On  October 21, 2009 I spoke to students at Texas State University School of Journalism & Mass Communication as part of their  Mass Communications Week.

With more than 30,000 students, Texas State is the 5^th largest university in Texas and one of the 55 largest in the United States. Texas State University has more than 1,700 majors enrolled in our undergraduate and graduate programs — which makes the program one of the largest journalism and mass communication programs in the state of Texas – and the nation. Here is what the school has said about the presentation:

“Brian was one of the featured speakers at our annual Mass Communication Week at Texas State University. He was able to engage the audience and get them to think about the issue of hate speech on the Internet. A week later students were still debating the issue on what speech should and should not be protected. For that to happen with students means Brian’s talk really resonated with them. I’m sure he will get your audiences to think about the issue as well.“

As reported in the Dallas Morning News, a Dallas parent is challenging a Texas Law that protects parents from criminal prosecution when they provide pornography to their children.  She alleges that her ex-husband showed their children pornographic images depicting a threesome.

According to the Morning News report, the Dallas-area woman said her three grade-school-age daughters were living with their father earlier this year when he started drinking, woke two of them late at night and showed them porn on his computer. They later told a counselor, who alerted authorities.

If true, while this may be a crime if it was a non-parent, the father would be protected from prosecution under Texas Law.  The Randall Country District Attorney declined to prosecute the father stating that his hands were tied under the law that is currently in place.

“Texas law currently  prohibits people from providing children “harmful material” if it “appeals to the prurient interest” and is “utterly without redeeming social value for minors.” The law however includes a defense to prosecution for parents and guardians.”

Should the government enter our homes and tell us what we can and can not show our children even it it would be criminal outside the parent-child relationship?  Is there a compelling government interest to regulate this type of activity?  Does it become any less harmful because its done in the home?  The slope becomes slippery.

What about sex education?  Should the government be interfering with the educational values practiced within the home and telling parents what materials they can and can not use for sexual education.   What if the parents were using child pornography to teach their children?  That would not be protected.

From a Constitutional standpoint it will be very difficult to draft a statute that enters the home and does run  afoul of the 14th Amendment. This Amendment has routinely been cited to strike to down government attempts to regulate activity child-rearing activities within the home which might otherwise be criminal.

While emotions run high on these issue I do not think it is possible to craft a statute that will criminalize a parent showing what some may consider pornographic images to his/her child and also  pass constitutional muster without coming up with an objective standard.   IMHO “a legitimate educational purpose”  a standard proposed by some is too subjective and will fail constitutional scrutiny.

What do you think?  Is it ok to be a “Porno-Parent”?

The Dallas Mavericks opened the season last night. While the team was not successful, losing to the Washington Wizards, I was able to catch up with Don Knobler, who has forged his success in the Dallas Real Estate Market.

Don is a  huge MFFL(Mavs Fan For Life) and widely considered the Dallas Mavericks if not best dressed, most uniquely dressed fan.

Don’s “statement” outfits often find their way onto the High Definition Jumbo-tron as well as  local and national television broadcasts.

‘Toine” is broke.

Despite earning a reported $110 million over the course of his 13-year NBA career, former player Antoine Walker is apparently broke. According to the Boston Globe, the 33-year-old 6th overall draft pick of 1996 is in trouble, and due in a Las Vegas courtroom this week to answer to charges of fraud for writing bad checks to different casinos, totaling $1 million. The Globe is also reporting that Walker owes more than $4 million to his creditors.

Just one more high profile athlete having to scale back his lifestyle to the level to which you have I have been accustomed.  Why is it that athletes who seem to have everything are often completely unable to control anything related to finances?

We all played our violins to death when we heard of Latrell Sprewell’s financial troubles. On Halloween 2004, Sprewell, who was in the final season of a $62-million five-year contract with the New York Knicks, said he was insulted by the Minnesota Timberwolve’s offer of a contract extension that was reportedly worth between $27 million and $30 million for three seasons. Sprewell stated, “I’ve got my family to feed.” That quote become a national moniker for the public perception of athletes as greedy, out of touch individuals. Apparently, Sprewell still can’t feed his family. His yacht was recently repossessed and his home is about to be foreclosed on.

While there is certainly the stereotype of the financially irresponsible NBA athlete, no professional sport is immune.

Let’s take a look at some high profile athlete financial sob stories over the years:

1. No one my age can forget Jack”The Ripper” Clark , star player for the Boston Red Sox who filed for bankruptcy in 1992 in the middle of his second year of a three-year, $8.7 million contract with Boston; he listed $6.7 million in debts. Jack was a master of financial planning and prudent asset acquisition. His bankruptcy petition listed assets such as 18 automobiles, including a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717,000 and three 1992 Mercedes Benz cars costing between $103,000 and $143,000. He owed money on 17 of the automobiles and was liable for about $400,000 in Federal and state taxes. He had also lost about $1 million in a drag-racing venture. Sounds like Jack would have been more at home in the NBA. You can read about it here

2. Johnny Unitas, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Baltimore Colts, filed for bankruptcy in 1991 citing numerous failed business ventures in his petition These failed bits included bowling alleys, land deals and restaurants. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991.

