Is strength being wasted on athletes?

lol. I'd be surprised if no one takes the bait.

More appropirate question is " Doesn't lifting weights waste people's life ? "

Probably but so does playing video games, doing jigsaws, watching tv, doing the crossword, walking up mountains, going to work...

Agree , but only when training is a hobby . When someone is obsessed with training and getting sronger and looking better it can incorporate in your life like nothing else . I mean eating a lot more than u need , spending much more monet, rarely going to party , not paying enough attention to family or frineds plus not enjoying much funny and social things . Plus in the long run there are some health risks involved .I mean people invest so much into being big and strong , and most of these don't make money with this , they don't contribute nothing to the society with being big . All these effort can be involved in studying , creating ..developing your brain and personality for overall life improvement .
Don't get me wrong .. I am no exception , just thinking that as a human I don't do my best and waste some potential .

I agree. However it's still better than the lives a lot of non lifters live. For example not liking your job, and having an otherwise unsatisfactory life and then instead of distracting yourself with lifting or other hobbies turning to alcohol instead.

But you are right though, having your life revolving around lifting is not preferable and I myself am trying to make my life more balanced, so far with a reasonae degree of success

Don't see how that is more appropriate. The 'athletes' referred to in the original post are aiming to be top level footballers. Not sure what exposure you've had to what this means but to most Americans (& I dare say people further afield) these guys are multi millionaire, playboy sports heroes. I'm sure the near deity status that they can achieve is worth every sacrifice to them.

Big guys lift big weights.

Even mediocre athletes get more pussy than they can deal with. Women dont dig strongman/powerlifting "athletes"

Is this thread about strength sports vs field sports?

it wasn't meant to be derogatory. just factual, most guys dont peak for strength until in their thirties but looking at other sports you are retiring at that age. as such powerlifting makes perfect sense for an already strong athlete to keep competing