Why Cliff Lee Rocks!

Philadelphia Phillies fans are by now well aware of the city’s early Christmas present – Cliff Lee is back in a Phillies uniform.
I listened to a segment about this on the local news radio station the day after it became official. After listening to his decision-making process, I believe he is an athlete many other athletes could look up to.
Cliff Lee will be paid $120 M over a 5 year period. He was also courted by the New York Yankees for what I inferred from the news story was a greater sum of money. Mr. Lee’s remarks were along the lines of, “well, I wanted to assess the community where my family would live and the money from Philadelphia is plenty for a nice life for my family. At some point you have to realize that enough is enough…”.  He further went on to say that his criteria included being on a team that he thought had the best chance of winning a championship.
I think it is beautiful that we have an athlete in town who recognizes value in other parts of the offer than money alone.  Nowhere in any of this were there negative sentiments towards living in the New York area.  He simply recognized he had a preference and included that into his decision-making process.
I emphatically admire him for this and I look forward to the start of the 2011 season.
Welcome Home Cliff!