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On Dave's Radio Show, the audience calls in with financial questions for Dave to help out with. Sometimes Dave just rants on a subject and I have to post one of his recent rants from the Thursday, August 20th show. Here is Dave ranting:
Sport Illustrated came out with a disturbing statistic this week. They’re reporting that 78%, eight out of ten, of former NFL players go bankrupt or are under major financial stress, due to joblessness within two years after retirement. Eight out of ten NFL players are bankrupt or broke within two years of leaving the league. And these are men that have made a minimum of $400,000 a year. Eight out of ten are bankrupt or broke within two years of having made $400,000 a year. How can that happen? Well to start with, I was speaking to a group of rookies not long ago, rookie camp. And I was trying to explain to them because I know these numbers. We’ve worked with professional athletes for years in the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and we know the numbers. In the NFL, the NFL stands for not for long. The average players there are 3.7 years. That’s the average which means some are greater but most aren’t. Lots of people that go into the NFL are gone in less than 2 years. Lots of them. Most of them to where the ones that stay for 2 or 3 decades raise the average, and the average being 3.7 years. Their bodies go through horrendous punishment. They are standing on the sidelines hoping to get into the games and their wives are in the stands hoping they don’t. Well, hoping they do but knowing what happens if they do; that they’re going to look like they got hit by a car when they get home. Because when you have men that weigh 300 pounds running at the speed of light and run over you, it will put you in intensive care.
I’m a football fan but once I’ve started learning about the lives of the players, their physical condition and their fiscal condition, it’s made it harder for me to watch football. Those men are punished to play that game. It is an unbelievably tough game. And you think its fast on television try standing on the sidelines. The thing speeds up six fold.
So I’m a football fan and it breaks my heart when I read this, from Sports Illustrated. And I know from experience and from other studies that I’ve read that it absolutely is true. 78% of NFL of former players go bankrupt or are under major financial stress due to joblessness within two years after retirement, when they’ve been making a minimum of $400,000.
You know, the interesting thing about football and going into the locker room too and sitting and talking with the players, is it’s the same in college somewhat too. Is, I don’t know how these coaches coach this huge spectrum of socio-economic development. On one side you’ve got guys who have a master degree in finance. While they were redshirted they went ahead and knocked out their masters and they come out and they’re brilliant and they’re very smart and they come from many times from educated homes and from homes where the parents did very well, for whatever reason. And on the other side you’ve got guys that come out of tremendous poverty. They come out of tremendously bad neighborhoods and broken families. And there’s really no middle class in the locker room in that regard. There’s the two ends of the spectrum. I don’t know how you connect guys from the country club with guys from the hood and get them on a team and orchestrate that set of feelings and intellects. Its an interesting thing to watch those coaches; they are masters at human relations, they really are, and of course at game planning a football game. But once you get inside that game a little bit, it’s a completely different thing.
So why is it that you can make all that money and go broke? Why is it that you could make $10,000,000 and go broke? Why is it that you could make $100,000,000 and be a Leon Sphinx and have nothing to show for it, not even your teeth.
My buddy Ed Mcman passes away the other day. Pam his wife, is a friend of ours. Ed made over $100,000,000 in his lifetime. And at the end of his life his home was in foreclosure. It was all in the news you know that I didn’t tell secrets, it was there. How can that happen? How can it happen that MC Hammer, an icon of the early days of music videos, ends up broke? How does this happen? Well I’ll tell you. I’ve studied it for years. I’ve worked with these people. We’ve been crisis counselors to the stars and the athletes for years. We’ve worked with the few of them that didn’t want to be the crisis. I can tell you how that can happen to them…
The same way it happens to you! You work your whole life and have nothing to show for it but Master card debt, Visa debt! A student loan that’s been around so long you thinks it’s a pet! You work your whole freakin’ life and all you got to show for it is a car payment! All you got to show for it is, “I hope the government, which is well-known for its ability to handle money, will take care of me at retirement, because I’ve got nothing saved.” “I’m gonna be on that, buying that cookbook, 72 Ways to Prepare Alpo and Love it.” In your working lifetime the average American will earn anywhere from $3,000,000 to 8,000,000 million dollars, in your working lifetime. And most people in America retire with nothing to show for it!
And you’ve been sitting there while I was talking about these athletes, thinking, “Gosh if I had that kind of opportunity I wouldn’t squander it.” Yes you have squandered it! You’ve squandered every freakin’ dime of it! You live in the richest country the world has ever known, nothing but opportunity to show for it, and you haven’t got a freakin dime! That’s stupid, that’s stupid! And yet for the first five minutes of this monologue you were sitting here judging these athletes. Going, “well that’s just big dumb football players.” Well let me tell you something. Some of these football players are smarter than you ever dreamed of being. At least they had a goal, at least they were at the top of their game. They’re not living in mediocrity. At least they were doing something. Ya they didn’t get anything to show for it. We can fuss at them for that.
But hey America here’s a plan. Don’t buy a car you can’t afford because the stupid government is giving you $4500 for your $1000 car! Something that sounds too good to be true is, stupid! It is too good to be true! There’s a reason you don’t need a brand new car when you’re driving a $1000 car. You’re too freakin’ broke to pay for it! This isn’t rocket science.
You need to quit acting like you’re in congress. What are you, a drunken congressman spending money the way you do? Stay out of the mall! Drunks don’t need to be in a bar and you don’t need to be in a mall. “Well, I’m stimulating the economy.” Famous last words of stupid broke people. Here’s a plan. Live on less than you make, get on a written plan, get out of debt, start giving, gather up what’s known as a clue. Start living your life this way. It’s ridiculous to live you whole life and end up broke. This is the Dave Ramsey Show.
So calling people stupid or using the word "freakin" is not necessary but you can really hear the passion from Dave's point of view. Dave can be a little harsh sometimes but his intentions are great. He is tired of people getting lied to and passionate about helping them know the truth. I thought this would possibly stir up some comments and conversation from the blog followers. If you have never heard of Dave and want to know more about his work, you can go to his website, daveramsey.com.
I'm sure many of you got to watch Tuff play yesterday. He started at punt returner and played safety for more than half the game. I am so glad the Titans gave Tuff another opportunity to field a punt. God is mighty and sovereign. Tuff did an amazing job, and like Dave's ranting on the players' bodies going through horrendous punishment, Tuff did take a beating as usual. The players really do come home after a game looking like they have been in a car wreck. Thanks to all for the encouragement and prayers as we head into the final two preseason games of the preseason. Remember, the final roster cuts are September 5th, but any player can be released prior to that date. No guarantees even if they make the roster. It is a great way to learn to live day to day. The next Titans game is Saturday, August 29th vs. the Browns...sorry it is not nationally televised. You will have to wait for the update from me.
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