Show me the Money! ..... and the craps table!

If you made over $100 million in just under 15 years, what are the chances you’d be broke at the end of that period?

If your name is Antoine Walker, the chances are 1 in 1.

This guy owes nearly $1 million in gambling debt to a various casinos after he passed 10 bad checks, each for $100k. What this says is that either the guy 1) didn’t save one of the over one hundred million that he earned, or 2) forgot which bank he kept most of his money in, and wrote the checks on the account he uses to purchase his Lean Cuisines.

Why does this happen?

Latrell Sprewell wasn’t lying when he told us he needed more money to feed his family. Dude was broke. Antoine Walker can’t cover a $1 million gambling spree. Mike Tyson has to film cameos in bad movies to stay afloat (yeah, I said it). Lenny Dykstra has to start an investment scam… and not even that worked.

Is it having to deal with all the hangers-on?
Is it the desire to keep up with the Joneses? (hopefully not the Pacman Joneses)
Is it the ever-increasing cost of a good ol’ fashion hooker- and cocaine-filled weekend on The Strip?

All kidding aside, wouldn’t a simple solution just be for the leagues to employ financial advisors to meet with athletes upon entering the league? I’m sure they already have some sort of orientation process (and if they don’t, they certainly should). Why would it be so hard simply to have guys meet with some people who actually know what the hell to do with $20 million?

In today’s environment, every prominent professional athlete should be able to, if he so chooses, provide financial security for his grandchildren. There’s just no excuse for these guys going bankrupt.

And I’m all about personal accountability. I think nearly all of the blame lies directly on the shoulder of the athlete. Still, though, it seems like there are simple solutions right in front of our faces.