The Ultimate Privilege
Families are about love overcoming emotional torture.
-Matt Groening
Last Tuesday, ESPN launched their documentary series 30 for 30, Volume II beginning with Broke. Broke chronicles the recent trend of multi-millionaire athletes going bankrupt or finding themselves in dire financial situations. Before I go any further, being "broke" does not necessarily mean they have no money. Many former athletes still have earning potential in some way. Being broke for the purpose of this piece refers to athletes that lost their millions and perhaps declared for bankruptcy. We all hear about millionaires going broke. For athletes, however, we tend to assume why they go broke: they live a life that has an imbalance of opulence and financial responsibility with too much opulence tipping the scales.
Those that follow sports are mostly jaded when hearing about another athlete going financially in the tank. We also have hindsight bias. When we look back at that athlete's life and career, we remember them on MTV's Cribs and seeing them with multiple 6-figure-dollar vehicles and tell ourselves "hmph, I saw that coming." However, Broke did an excellent job of not only making the documentary a must watch in spite of documenting things the lay person probably already knew, they did an excellent job showing just how easy it is to go broke being a professional athlete. The factors include, socioeconomic status, federal and state taxes, failed businesses and investments, the aforementioned over-opulence, benevolent ignorance and immaturity, lack of education and miseducation, agent and manager commissions, women, alimony, child support, corrupt parents and family members, addiction issues, gambling, and plenty more I cannot think of at the moment.
Director Billy Corben, the same guy that brought us the Cocaine Cowboys documentaries (must watches) and another 30 for 30, The U, obviously had to maintain Broke's entertainment value and thus covered a wide range of issues that factor into modern athletes going broke. While watching in horror for 82 minutes, I thought about one of the most underrated and under-appreciated privileges people could have throughout their lives, family stability.
Many of these broke athletes shared a very important factor, family instability. When growing up, many were working class all the way down to poor. Many were not just raised by their parent or parents, it was aunts, uncles, family friends, grandmothers and grandfathers, foster care for a few, and siblings; essentially it was a village raising a boy and this village is often filled with people that are working class at best.
Growing up and to this day, I had and have a wide assortment of friends. Some grew up poor in a single parent household and some grew up in situations hard for me to fathom in terms of how privileged they were. When the word privilege comes up, we may instantly think solely in terms of money and material wealth, but that is not was gets my attention. Besides, Broke is a clear indication of money not being the end all be all of happiness. Those that I considered to be the luckiest growing up were those that had a familial stability that allowed them to live worry free; they only had to worry about growing up and being a kid and basically only having to worry about taking care of themselves for the most part as adults.
Throughout much of my childhood, I had to overcome familial instability. It was not just about simply waking up and going to school; rather, I had to worry about many problems and issues at home while persisting academically and socially which is very important in life. I coveted those in situations where it was just about getting good grades and chasing boys and girls knowing their home life was taken care of. It allowed them to focus more in school and on their development while I often had no desire to be around anyone because of my circumstances, much less achieve academically and socially.
While in adulthood, I still do not have that freedom that permeated for those I considered privileged. Those privileged in adulthood can live their lives without having to worry about taking care of others in a way hinders their own goals and prosperity. I on the other hand have to worry about certain things and people and often had to make personal, financial, and social sacrifices despite having to overcome so much just to get where I am now.
With that said, think about those athletes that are broke, many of which were raised in that metaphorical village. They had to overcome lots of familial instability and it permeated to adulthood. Once they get all of their money, guess what? There are going to be so many reaching hands from so many different people. I couldn't imagine having to deal with that level of constant bombardment and being put in the difficult situation of having to tend to those reaching hands because of feeling either guilty or obligated despite of what they had to overcome and work extremely hard for. Think about athletes such as Tyler Hansbrough (stable two-parent family, son of an orthopedic surgeon), Grant Hill (stable two-parent family, son of two successful business people), or Kobe Bryant (stable two-parent family, son of a professional athlete and coach). I will not say they had perfect lives, that is impossible. I can say they had lives that fostered and enhanced their development while enabling them to simply live their lives as pro athletes without needing to help support a village.
In contrast, think about the lives of recent broke athletes Vince Young and Terrell Owens, for instance. They are from a low SES background filled with instability. Once they get their money in adulthood, their deficiencies from childhood are going to manifest because that familial stability was absent while also having to take care of their respective villages. It's almost as if they were doomed from the outset. This is why I hold LeBron James in such high regard; he is an awesome overall man that created his own stability in an otherwise unstable upbringing.
