Falling From Grace
Can you imagine how proud Ryan Leaf's family was when he signed that $15 million dollar contract to play quarterback for the San Diego Chargers in 1998?
Think of it...15 mil!...your problems are over.
Yesterday Leaf was arrested for the 2nd time in 4 days for breaking into people's houses to steal painkillers. He actually wormed his way in and dug through the medicine cabinets - allegedly - to steal the pills.
He's dead freaking broke.
His career was a bust.
Antoine Walker of the Celtics earned $112 million during his basketball career. He filed for bankruptcy and had to lace up the sneaks again to pay his creditors. He also sold his NBA Championship ring.
How do you fall so far?
Is there anyone out there reading this that thinks they'd have a better go of it with that much cabbage?
And then today I spent a lot of time listening to a debate about Cheetah Woods. The one talk show host was saying that Cheetah shouldn't be judged for his marital problems, or the problems with his family, or his lackluster response to his fans.
"He has to focus on golf," the sports guy said. "It doesn't matter if he's a nice guy."
But doesn't it matter a little?
Yes, we hold sports stars to a high standard, but doesn't some of the responsibility of acting like a human being come with that huge paycheck? Don't people look up to them?
They say that Cheetah has a bunch of family members...half brothers and half sisters...who don't hear from their famous brother.
"That's his choice! He doesn't have to take care of them!" the sports guy screamed.
Yet what goes around comes around, right? Kharma?
I shook my head in pity reading about Ryan Leaf. He's still a human, after all. There are articles being written about him now that talk about what a mess he'd always been. Every single one of those articles is probably true.
"We like to build them up so we can tear them down," Rick Reily of ESPN said. "And currently I'm enjoying taking Woods apart."
It's real rough when the wrong guy gets the $15 million dollar payday, or the close to the billion dollars that Cheetah made.
Would you be able to handle such riches?
Would you burn through it and end up bankrupt?
Would it solve all of your problems?
Falling from grace is a real sad story...never really getting to grace, somewhere in your life, is even worse. No amount of money pushes you across the grace line.
You either have it or you don't.
Think of it...15 mil!...your problems are over.
Yesterday Leaf was arrested for the 2nd time in 4 days for breaking into people's houses to steal painkillers. He actually wormed his way in and dug through the medicine cabinets - allegedly - to steal the pills.
He's dead freaking broke.
His career was a bust.
Antoine Walker of the Celtics earned $112 million during his basketball career. He filed for bankruptcy and had to lace up the sneaks again to pay his creditors. He also sold his NBA Championship ring.
How do you fall so far?
Is there anyone out there reading this that thinks they'd have a better go of it with that much cabbage?
And then today I spent a lot of time listening to a debate about Cheetah Woods. The one talk show host was saying that Cheetah shouldn't be judged for his marital problems, or the problems with his family, or his lackluster response to his fans.
"He has to focus on golf," the sports guy said. "It doesn't matter if he's a nice guy."
But doesn't it matter a little?
Yes, we hold sports stars to a high standard, but doesn't some of the responsibility of acting like a human being come with that huge paycheck? Don't people look up to them?
They say that Cheetah has a bunch of family members...half brothers and half sisters...who don't hear from their famous brother.
"That's his choice! He doesn't have to take care of them!" the sports guy screamed.
Yet what goes around comes around, right? Kharma?
I shook my head in pity reading about Ryan Leaf. He's still a human, after all. There are articles being written about him now that talk about what a mess he'd always been. Every single one of those articles is probably true.
"We like to build them up so we can tear them down," Rick Reily of ESPN said. "And currently I'm enjoying taking Woods apart."
It's real rough when the wrong guy gets the $15 million dollar payday, or the close to the billion dollars that Cheetah made.
Would you be able to handle such riches?
Would you burn through it and end up bankrupt?
Would it solve all of your problems?
Falling from grace is a real sad story...never really getting to grace, somewhere in your life, is even worse. No amount of money pushes you across the grace line.
You either have it or you don't.
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