Good News Doesn’t Generate Headlines
April 29, 2011So, I was in an airport waiting for yet another flight that’s been delayed, and I read this article about famous pro athletes that go broke within what seems like days of retiring. The story is primarily about Latrell Sprewell, a former NBA star who turned down a $30 Million offer because it wasn’t sufficient enough for him to be able to feed his kids. That line about feeding his kids became a punch line of sorts about the rich, pampered, spoiled athletes and stars who seem to run through money like they can simply print more. (Wait, isn’t that Tim Geithner’s job?) Rather than piling on and saying, “Yeah those guys are _________,” I’d like to tell a story about a different kind of person than the ones that make the headlines.
While I won’t use his name because he’d prefer to fly under the radar, I had the opportunity to get to know a pro athlete fairly well and during his career (he retired several years ago) he earned about $25 Million in salary and endorsements. The thing that always made me laugh was that he was this famous athlete, yet behind the scenes he was really no different than the rest of us. He just had a bigger income, had a degree of fame (that is so fleeting once the sports career ends), and while most of us work in private his job is televised all over the country. Why do I mention this?
Anyone who knows me understands that I’m a pretty big sports fan. And, if you read the sports page (and now often the front page or the gossip pages) you can get pretty discouraged about the state of today’s “pampered athletes” who earn millions of dollars. Latrell Sprewell is one of the poster children for this. But, for every one Sprewell there are dozens of great guys who don’t ever make it into the headlines. The guy I’m talking about grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood and had very little encouragement from family members, friends, or really anyone while he was growing up. He overcame a lot of obstacles in his youth, and many of his friends were involved in gangs and drugs. He managed to avoid that, do well in school and become an elite athlete. Where is he now? He used the money that he earned during his career to put his wife through law school, get a business degree, and start a foundation that helps children from his hometown. They built a youth center, have tutors for kids who want to excel in school, and provide scholarship money for those kids to attend college.
Where are the headlines about this? Oh. Right. There AREN’T any! So, when you see stories like the Sprewell story or hear people talking about how athletes are all just spoiled and greedy, remember that yes, there are a few who fit that mold (but name an occupation where there aren’t people like that), but the overwhelming majority are like the guy I’m talking about. There are more good deeds, charitable work and positive contributions to the world than you will ever see in a newspaper or on the internet. Stories of bad news and/or excess generate buzz and create headlines. A great guy doing great things under the radar just doesn’t seem to garner attention.