The ground is hard. The sun is bright. Tom Brady is rich. Just how rich? Brady ranks ninth on Sports Illustrated's "Fortunate 50" list that features the 50 top-earning American athletes in 2011. The list ranks the athletes by tabulating salary, winnings, endorsements and appearance fees.
Brady earned $30,007,280 in the last year, including $20,007,280 in salary and $10 million in endorsements. He ranked third among NFL players, behind Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (fourth overall with $38,070,000) and Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (eighth overall, $32.7 million). Celtics forward Kevin Garnett ranked seventh with $32,832,044. Sports Illustrated said Garnett will earn more than $300 million in his NBA career
Tiger Woods ranked No. 1 with nearly $63.3 million in earnings, and he was followed by Phil Mickelson, LeBron James, Manning, Alex Rodriguez, Kobe Bryant, Garnett, Ryan, Brady and Dwight Howard.
Red Sox left fielder Carl Crawford ($20.5 million) was ranked 28th, Sox righty Josh Beckett ($16.15 million) was 46th and Celtics captain Paul Pierce (about $15.7 million) was 49th.