Call me callous, but I’m not feeling a lot of sympathy for former Philadelphia Phillies star pitcher Curt Schilling.
Five years into his retirement, Schilling has hit such hard financial straits that he is now selling personal items from his home to get money.
Schilling, who made more than $115 million in a 20-year career, reportedly has a net worth of only $1 million and is in the process of being sued by the state of Rhode Island over a $75 million loan to his bankrupt 38 Studios video game company.
Even if you factor in cost of living expenses, including taxes, mortgages, etc., Schilling said he had a net worth of $50 million when he retired in 2009.
He said he lost virtually all of it investing in 38 Studios. Schilling said he wanted to create jobs and build a company that would generate income for the rest of his life.
“I have done whatever I can do to create jobs and create a successful business with my own income,” Schilling said in February. “Fifty million dollars, everything I’ve saved, has been put back into the economy. I’ve never taken a penny, and I’ve done nothing but create jobs and create economy.”
Schilling conveniently leaves out the part about investing in a business he hoped would generate way more than the money he invested.
The bottom line is Schilling blew a $50 million fortune. He may have lost it in a different way, but he is no different from Allen Iverson, Terrell Owens or any of the other numerous athletes who blew the incredible amounts of money they earned during their playing careers.
I say, oh, well, your bad.
Whether because of greed and/ or stupidity, these guys took earnings that should have had them set for life and threw them away within a few years of retirement.
Why should I feel sorry for them?
They were in a financial position 10 times better than the wildest dreams most of us have. How many of us wish we could get just $1 million or $2 million in one shot?
Do you think you could find a way to turn that into an extended comfortable existence? I know I could. If I can’t, don’t feel sorry for me, because it will most likely be because I did something stupid with the money.
Too often athletes who come into a windfall of money forget the humble existence they lived before. They forget how they used to save for rainy days in the future.They believe there will always be more money to replenish the money they arbitrarily toss aside.
Then suddenly because of injury, declining skills or age, their value plummets and the bloated checks stop coming.
The bills still have to be paid, though, and they are bills created from a lifestyle they no longer can afford.
Some of this might be excusable if there weren’t so many examples for these guys to have already seen. Schilling isn’t stupid. During his career he heard the numerous stories of guys losing their fortunes.
He and every athlete today are aware of the pitfalls. The traps don’t sneak up on them. It is their arrogance that convinces them they won’t be that next guy.
I don’t find a lot of sympathy for people who get burned because they chose to use their fortunes to play with fire.
Sports, Pages 20 on 10/11/2013