Money Players

The New York Times ran a fascinating piece by former MLB player Doug Glanville on the often bizarre world of professional athletes. Pro athletes are human and fallible. Certainly, this does not excuse any poor, immoral and even illegal behavior. If we've learned anything recently it's that sex, money and fame are not-so-strange bedfellows. But athletes' lives are more complicated than the typical generalizations and stereotypes we often read about. What's great about Glanville's piece is he writes with the wonderment of a Penn grad, clearly not destined nor prepared for The Life. Not that anyone is truly prepared to deal with millions of dollars, hanger-oners, readily available women and lots of newfound friends...all by their early 20's.

Read the entire column, but here's Doug's payoff pitch:

Soon after being drafted, I realized something profound: a lot of the work required to make it takes place off the field, and involves how you manage your life. I witnessed a few of my minor league counterparts blow their opportunities in part because they were trying to live the life before they had the life, burning the candle at both ends every night. If it wasn’t for Phoenix’s early club curfew, there’s no telling when players would have come home. In an athlete’s environment, money can be its own pollutant; you can become desensitized to the significance of what it can buy.

Elite athletes do need to consider these issues prior to being thrust into the limelight. It can be done. 

Step one: Read my book, .

This is also the reason Ryan Nece, former NFL player, and I are launching INsight Business Advisors early next year. The goal of INsight is to "help elite college and professional athletes compete successfully in business, finance and life, and to help them achieve the knowledge necessary to do so." More on INsight in future posts.

--Marc Isenberg