The 50 highest-earning American athletes

Overlooked fact of all three of the Yanks' big '09 offseason acquisitions: Burnett, Sabathia, Teixeira are only Bombers signed to long-term deals with salaries that remain fixed through their expiration.

Nearly two years after the Padres shipped him to Chicago, the 2007 NL Cy Young winner still received a $500,000 reporting bonus from the White Sox related to the deal on top of his $16 million salary.

With a six-year, $124 million deal, the Hawks made Johnson the top-paid free agent in last summer's loaded class, topping LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Bosh and Amar'e Stoudemire.

The Phils are only on the hook for about $9 million of Oswalt's 2011 salary. His old team, the Astros, are paying the other $7 million as part of trade last summer that sent him to Philadelphia.

The much-maligned Brand and his equally unloved teammate Andre Iguodala are owed $63.5 million over the next two seasons. Will the Sixers find a taker for either one in a trade?

Maybe athletes aren't rocket scientists -- but they can marry one. The Red Sox's $68 million man reportedly popped question to high school sweetheart Holly Fisher, an aerospace engineer, in February.

Eli threw a pass back to his alma mater, the University of Mississippi, last July with a $1 million donation for an academic scholarship plan. Ole Miss had raised its tuition rates by 6.5 percent.

Fielder's one-year, $15.5 million deal with Brewers helped avoid arbitration, but he'll be looking for more next winter -- especially given teammate Ryan Braun's five-year, $105 million extension.

Celtics GM Danny Ainge will be busy next summer: Pierce and Rajon Rondo are the only players inked beyond 2011-12, and the former will be 36 when his $61 million extension expires in 2014.

Bosh and LeBron signed identical six-year, $110 million deals to join Dwyane Wade in South Beach. All three have player options for 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons that total out at $127 million.