Actually, that TV analogy was kinda poor, so let me try again..
I thought it was perfect. To each his own.
It's like a random person invites me to watch the game at his house. I am going to care about the quality of the TV, but I am not going to care how much the guy paid for his TV. His expenses do not affect mine. The same applies to the 49ers and how much they pay the coach. I will care about the quality of the coaching, but I won't care how much the Yorks paid for it because it doesn't affect me in any way.
This analogy is not what i was getting at...at all.
Dude, why would it matter to me? Seriously.
I already explained why.
If they pay a dude $7 million per year and he sucks ass, they lose $7 million per year.
You're still not getting it. The owners put that much VALUE in him, and he FAILED. Are you understanding this concept? YOU didn't lose any money (unless you bet your team)...they arent paying him out of YOUR pocket. Again, we, as HUMANS, place value on things by how much they are paid/worth. We set those values by what the norms are, ie how much the highest paid coach is getting, lowest paid coach, etc.
How does that matter to ME? Just because I am a fan of the team doesn't mean I care about the owners' expenses.
Holy shit I know you are smarter than this. Really, you are.
If the Niners landed Harbaugh, my expectations of his performance wouldn't change whether he made $7 million per year or $250k per year.
So, if you did land Harbaugh and 3 years down the road he had only won 10 games collectively over that time span, you wouldn't say to yourself (if he got paid $7 mil), "man, they overpaid for that guy."? This isnt CARING, its merely expressing a PERSPECTIVE. Or if he won 30 games over that time span, and he was only getting paid 250k, you might not think to yourself "wow, thats a bargain!"? These statements remarks have NOTHING to do with caring, you are simply MAKING THE OBSERVATION. Thats it.
Here is an example: Nick Holt, defensive co-oridantor for the Huskies, is the HIGHEST PAID ASST COACH IN AMERICA. Yet, our defense was ranked something like 80th overall in the nation. Now, would you say he wasn't earning his paycheck? Had he been one of the LOWEST paid, it would be much easier to swallow, but he wasn't. He gets criticized becuase he is getting paid A LOT of money, and FAILING at his JOB. Now, as a Husky fan, I dont CARE that they pay him that. What i DO care about, is that they COULD be paying another, more COMPETENT coach, the same amount for doing a BETTER job. See how that works?