[MicroBob]

PokerPaul brings up some good points.


Kind of related story....except the other way.


I know of a reasonably well-known NBA player (now retired) who played NCAA D-1 ball BEFORE the prop-48 academic requirements. Never would have gotten in otherwise as he really couldn't read (since then, he has come back to finish his degree).

When he got to the NBA I think they had some kind of road-trip in his first week and the meal-money was something like $100/day. It was a 7-day trip so he was handed $700 in cash.
Very concerned about this he called his former college coach (and mentor) because he just never had that much cash on him before and he didn't know what to do or how to handle it. In college-ball everything is pretty much taken care of for you but in the pros you're on your own.

The guy went on to make millions of dollars in the NBA (and to my knowledge didn't blow it all) but I suspect his family and mentors, etc kept him in check.
For others who aren't used to having money and are primarily uneducated and gullible it can be very dangerous. Easy to get mixed up in stuff you shouldn't get mixed-up in.

Cecil Fielder in his retirement days purchasing a nice home struck me as the type of individual who probably doesn't fit this mold completely and certinly he should have known better.
But the general fact remains that there are a lot of athletes who come from poor and uneducated backgrounds, some of whom have never been to 'the big city' before.

I think I saw on ESPN SportsCentury that Sammy Sosa used to keep a lot of his cash in the pocket of his baseball jersey because he just didn't really know what he was supposed to do with it.