This is what is most apparent in the film Broke. The one constant in most of the cases was family instability and in some cases corruption. That instability gets embedded in these people as children and stays with them throughout adulthood unless one thing happens, a cathartic moment. If one could somehow realize what their lives were and consciously make a concerted effort to overcome their situation, they will be able to close the gap caused by familial instability. It seems as though, just to name a couple, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade figured that out. This motif of the broke modern millionaire athlete will persist unless those from unstable upbringings experience a cathartic moment that alters the course of their lives.
-Matt Groening
Those that follow sports are mostly jaded when hearing about another athlete going financially in the tank. We also have hindsight bias. When we look back at that athlete's life and career, we remember them on MTV's Cribs and seeing them with multiple 6-figure-dollar vehicles and tell ourselves "hmph, I saw that coming." However, Broke did an excellent job of not only making the documentary a must watch in spite of documenting things the lay person probably already knew, they did an excellent job showing just how easy it is to go broke being a professional athlete. The factors include, socioeconomic status, federal and state taxes, failed businesses and investments, the aforementioned over-opulence, benevolent ignorance and immaturity, lack of education and miseducation, agent and manager commissions, women, alimony, child support, corrupt parents and family members, addiction issues, gambling, and plenty more I cannot think of at the moment.
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| Uncle Luke (left) and Broke director Billy Corben (right) |
Many of these broke athletes shared a very important factor, family instability. When growing up, many were working class all the way down to poor. Many were not just raised by their parent or parents, it was aunts, uncles, family friends, grandmothers and grandfathers, foster care for a few, and siblings; essentially it was a village raising a boy and this village is often filled with people that are working class at best.
Growing up and to this day, I had and have a wide assortment of friends. Some grew up poor in a single parent household and some grew up in situations hard for me to fathom in terms of how privileged they were. When the word privilege comes up, we may instantly think solely in terms of money and material wealth, but that is not was gets my attention. Besides, Broke is a clear indication of money not being the end all be all of happiness. Those that I considered to be the luckiest growing up were those that had a familial stability that allowed them to live worry free; they only had to worry about growing up and being a kid and basically only having to worry about taking care of themselves for the most part as adults.
Throughout much of my childhood, I had to overcome familial instability. It was not just about simply waking up and going to school; rather, I had to worry about many problems and issues at home while persisting academically and socially which is very important in life. I coveted those in situations where it was just about getting good grades and chasing boys and girls knowing their home life was taken care of. It allowed them to focus more in school and on their development while I often had no desire to be around anyone because of my circumstances, much less achieve academically and socially.
While in adulthood, I still do not have that freedom that permeated for those I considered privileged. Those privileged in adulthood can live their lives without having to worry about taking care of others in a way hinders their own goals and prosperity. I on the other hand have to worry about certain things and people and often had to make personal, financial, and social sacrifices despite having to overcome so much just to get where I am now.
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| Young Grant Hill and father Calvin |
In contrast, think about the lives of recent broke athletes Vince Young and Terrell Owens, for instance. They are from a low SES background filled with instability. Once they get their money in adulthood, their deficiencies from childhood are going to manifest because that familial stability was absent while also having to take care of their respective villages. It's almost as if they were doomed from the outset. This is why I hold LeBron James in such high regard; he is an awesome overall man that created his own stability in an otherwise unstable upbringing.
This is what is most apparent in the film Broke. The one constant in most of the cases was family instability and in some cases corruption. That instability gets embedded in these people as children and stays with them throughout adulthood unless one thing happens, a cathartic moment. If one could somehow realize what their lives were and consciously make a concerted effort to overcome their situation, they will be able to close the gap caused by familial instability. It seems as though, just to name a couple, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade figured that out. This motif of the broke modern millionaire athlete will persist unless those from unstable upbringings experience a cathartic moment that alters the course of their lives.
Great observation! This was profound information, and shows how when people grow up without, they tend to go to the extreme when they begin to flourish. It also sounds like a "generational curse". This was a excellent article read for me, to keep in mind. Thank you for writing and posting this, brother Chris.
ReplyDeleteHa! Tawni would be broke too! Naw but things tend to have many layers to it. The saddest part in all this that adults out there actually feel that a child has to repay them for being raised in some cases. I will want my child to live their life and not worry about me. I don't need material rewards for raising a child...that's kind sad and disappointing to me...
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