DAILY DIRT: That sound you’ll hear at the Olympic medal stand is a resounding ka-ching!

Not that $37,000 is necessarily small change, but wouldn’t you think the U.S. would pay its medal winners more than … umm … Azerbaijan? Jus’ saying … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,015 of The Daily Dirt.

1. With the Summer Olympics in Paris getting ready to ramp up, keep this information in the back of your mind as you watch the events unfold.

Most countries reward their athletes quite handsomely for winning medals, especially the gold ones. Here’s a look at the biggest paychecks athletes have a chance to earn for finishing first in an event in the coming two weeks:

• 1. Singapore, $737,000
• 2. Taiwan, $720,000
• 3. Hong Kong, $642,000
• 4. Turkey gives its athletes an option: $384,000 or some sort of lifetime pension
• 5. Thailand, $365,000
• 6. Indonesia, $346,000
• 7. Kazakhstan, $250,000 
• 8. Malaysia, $238,000 
• 9. Azerbaijan, $235,000
• 10 Morocco, $225,000

Norway, New Zealand and Sweden award their athletes zero dollars for medals. Great Britain also gives no financial reward for medals, unless you count a $36,000 stipend for making the nation’s Olympic roster.

And, yes, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee also rewards gold medalists, paying $37,000 ($22,500 for silver, $15,000 for bronze). 

2. Did you know (Part 74)

• That the top five states with the most MLB players born there are: 1. California (2,468), Pennsylvania (1,428), New York (1,196), Illinois (1.097) and Ohio (1,052).
• That Rolling Stone magazine’s all-time top five musical artists are: 1. The Beatles, 2. Bob Dylan, 3. Elvis Presley, 4. The Rolling Stones, 5. Chuck Berry.
• That the top five pitchers by WAR (Wins Above Replacement) to have never won a Cy Young Award: 1. Phil Niekro, 2. Bert Blyleven, 3. Nolan Ryan, 4. Mike Mussina, 5. Curt Schilling.
• That the recent WNBA all-star game drew 3.44 million network TV viewers — which was 2 million more than the previous high back in 2003.
• That the average MLB Saturday telecast in Fox averages about 1.8 million.

3. It has been an eventful week for The Great Plate Debate of 2024.

While no license plates found across West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri have cracked the medal stand, there have been some dandies turned in by readers:

• 2THLESS
• FAV CAR 1
• WILL RUN
• O BLA D 2 (Think Beatles … )
• LOLA 99
• DG TRNR 1
• ICEGUYS
• 2 SRV HM

The current medal stand:

• Gold medal: GEM CITI 4
• Silver medal:U DRUNK
• Bronze medal:  CO XIST

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Retro episodes of “The Price Is Right” are now streaming on the game show channel Buzzr, which is providing us episodes from the 1980s when longtime host Bob Barker still had dark hair. Barker died in August 2023 at age 99. the shows are on 2-4 p.m. daily.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Maybe our Olympians can get NIL money?