In my opinion, this has been the most interesting blog articles to read. I have never truly thought about the difficulties retired athletes go. At least, I didn't think it was this extreme. The ESPN article started out very mundane and I thought to myself, "hey, watching tv shows on netflix in a Manhattan apartment sounds pretty good to me". However, this was not the case. Being so fixated on sports and sports only for so long makes this sudden and dramatic change very difficult. This quote "You can retire from football but you can't retire from living" has a huge impact on the article. Retirement at such a young age puts these athletes in a huge identity crisis. Football is their living and once football is taken out of the equation, living is not so easy.
These players are told what to do all the time. Having a schedule is important to the human routine to create stability but when there is nothing on the agenda, it is not surprising that these athletes go into an identity crisis. In the NY times article, Mr. Lee says about this issues "I was witnessing my own social funeral". Going from being a star, having lots of support and fans, then having no one know who you are or even care is heartbreaking. Their worth, not only in a financial sense but in personal sense, is lost. I could not believe that 78% of athletes go bankrupt, among multiple health issues and emotional trauma.
Although these numbers astounded me greatly, I can understand why they are. They grew up focusing on just football. Not knowing how to handle their money is a typical thing for athletes. They spend constantly during the season and don't realize how much their money will be gone once its all over. There is a lot that goes into retirement and trying to discover your self aside from being an athlete is like starting over completely from scratch. Trying to learn basic skills that most people at their age have already developed.
This is an aspect of sports that is not drawn on upon in the media. There needs to be some sort of program for athletes post-retirement in order to prepare them for the real world. Sports is highly valued in the United States. Being apart of this "value" is a huge ego boost. Once their ego is gone however, its no surprise that depression kicks in. I have never considered the true perils of life after sports because I think people think that it is the sports career in general that would be more difficult and dangerous. Greater awareness and support should be implemented and contracts should be reassessed.
In the film, they discussed that financial planners will do seminars for rookies, who often don't take them seriously (and like, take naps and stuff during the actual presentations… rude). What do you think needs to shift in the sports culture of the United States for athletes to realize that their expendable income isn't a sustainable resource? How does the sporting "ego" play into players making irrational fiscal decisions?
ReplyDelete-Emily Connelly
I agree with you with this being the most interesting blog post. It is really shocking to know majority of NFL players go bankrupt after a few years of retiring! Along, with Emily about the seminars the financial planners hold for the rookies ( and them falling asleep) how do you think the athletes are going to learn to handle their money responsibly before they reach the position where they don't have any anymore?
ReplyDeleteGia Porreco