OT: Dumb stuff NFL rookies spend their contracts on
Some of these are obvious, some less so. (And some are maybe not as dumb as the other implies.)
But shark tanks? Really?
ahh BBQ, the method of cooking that makes crap meat taste ok. I knew someone who ate a coyote by BBQ'ing it.
BBQ'ing and slathering enough sauce on it and you could probably eat shoe leather or bark.
Investments and start-up companies looking for venture capital money are discussed all of the time in the locker room. One player buys in and more start to follow. Easy, easy way to get burned. That Iraqi currency? Players were investing $40,000 and getting absolutely zero in return. All gone.
Because I've never been in a position where I've gone from being a college student with comparatively limited means to having first round money, it's admittedly hard for me to know how those amounts process in the heads of players, but it seems clear that whatever financial education the NFL or teams put on for players needs to be expanded in the hope that maybe a few more get the message. You won't get through to everyone, and I think some already get it anyway, but there's still an opportunity here, I would think.
Floatable furniture? Someone really bought into the idea that it would be a good idea to sell floatable furniture in flood-prone areas? Yikes.
Yeah, maybe most of us don't come out of school making NFL money. But, many of us make the same kinds of mistakes.
Think about all the new crap persons buy on credit - cars, furniture, jewelry, hell, even dental work can be secured on credit now. This is all on a smaller scale than what the athletes do, but how is it really any different? Because it's stuff that many other Americans buy?
I suspect that two of the biggest problems athletes and muggles encounter are: 1) not budgeting their income and expenses every month, and 2) not understanding how their money is being invested.
Live on what you make, not on what payments you can afford, and understand where your money is going. Those principles would serve everyone well.
Retire crippled with no money, no home, no ride, no bling and no chicks.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
If i had first round money i think i would probably:
1. Rent a house where I play
2. Invest my money in land.
3. Bank the majority of money and live off of endorsements and the interest from the savings account.
Well at least that is what I think i would do...Now reality is probably more like:
1. Buy a massive house
2. Buy a bunch of cars
3. Walk around and make it rain at strip clubs
4. Buy a giraffe and saddle him up and ride him through a drive thru a some where just because I have the money to pay for the fines and Im just that bad of a MoFo.
......ONE COULD ONLY DREAM.....INSTEAD ILL SIT IN MY CUBICAL AND LOOK AT MY BROKE ASS BANK ACCOUNT AND MY RUST BUCKET CAR LOL.
so you'd rent a house where you play, but then invest in land?
Why not just buy the house where you play and kill 2 birds with 1 stone?
I would get sugar cookies from Brooklyn, a set of left handed golf clubs, Cambodian breast milk (I drink nothing but the finest breast milks) and a butler named Farnsworth.
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And then there is former Detroit Tiger Yoenis Cespedes driving a new exotic car everyday... he did almost single-handedly carry the Mets through the postseason to be fair though.
They also often wind up bankrupt post-retirement, though.
The big issue is that these guys live paycheck to paycheck even though their paychecks are enormous.
Cespedes got the Mets to the playoffs but Daniel Murphy made sure they stayed a while.
I don't understand why players spend so much. They need to realize they have only a small window to earn millions of dollars. Once their careers are over, they aren't likely to keep making money at that high of a level. Unless they are lucky to get into broadcasting or top-end talent were they will have endorsement deals forever. But that doesn't seem like the norm. Just put some money away so you can live the next 30-40 years after football.
Many of these guys are broke after they leave the league. Just blow their money like there is no end to it. Get cut and have nothing when they are done.
Relative to income, I don't think their dumb mistakes are all that different than the dumb mistakes ordinary people make with money. The only difference is that for NFL players, the income typically dries up after 3-5 years, while for ordinary people they can keep working to make the payments on their stupidity.
After all, a 300k car for a rookie making 500k is no different than someone making 50k buying a 30k car (both are DUMB). Timeshares, whole life insurance, vacations they can't afford. Stupidity with money is rampant at all income levels.
Respect!
I won't deny that it has to be hard. All of a sudden you've got friends, old teammates, people you've never even met that claim to be long lost family members are coming out of the woodworks asking if they can bum a few bucks off of you.
Have to be able to say no sometimes. And in today's NFL, you're not playing for that first contract. That's just to get you into the league. You're playing for the second one, where the real money is.
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I remember when Keith Bostic -- an Ann Arborite like myself, from the same West Side neighborhood -- was drafted in 1983 by the Oilers, a new Buick (Olds?) showed up outside his parents' home. As a percentage of his first paycheck, it was probably much larger than a new Buick/Olds would be today, but I always dug that he gave back to his family first.
It's like people want a little, cuddly-wuddly lion or tiger cub soooo badly that they become delusively convinced it won't get bigger. But when the things are suddenly 300 lb beasts that people can't handle, some just let the animals loose to get rid of them.
So basically there's a chance one shows up in your backyard.