TO THIS
Yesterday I heard Pablo S. Torre on NPR discuss his recent article in Sports Illustrated “How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke”, within this article he outlines the misfortunes and financial mismanagement of professional athletes. Torre’s attributes their misfortune to their glamorous lifestyle, bankruptcy, paternity suits, divorce, and foul investments.
However, he neglected to discuss the socialization of these athletes and address the role that the media has played in creating a culture of inner city youth who are committed to the court but not committed to college. The article failed to discuss how colleges recruit these athletes to dominate on the field but not demand success in the classroom.
These same athletes who become professionals are mostly in their early twenties and come from dilapidated housing and poor neighborhoods, but now have millions of dollars at their disposal with no previous financial training. What he failed to address is that a majority of these athletes are African American’s who have witnessed their mother and father (if he’s around) struggle to provide economically for their family and once they are auctioned to the college of the highest bidder, they have no real intention to finish school but to turn pro “to get paid”.
This is the mindset of a majority of these professional athletes, their opportunity and financial success is not just to benefit themselves but for their entire family. What Torre’s should have mentioned is that these athletes feel obligated to help and to give odd jobs to their “entourage” because they made it. How can they turn down the neighborhood drug dealer who wants to be the next Master P and start a record company, because to the athlete he owes him for financing his high school wardrobe and purchasing him a car in college.
They believe they can trust their AAU coach, because they have been their mentor/father figure throughout their career. I disagree with his premise that you should not give back because people are greedy. I cannot imagine the pressure they feel with their community on their shoulders, how do you say no? Because it is difficult to say no, it is important that experts assist these men in balancing out all of the demands. There must be an early intervention program for these men when they do decide to become professionals before they receive their first check.
In addition, Torre’s does not discuss the role of the media and how it spotlights the glamorous lifestyle of the wealthy and famous. Recently CNBC’s NEWBO The Rise of America’s New Black Overclass appalled me, because it emphasized the erroneous concept that the only way out the hood is through athletics and entertainment. These men believe that they have an image to uphold based on what has been created by media and are expected to be “Ballin” but in actuality their closer to bankruptcy.
I am not advocating that these men should go broke but when we analyze sometime the financial decisions that they make, there is sometimes an untold story regarding their awkward transactions.
In order to change this behavior within the industry we cannot expect a light bulb to come on once they become professional athletes. We must begin to ask questions about whether these athletes should be compensated at the collegiate level beyond their scholarship. We must make sure that we do not allow children to be miseducated about the prospects of becoming a professional athlete. We must learn to articulate a message that its ok to dream but make sure that they have more than One.
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