Settling an Argument from the Bullpen...

The other day, sitting in our bullpen, us pitchers (and a catcher or two) got into a semantic argument over whether we should be considered professional athletes, or merely semi-professional.  The argument basically stemmed over the definition of professional, and whether or not we qualified.  (Full disclosure: I argued we were semi-pro because there's no way in hell you can support yourself off our paychecks).  Lets turn to dictionary.com, and see what it has to say.
professional  (prəˈfɛʃən ə l) — adj 1. of, relating to, suitable for, or engaged in as a profession 2. engaging in an activity for gain or as a means of livelihood 3. a. extremely competent in a job, etc b. (of a piece of work or anything performed) produced with competence or skill 4. undertaken or performed for gain or by people who are paid
	sem·i·pro·fes·sion·al    [sem-ee-pruh-fesh-uh-nl, sem-ahy-] Show IPA adjective 1. actively engaged in some field or sport for pay but on a part-time basis: semiprofessional baseball players. 2. engaged in by paid, part-time people: semiprofessional football. 3. having some features of professional  work but requiring less knowledge, skill, and judgment: a semiprofessional job.
	(I chose to use only the adjective definitions because its pro or semi-pro athlete, therefore adjective. I'm an english degree holder, I told you this blog was for me in post 1. Deal with it.)
	Sure, you can argue that some of the definitions of professional are met (3.a. and 4), but semi-professional is much more spot on.  We are definitely #1, #2, and arguably #3 since if we had the skill of an MLB guy... we would not be here toiling at our craft in New Mexico.
	As I will now conclude, semi-professional is the clearly superior fit.  But don't think at the bar I'm going to stop calling myself a professional athlete.