I stopped by Pittsburgh Today Live and brought along my good friend, former classmate and new Super Bowl Champion Darnell Dinkins from the New Orleans Saints with me to talk about we can all learn about our money from the world of sports.
America’s Next Top Gold Digger
Model Sues NFL Star for $70k per Month in Child Support
I know that 50 said “Have a baby by me baby, be a millionaire,” but I don’t think he meant for it to be taken so literally.
ANTM finalist Nik Pace is suing Jets WR Braylon Edwards for $70k per month in child support for the son that she birthed in September.
In one of the most ridiculous funniest statements that I’ve heard this year, her lawyer called Edwards’ petition to be recognized as the child’s father in Atlanta rather than in New York a “cold, calculated act to pay less money.”
If it takes $70k per month to raise a child these days, I’m scheduling my vasectomy in January.
BK Has It His Way
Cincinnati Coach Brian Kelly Bolts for Notre Dame, Proves BCS is Meaningless
As if we needed any more evidence that the college football system has everything to do with cash and nothing to do with the sport, Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly leaves the school and takes the job at Notre Dame, just weeks before his UNDEFEATED, 3rd ranked team is set to play 5th ranked Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
I can understand jumping at the opportunity to take your dream job. I can also understand bolting for the money, he has to feed his family you know. What I don’t understand is how he could leave his team right before the biggest bowl game in its history.
Oh wait, yes I can. The Sugar Bowl means NOTHING. Cincinnati isn’t going to play for the national championship so the Sugar Bowl and every other non-national championship Bowl games are meaningless excuses to sell ads, beer and hotel rooms. I mean, do you remember (or care) who won the Papajohns.com Bowl last year. Is there a trophy for that (a giant dough roller perhaps)? Do old guys tell their grandkids about rushing for 100 yards in the Motor City Bowl? No. The Bowl system in terrible.
Someone please make these Bowls into playoff games so that the post-season will mean something. Perhaps then, these student-athletes won’t have to worry about their coach being whisked away by the highest bidder.
Tiger Joins the Billionaire Boys Club
There’s good, there’s great, there’s freakin awesome…then there’s TIGER!
With his $10 million victory over the weekend in the PGA’s version of the playoffs, the FedEx Cup, the folks over at Forbes have calculated that the win put him over the billion dollar mark in career earnings.
Surely he’s popped a bottle or two over the years and spent a few of those duckets, so I’m not sure if this technically makes him a billionaire, but nevertheless, this is an AMAZING feat. Keep in mind that he only turned pro 13 years ago.
I’m not sure that people who are not golfers or fans of golf really understand the magnitude of what Tiger is doing. He plays a comparatively small number of tournaments, yet tops the money list every year. He beat an entire field of the world’s best players on ONE LEG. The list goes on… I know, he doesn’t get tackled on Sundays or dunk from the free throw line, but for the way he has totally DOMINATED his sport, he gets my vote as greatest athlete ever. Oh, and he’ll probably play another 10 years!
This is excellence people. Yes, he’s been playing since he was two…that’s committment. You too can be the best in the world at something! Now stop reading this and get to work.
Coaches are targets too?
Rich Rodriguez sued over bad real estate deal; advisor says coach is victim of Ponzi scheme.
Apparently, professional athletes aren’t the only targets for financial con-artists. Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez was allegedly involved in a $26 million deal to build condos on the Virginia Tech campus with a partner that is a felon and banned Clemson University booster.
It’s not clear whether he knew about his partner’s troubles before they got into business together, but it looks like more due dilligence should have been done. See my previous post on Being Careful About Who You Trust!
Read the entire story here.
Williams Sisters to Dominate Another Sport…Football
MIAMI — Venus and Serena Williams have found a new sport: pro football.
The tennis-playing sisters will become the latest celebrities to own a stake in the Miami Dolphins, several sources told ESPN.com senior writer Greg Garber on Wednesday.
A person close to the negotiations told The Associated Press an agreement was near but not yet final. That person did not want to be identified because the announcement has not been made.
”There have been preliminary talks, and hopefully it’ll work out,” Serena Williams said Wednesday night after a 6-3, 6-2 win over Yaroslava Shvedova in Toronto. “That would be a great opportunity for both of us. You never know. We’ll see what happens.”
The Williamses live in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., about an hour’s drive from the Dolphins’ stadium. Their new role will be significant in part because the NFL has no African-American majority team owner.
Update! Venus also has a new book out where she discusses her success and her life as a tennis star. Click the image below to check it out!
UPDATED: Vick Should Be Allowed to Play
UPDATED: Vick Reinstated by Goodell!
Commissioner Roger Goodell informed Vick that he may participate without delay in preseason practices, workouts, and meetings, and that he can play in his team’s final two exhibition games.
Read the full story here.
———-Original Post———————
I am not just saying this because I work with athletes, but I am having trouble understanding the argument that Michael Vick should not be reinstated into the NFL because “no job should be considered a fundamental right…”. Huh?
Driving is a privilege. Understood. Although Donte Stallworth received what many consider a light sentence for DUI manslaughter, at least his driving privilege was revoked.
Working and earning a living is a right. We enter a slippery slope when we start to imply that certain jobs are set aside only for a privileged few. Unless you argue that Michael Vick should not be able to hold ANY JOB, you cannot logically argue (in my opinion) that he should not be given the chance to play in the NFL again.
Let me be clear…he has a right to the OPPORTUNITY to play, he does not have a right to a roster spot. The owners will make a decision as to whether they want to retain his services. The owners also have a right to make that decision.
Cassel Makes the Most of His Opportunity
When opportunity knocks, will you be prepared to make the most of it?
Well, Matt Cassel, a career backup in college and in the pros, parlayed a great 2008 season, during which he made his first start since high school, into a lucrative franchise tag. Now, he’s locked himself into a deal to be the long-term quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Cassel and the Chiefs worked out a six-year deal that will pay him in excess of $10 million a season, according to a source. The contract will keep Cassel with the Chiefs until 2014.
The deal is for $63 million, with $28 million guaranteed, according to a source. He’s going to make $40.5 million in the first three years of his contract.
Read the full story here.
Former Phillie Files For Bankruptcy
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUyxNrAuo1A]
Really? The publisher of a magazine that provides financial advice to athletes, who also says he is 110-0 on his stock market picks, files for bankruptcy? Wow!
Former Browns QB Kosar Files for Bankruptcy
Seriously, I really hate these stories. Unfortunately, this reinforces my choice to work with athletes and entertainers and why I work so hard to protect them from circumstances like this.
In May, Kosar and his Boardwalk LLC lost a $2.9 million foreclosure judgment on a 36-unit apartment building to Florida Bank in Pinellas County Circuit Court. In April, Kosar and his Oakmont LLC lost a $3.3 million foreclosure judgment to Florida Bank in Hillsborough County Circuit County over a Tampa apartment building. The bank also had a foreclosure lawsuit pending in Pinellas County against Kosar and his PCV LLC.
Among Kosar’s other major unsecured creditors:
A $3.1 million personal guaranty to Key Bank National Association of Cleveland
- $3.04 million to his ex-wife Babette J. Kosar
- $725,000 in a disputed loan involving attorney Jim Ferraro of Coral Gables $1.4 million total on three claims involving the Browns
- $231,094 to the IRS
Read the full story here.