While he’s now known for his beaming smile and commentary as much as the legendary no-look, behind-the-back passes in his playing days, Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s next business venture should be bottling and re-selling Swag 2.0.
Just two short weeks ago, it was revealed that the all-time NBA great and his investor buddies agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers for a whopping $2.15 billion. Response throughout much of the black community was a brief gasp at the price, followed by a moment of respect that Johnson had access to that kind of loot. Then it was back to our regularly scheduled programs.
Due to the universal respect for Johnson’s business acumen, the astonishing sticker price didn’t cause too many worries. It was simply Magic being Magic. Depending on whose numbers you believe, Johnson’s net worth falls somewhere between $500 and $700 million (before the purchase). After he retired from the NBA after contracting HIV, the former floor general guided Magic Johnson Enterprises into a multimillion dollar conglomerate with numerous entertainment and real estate ventures.
The irony is that while Johnson was forced to retire from professional sports early and blossomed into a successful businessman, many black athletes today are playing long and full careers only to end up broke.
Recently we’ve seen Allen Iverson ($200+ million in career earnings) have his bank account seized to take care of an unpaid $960k jewelry bill, Terrell Owens ($80m) teary-eyed due to dwindling bank accounts and Antoine Walker ($110m) finally retiring from making pennies in the D-League.
Of course the names and stories go on. Familiar faces such as Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Latrell Sprewell, Travis Henry, etc. have all gone down the road from riches to rags. While each of these athletes have their own separate reasons for financial failure, many of their bad spending habits can be attributed to misguided swag.
Instead of emulating Johnson’s business moves, many of today’s athletes focus on the flash. Jewelry, cars and clothes take precedence over business, family and financial security. Baby mommas make six-figure salaries at the expense of their athlete exes. High stakes trips to Vegas turn millionaires into thousandaires in the blink of an eye.
Still, athletes like Floyd Mayweather Jr. revel in the flashy and exuberant lifestyle. The boxing champion appeared on HBO’s Face Off last week to promote his upcoming bout versus Miguel Cotto and frequently interrupted the interview by asking his off-camera crew to bring his tablet to him so he could check his bets. Not only was it a mockery to Cotto and interviewer Max Kellerman, it was trite and contrived to appeal to those infatuated and influenced by the flashy lifestyle. Of course, Mayweather fans went berserk at his showing of braggadocio.
Of course, the lifestyle that got its wings when shows like MTV Cribs and Pimp My Ride first became popular in the early 2000s, and has continued with the lavish shopping sprees and wild parties on reality TV, will only last as long as the income is rolling in. Once it stops, many athletes and entertainers learn the cold hard facts of economics.
Luckily for Iverson, he reportedly has over $32 million sitting in a trust that he can’t touch until he’s 55 years old. At least he can see light at the end of the tunnel. Many athletes can’t.
While I see little to no issue with cocky players trash-talking or telling the world I great they are, I have no appreciation for them showing me what they can buy. As the popular cell phone commercial would say, jewelry, cars and clothes are soooooooo three minutes ago. Once you can afford to drop $2 billion on a ballclub, color me impressed.
In the Clutch can be followed on Twitter @intheclutchstl and online at stlamerican.com.