3. Mike Tyson The name speaks for itself. Mike’s bankruptcy was highly publicized. Despite earning hundreds of millions during his boxing career, Mike kept it simple. His bankruptcy petition simply stated: ” I am unable to pay my bills”. According to federal court records, his liabilities totaled about $27 million. You can read that story here.

4. Dorothy Hamill, the women’s figure-skating gold medalist in the 1976 Winter Games, filed for bankruptcy after a series of financial setbacks. Hamill said she has experienced financial setbacks as a result of poor financial investment advice and management.

These are just a few of many athletes’ tales of woe. It is not a phenomenon limited to professional sports — just ask M.C Hammer. Prior to his declaring bankruptcy, it was made public that his day to day living expenses far exceeded his income of $33 million. If I am going to veer off to celebrities, I certainly have to mention Kim Basinger and Michael Jackson.

When the Toronto Star ran an article alleging that a shocking figure that 60 percent of NBA athletes “go broke” five years after retiring, did we not all pull out that very tiny violin we have reserved for such occasions? The NBA players union and the NBA have both disputed that assertion. The article goes on to talk about all the people taking advantage of and “scamming” these athletes. While I have no doubt there is truth to this, I can also understand how such a generalization would make the NBA uncomfortable. It leaves you with the impression that 60 percent of NBA players are not only financially inept but also idiots in general. This is simply not true. While good business sense is often lacking, I view many of their mistakes as being more mistakes of trust, credibility and lack of life experience than anything else. Smart, busy people who can afford it, hire people with targeted expertise to help them. This allows them to focus on their expertise. Sometime mistakes are made and bad judgment is used in who we hire and hang out with. That is not unique to the NBA or professional sports. This happens to everyone. That is life. It happens all the time. It just does not make front page when we screw up. If there is any question at all as to how badly we as the general public screw up, just look at the personal bankruptcy filing statistics.

In order to get a perspective from the inside, I contacted Jordan Woy, a highly respected sports agent and a principal in the sports marketing/management firm of Schlegel Sports. Jordan has represented numerous high profile athletes

Here is what Jordon had to say:

I think there are several reasons why so many athletes “go broke”. First, whether it is a lottery winner, an athlete or a star entertainer, if they are not equipped with the knowledge on how to make and save money they are in trouble. When they didn’t earn it through disciplined business practices and they don’t have those skills they usually go through it quickly. Most lottery winners or athletes make a great deal of money in a short period of time. They start spending it on things that only go down in value (cars, jewelry, partying, entourage, etc) and start to evaporate the money they do have. They can carry this off until they stop earning big money. This is when the trouble starts. It is hard to believe that MC Hammer, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and now Ed McMahon are broke. These are people who earned hundreds of millions over time and it disappeared. Lavish spending and entourages were probably the downfall for the first three for sure.

Most athletes play for four to ten years if they are lucky. After they pay taxes (can be 40 to 50%) and agent fees and buy their first homes, cars, outfits, jewelry (plus, cars, clothes and jewelry for friends and family), they are left with very little. When they first “strike it rich” all of their longtime friends and family expect help. Most athletes feel obligated to help everyone out at first then they wise up. They also want to keep up with their teammates. If someone buys a Bentley, they have to buy one; if someone buys a $75,000 watch, they have to buy one to keep up the appearance. Then, of course, when the career ends and they are still living in a multi million dollar house, driving 3 expensive cars (and insurance), traveling in private planes and taking Limo’s when they go out on the town, reality sets in. The money dries up very quickly.

However, if athletes educate themselves, learn money management skills and make smart, safe investments along the way, they are usually in very good shape. After representing athletes for over 20 years, we call this our “life plan”. We take out clients on working vacations in the off season to places like Las Vegas, Cancun and on a cruise to the Bahamas to learn business networking. We have people from industries such as real estate, oil and gas, financial planning, credit repair, asset protection/estate planning, etc come to educate the players and their wives so they can learn about these business and also determine if they are interested in any of these industries for life after sports. One of the financial planners who comes always says most people die coming down from Mt. Everest not going up. The goal is for these athletes to get to their Mt. Everest AND to get down safely.

So, what do you think? Are the financial mistakes that athletes make any different than your mistakes or mine? They are certainly mistakes made with a higher downside. When we hear these stories are we just unable to comprehend that someone could have that much money and spend it all? Can we learn lessons on how to live our lives from their highly publicized financial gaffes? Do we even care at all?

With all due respect to Latrell Sprewell, we have our own families to feed…