Handling your finances

The downfall of many athletes is when they sign their first professional contract they come to believe that they are officially rich and wealthy but that is just the beginning of handling your finances.  3 main issues that most athletes have to deal with are: families , friends,  and the price of being/becoming a celebrity.

In the 1900s to the 1980s, athletes' salaries were unknown to the public. Generally the athlete would be able to live a normal life if he chose to live that lifestyle or if his skills were not worldwide known. Players have their contract announced as soon as its inked to the paper as a celebration but makes them a target for the public to ask and demand. Families that have been around feel like that they are owed some monetary compensation because they loved and supported the player when they were young. Dallas Cowboys rookie player is currently dealing with this type of situation right now. His family has currently taken out if his bank account close to one million dollars.  He has filed a lawsuit against his mother.  Then you have family members that have not been around wanting to become attached to the name of the new superstar.  Shaquille O'Neal dealt with this situation when he was first drafted to the Orlando Magic.  His estranged father wanted a relationship with his now 20 plus year old son that he has has not seen or tries to contact since he was a child. These are just a few examples that players have to deal with it but yet athletes still cant say so no when they have to. Most athletes give their money away to their family members believing that there is more money coming later by signing a new contract.

Friends will always play a role in an athlete's finances. This is the time that an athlete must be able to determine who is a friend and who is a an associate and sometimes realize that the friend does not meet the lifestyle that the athlete has now obtained. Harsh words but this is very necessary to maintain a well balanced cash flow. Friends feel like since a 5 million contract has been signed that their lives have been changed as well. This is the time that most athletes see their so called friends true colors. These friends sometimes want to flaunt what you have the athlete has earned or use the athlete's name for recognition. This is detrimental to the athlete because they have tarnished their image which affects the cash flow. When the player's friends get in trouble,  the athlete does too because your friends have now become a representation of you.

The price of being/becoming a celebrity can really affect an athlete cash flow. The modern day athlete believes that 1one million dollar contract has made them into a  person that can buy and do anything that they have been dreaming of but it is far from the truth.  The athlete still needs to the pay the agent's contract, insurance, state and federal tax and other miscellaneous things that come with making a new tax bracket.  Some athletes don't know how to say no so when they see their fellow teammates or competitors' lifestyles they want to keep up with the spending.  This lands the athlete into a world of trouble. I had a friend that played for the L.A. Lakers and he would tell tell me that one of his teammates would be dropped off by his mother to practice because he spent so much money trying to keep up with Kobe and Shaq that he was basically broke by athletes' lifestyles.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/item_k4ekmtTUDutcLom5RFBbFP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JJrYnFJxqg

Representing International Players

With more people participating in sports domestically and internationally, it is key to be the leader of the recruitment process of these players. More and more teams in all sports are now searching internationally to find more players that are suitable for their teams. With baseball, they have looked into the Latin America regions for young prospects to help out with their teams. Scouts are constantly searching for the next big thing. But it seems that more players are being taken advantage of by not only the teams but also their agents and sometimes their families. To really be able to service these players correctly, you have to know what exactly the players will have to deal with and also what the players are looking for themselves.

Most young prospects in international countries are just looking at the big picture. They love playing the sport and they want to be paid for it. When they ink their name on a contract for a 1 million dollars, they believe that will sustain the type of living that they see on television and read about in the papers. But what they do not realize it that they have other expenses to that have to deal with once they become a professional athlete. As their agent you have to be willing to teach the client exactly what needs to done and what they need to do to maintain the life that they want. Most agents take advantage of international players in this aspect. Considering that more and more players from the international world are picked at a very young age and come from low-income families, they want to provide for all aspects of their families which sometimes is at the determent of the player's career. Agents must be to communicate with their clients about the numerous factors that a professional athlete must deal with. From health insurance to paying for the agent themselves, the money that they have just signed for has already dwindled from the moment that they have signed. Communicate with the players that the contract value is not really the money that they have to spend carefree.

Another key thing is to know what expectations that the players have for themselves. When a player comes into the respective sport, ask the player what exactly do they want for their career. If it is all about the sport, how much do they want to spend to get the best trainers and coaches? If they want to have endorsements, what type of companies do they want to represent and what type of values do they hold dear to themselves that want to misinterpret?(e.g. cigarettes) These are some things that agents to need to know about their clients. Many agencies put all their clients in a box and try to get their big time shoe deals or soft drink ads when most players are not worthy enough for these type of deals. Some players do not want that type of lime light and just want to play the sport. The agent must be able to know what the player's wants and needs are.

http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2012/11/21/melvin-roman/

Dwight Howard Sweepstakes

With Dwight Howard demanding another trade and the Orlando Magic starting to shop him around, what would be the best fit for the supposed best center in the league? Dwight has been rumored to be shopped to the Los Angeles Lakers, Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, and of course his ideal place of choice, the Brooklyn Nets. All will definitely be better with the talents of the 6'11 center.

