer. "Maybe we got a break, maybe we didnt," Williams said. "But nobody blew the whistle." San Joses bench loudly protested the call, saying the puck should have been blown dead under Stalock, but it was upheld on video review. "We got cheated," McLellan said. "Simple as that. I was told that you could see the puck laying behind his feet the whole time." McLellan said the Sharks couldnt see the puck on video review. Kings coach Darryl Sutter thought replays showed the puck was loose. Kopitar followed with two goals 1:15 apart for the Kings, who have outscored San Jose 13-4 in the last three games after San Jose dominated the first three by a combined 17-8. Stalock stopped 26 shots in his first NHL playoff start, and James Sheppard scored on a double deflection in the second period for the spiraling Sharks. Custom Boston Celtics Jerseys. . After utterly dominating the first two games, San Jose has scored just one goal against Quick in the last 128:24 in the series. "In my mind, if it gets to Game 7, it doesnt matter how it gets there," Sharks forward Logan Couture said. "It gets there, and youre going for one game. We played all year for the home ice. Im sure our building is going to be loud. Weve got to turn this thing around and win that game." McLellan changed starting goalies after Stanley Cup winner Antti Niemi was pulled from each of the last two losses. McLellan took a risk on Stalock, whose NHL experience consists of 27 regular-season games and 57 minutes of scoreless relief in this series. Drew Doughty had two assists for Los Angeles, which lost the first three games of the series in discouraging fashion before rallying with resounding victories at home in Game 4 and at the Shark Tank in Game 5 on Saturday night. Doughty set up the Kings first goal with a sharp pass to Williams, who has four goals in the Kings last two home games. San Jose got a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:38 early in the second period, but the Kings killed it off. The Sharks finally tied it moments after a third fruitless power play when Sheppard deflected Justin Brauns slap shot out of midair and off Regehr. After Williams go-ahead score, Kopitar got loose on a 2-on-1 rush with Williams, who set him up perfectly. Kopitar added a power-play goal. The Philadelphia Flyers are one of the three teams to accomplish what the Kings hope to do, rallying from three games down to beat Boston in 2010 with a roster including current Kings forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. The Sharks played without key defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who left Game 5 early with an upper-body injury. The Canadian Olympic gold medallist was replaced by Matt Irwin, while streaky forward Marty Havlat also was in San Joses lineup for the first time in the series, replacing Mike Brown. NOTES: Los Angeles lost D Willie Mitchell to an undisclosed injury during the second period. ... The Sharks hadnt changed their starting goalie during the playoffs since 2001, when Miikka Kiprusoff took over for Evgeni Nabokov during a series. ... Vlasic had played in all 84 possible playoff games since joining the Sharks for the 2006-07 season. ' ' '