30 For 30 Broke Questions

Moving picture Summary

According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, lx pct of former NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. By the time they take been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under fiscal stress. Sucked into bad investments, stalked past freeloaders, saddled with medical issues, and naturally prone to showing off, many pro athletes become shocked by harsh economical realities after years of living the high life. Drawing surprisingly vulnerable confessions from retired stars like Keith McCants, Bernie Kosar and Andre Rison, every bit well as Marvin Miller, the former executive manager of the MLB Players Association, this fascinating documentary digs into the psychology of men whose competitive nature can carry them to victory on the field and ruin off it.

Director Baton Corben (The U, Cocaine Cowboys, Limelight) paints a complex picture of the many forces that bleed athletes' bank accounts, placing some of the blame on the culture at large while still belongings these giants accountable for their own hubris. A story of the dark side of success, "Broke," is an allegory for the fiscal woes haunting economies and individuals all over the earth.

Manager'southward Take

In June 2009, we interviewed quarterback Bernie Kosar for the ESPN xxx for 30, The U. Anyone who knows Bernie will tell yous, he's equally kind and generous a guy you could ever encounter. In fact, he was extremely generous with his fourth dimension that morning; he talked with us for several hours and, after, took pictures and signed autographs for the crew.

A few weeks later, Dan LeBatard broke the news: Post-obit a series of bad investments and a plush divorce, Kosar had filed for bankruptcy. Information technology was a shock. Beyond football, Kosar was renowned for his business savvy and known to have been even more financially successful later his decade-long NFL career than during it.

Personally, it bankrupt my eye. Other than appearing tired at times, in that location was trivial or no indication during the hours Bernie spent with the states that he was in the midst of this ordeal.

In the early part of the millennium, you'd occasionally hear about a high profile athlete suffering fiscal difficulties, but Pablo Torre'south article, 'How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke,' in the March 2009 Sports Illustrated, cast a spotlight on what seemed to exist an emerging epidemic in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown.

These days, information technology seems in that location'due south a new story every week and we felt these stories were worth exploring. Not everyone was so enthusiastic about information technology, though.

They say the most uncouth subjects for dinner conversation are politics and organized religion. I gotta add money to that listing. Athletes, a famously proud group, were not particularly anxious to talk over the state of their finances, so getting interviews for this project, not surprisingly, proved to be a challenge. I actually adore the people who agreed to speak with us considering they sincerely felt like they have something to offer the side by side generation and hope that others will learn from their experience.

The way "Broke" is structured, it's not near people, per se, just the problem, told past the people who feel(d) it. Information technology's substantially a footstep-by-step guide, How To Lose Millions of Dollars Without Breaking a Sweat.

Conventional wisdom is that professional athletes blow a lot of money on useless crap. Spoiler alarm: professional athletes blow a lot of money on useless crap. Just that's barely the tip of the iceberg. I was surprised to discover -- and I think others volition be, too -- how like shooting fish in a barrel it is to go broke. .