Phrenzie.com

If you’ve already engaged in this discussion, then the rest of the post is pointless.  Still curious???

Okay, so I looked at the Heisman Trophy winners from 1988-2008 and tried to remember who had standout NFL careers.  It’s amazing that most have not.  It’s like the Heisman is a jinx (kind of like the Madden NFL cover photo – maybe I’ll study that next).

Grant it, the Heisman is for college stand out careers.  But it’s kind of like a college class president maxing out his/her career as an accounts payable clerk after college.  You always think, “What happened?”

Anyway, here’s the list with limited commentary.

What’s fascinating is that in many cases, the losers performed so much better in the NFL (like 2003, when Larry Fitzgerald was the runner-up or 2004 when Adrian Peterson was the runner-up).  I have to admit, in some cases, it’s the system that the person’s in.  In other cases, the person just isn’t suited to perform at the next level.

This is old news, but I’m still wondering about the Michael Vick dog fighting saga. I remember being in LA when I first heard about it and wondered then (as I do now) why were the news outlets covering this ALL day.

I understand the law. I understand the profound necessity to make sure everyone is treated the same. That’s how the system should work.

But I’m still left feeling like the amount of coverage, and to an extent, the amount of jail time, were in the extreme range.

So the premise (faulty, as it is) is that dog fighting is not as heinous as drug running/using, rape/beating women…fathering a whole bunch of children by a whole bunch of different women (which, apparently is legal and can not get you kicked out of the league…but should be illegal).

Should Vick be reprimanded? Absolutely. But to this extent?

Valleywag had a piece on The 4 Worst Athlete-Backed Startups of All Time.  In short, they name:

1. WePlay, a youth sports-related social network social.
2. Dunk.net, focused on promoting Shaq’s shoes and other wears, with backers, Shaq, Mike Piazza and DeLisha Milton
3. MVP.com, an e-tailer, with backers John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky.
4. Chatwithastar.com, a celebrity blog portal, with backers bestselling author Burton Rocks and Billy Wagner

The article made me think about athlete’s and their money. 

It’s interesting in what and how some of the guys put their money in. 

The What

If I had a dime for everytime I heard an athlete wants to do a clothing line or a restaurant, I’d have so much seed money to start two ventures.  One financial advisor, who works closely with Venus and Serena, Donovan McNabb, and a few more, told me he advises his clients that if they’re thinking about investing in a restaurant, they’re better of throwing away the money…it’ll be easier and lot less stress.

The How

Now, this is fascinating…

Many athletes don’t know too much about business so they have advisors (smart move).  But many of them have their friend from around the way as their businesss guy (stupid move).  It’s classic “the blind leading the blind”.  Decisions aren’t made on hard data (like financials, reputation/experience of management team and size/sustainability of the market…you know, the usual cast of characters. 

Instead, it’s how confident does the guy pitching them seem, or how cool does the idea sound, or how can it boost their ego (of either the athlete or the advisor).

Very fascinating…

To their credit, some are getting wiser…thinking about things as a business, and getting the right people in place to help them make decisions.  Look at Jay-Z!