With the added new piece of Steve Nash, the Los Angeles Lakers will have two former MVPs on the team. This will also mean that the team will undoubtedly trade away the services of Andrew Bynum as part of the deal. For the team, it will be an upgrade on defense. Dwight will be the defensive stopper in the middle that the Lakers have been searching for even since the departure of Shaq to Miami. Bynum has his moments in which he shows that he can play both ends of the court but his attitude dictates exactly how he is going to play for that night. The Lakers are looking for the heir apparent when Kobe decides to retire. Dwight has already proven that he can take a team to the NBA Finals with shooters that surround him. Bynum on the other hand has not proven that he can be the superstar that Lakers fans are looking for. Dwight would also be able to use the mentor ship of Kareem Abdul Jabbar to help on the offensive end that he already received some pointers from another great hall of gamer, Patrick Ewing. Dwight needs to keep this in mind though. With him moving to the Lakers this season, he will have to more aware of the elite point guards in the West. Steve Nash is not the greatest defender especially with the quickness of Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook.

With the departure of all star Joe Johnson and veteran guard Kirk Henrich leaving for two Eastern Conference teams, the Atlanta Hawks would not seem as appetizing to the any prospective player. But the team is banking on the fact that Dwight is from Atlanta to lure him to stay with the team. He would also have the benefit of playing with one of his hometown friends, Josh Smith, who he had a part in his wedding. The Atlanta Hawks would be able to offer him maximum value as well. The Atlanta native would be to the face of the city without having to compete with many other sports teams to do so unlike  the other cities. This could also play a factor to possibly signing a long term deal with the team.

The Houston Rockets are believing that they can have the next Hakeem in the midst of they acquire the skills of the young 27 year old. With Hakeem being around the team from time to time, he would be able to open up his offensive game to use his quickness and agility underneath his tutelage. The downside of coming to the team is that the team is fairly young. Marcus Camby has already left for the New York Knicks, there is really not another veteran on the team that he can depend on. The team is in a rebuilding year. Not too many solid offensive weapons but with Hall of Famer Kevin McHale leading the helm, the team has the potential of making another playoff push in the contested Western Conference.



The Brooklyn Nets seems to be the new place for many new stars to playing for. With newly acquired all star Joe Johnson and a versatile player like Gerald Wallace joining Deron Williams in Brooklyn, it seems that the only piece the trio is missing a legitimate big man to solidify the front court. Dwight would not have the problem players unable to create their own shots like he is currently having in Orlando. These 3 players have proven that they also spread the court and create their own shot. Dwight would just need to develop as a better passer out of the double team. He currently averages under 2 assists a game for his career. He needs to be able to see the court with the new pieces for the plan to work in Brooklyn.

Undeniably, the center has been the center of attention for free agency ever since the summer of 2010. The controversy that has surrounded the man has drawn more teams towards him hoping that he will choose to sign with them in a long term deal. Dwight has stated on numerous occasions that he will not sign a long term deal with any team unless it is the Brooklyn Nets. This puts the Orlando Magic, his current team, in a very compromising position. Once again Dwight has put himself as the top free agent in the league without being a free agent.

Identity without a name

David Birch is a British consultant and author. He is a director of Consultant Hyperion, a specialist electronic transactions consulting firm that advises governments and large companies on electronic identity and electronic money. He speaks on the topic of identity because this is something that we can all relate to. He uses his storytelling to really bring into the subject. What he does is really expand on the topic by using facts about the topic but also using humor to go along with it. He tries to keep people engaged in the topic but using information that everyone can relate to.  We treat our identity at times as the most important part of our lives. We become enraged when people have falsely misuse or disrespect ourselves. But he also brought up the topic of we also really do not care about our identity at times as well. So the question is that identity really secure?

He spoke on several different topics. He started on the chip and pin card. The premise of having your identity on your card has been around since the conception of using your card to pay for items and obtain your money from the bank. The chip in the card is highly sophisticated and holds a lot of information about the cardholder. David made a great point in the fact that the information is embedded in the card itself. So why do we have to then imprint our name on the card itself. This feature is not useful for us at all. We already know who we are. We do need to have our name on the card. The only person that the imprint benefits at this point is the criminal who is trying to steal my identity. With the name of the card, you can easily find out the person address. Now the person just need to make a copy of the card. Now instead of using the highly sophisticated chip in the card which is highly secured, you have dwindled it to an easier access for any person to simply copy the front of the card and steal your identity. We think that we are so protective of our identity but in actuality we are not. We try our best to keep things secret but we put things out there that is not necessary. 

Chat rooms are a big way of communicating and meeting new people. Even with chat rooms, we are using the premise of keeping our identities to ourselves. We put out false personas about ourselves on these chat rooms but we want other people to be honest about their identities. We use our identities to our advantage and feel that we can easily just erase something about our identity when needed especially online. Online, we can create a persona about ourselves and simply delete that persona when we feel that it is not useful to our benefit. So what is the real purpose of identity if we can get rid of it so easily?

 Lastly, he went on the topic of being anonymous. Now we put out the false identities about ourselves and try to keep our identities anonymous. But how can we continue to remain anonymous when things become crucial in certain situations. He went on to comment the fact when we are trying to remain anonymous when reporting something of importance we must be credible. And in order to be credible we must put out some information about ourselves to identify ourselves as being credible about the event. So what is the point of being anonymous when in the end we have to put out some information about ourselves?

This topic really opened up my eyes to identity. It really speaks about the fact that identity is not secured and how we really do not protect it. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_birch_identity_without_a_name.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_G._W._Birch

How to get started to be a sports agent

The North American Society for Sports Management is a great way to really start networking with people that are currently working in the sports agent industry. The purpose of the North American Society for Sport Management is to promote, stimulate, and encourage study, research, scholarly writing, and professional development in the area of sport management - both theoretical and applied aspects. The association wants the industry to improve the landscape of sports management by giving useful material and also conferences to give and get information about the new and upcoming members and information that may be useful for them for the future. The site is designed to inform their members on how to join and also attend conferences. 


This year the conference was held in Seattle, Washington.  The conference went over some very important and prevalent topics such as Twitter with sports. This one topic was to investigate the effectiveness of certain social-mediated messages by exploring the underlying factors of consumer response. This topic alone indeed will help out many new sports agents in viewing how different types of  consumers respond back to certain messages sent out by their clients. 


Not only just listening to these different types of events at the conference will be useful but also using the opportunity to network with current and upcoming agents will be handy for many new agents. This conference you will be able to interact with many different types of agents and see exactly how they are handling their clients and also how they are handling different types of situations that they may have encountered. 


The site itself also offers many resources that will be handy for many people that are entering into the field. One of them is the Journal of Sports Management. The journal embraces a number of areas as they relate to the management, governance, and consumption of sport such as: organizational theory, behavior, and strategy; sport operations; law and policy; economics, finance, and accounting; marketing, consumer behavior, sponsorship, advertising, and licensing; media, communications, and public relations; sport tourism; facility and event management; and gender and diversity. 


And of course the site will give you insight on how to earn a position inside this exclusive field. They gave you different job research companies in which you can learn about new positions in the field with different types of sports management agencies. This is definitely handy when looking for any position when you have to know someone to get ahead. 


http://www.nassm.com/

Growing Pains in Los Angeles

As the regular season draws closer to the end, it seems like more players are beginning to anticipate the start of the playoffs. People are starting to become more comfortable in their roles and some players are starting to branch out and trying to establish themselves more in the league. In recent news, Andrew Bynum has become more defiant in the LA system. He has made his first all star start and feels that his play warrants him acting the way he does. Earlier this month against the Golden State Warriors, Bynum elected to take a 3-point shot early in the shot clock. This is very unusual and uncharacteristic for a 7'1 center to take a shot like this especially this early but not only that was the reaction to shot. Coach Mike Brown immediately benched the all-star for the rest of the game. Bynum was noted that he did not understand why he got benched and he would take the shot again. Kobe Bryant said that the center was just spreading his wings and this will be a growing pain that he and Mike Brown would have to work out. But is this good time for they’re to be conflict as the playoffs draw nearer?

As the sports agent of the new superstar, how do you handle the situation and how you make sure the situation is put to rest? The sports agent has to not only be the player's best friend but also be the business mind of the player. This is not a good look for the player at all. It shows his current team that he is immature and cannot handle the new spotlight that he is now given in the team. Previously from making the all-star team, the team and the league did not see this side of the player. He is not showing that he is a team player. Even if he did not agree with the coach's methods of how he is being used such as allowing him to take 3-point shots, you cannot show up the coach because this will lead to different factions of the team. This will be detrimental to the team especially while playoffs are coming up so closely.

As a general manager, I have to reel this player in as quickly as possible. Andrew Bynum is a great talent and the future of the team when Kobe Bryant decides to retire. If you decide to keep this player, he must represent the team in the proper way. This action will deter any players for trying to come to the team. Also the players that do end up coming may take on the attitude of the star player that will lead to the total destruction of the team. As the general manager, I will have a conversation with the player and will fine him for the actions. This will show the player and the team that these actions will not be tolerated. The conversation will ensure that we not tolerate the actions but we will let him know that we do want him to be able to explore different opportunities on the court. We want him to develop his game but let him know what we expect for him right now.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-spears_lakers_mike_brown_andrew_bynum_benching_032812

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/18097448/lakers-coach-mike-brown-benches-andrew-bynum-after-three-point-shot