Posted on 12/20/2023 5:09:19 AM PST by Red Badger
Former Super Bowl champion running back Derrick Ward was arrested in connection with the robberies of five businesses, including a gas station, in Southern California, authorities said.
Ward, 43, was a member of the New York Giants team that won the championship in 2007. He was arrested by police officers in North Hollywood, according to department officials.
Interestingly, Ward reportedly did not use a firearm during the alleged robberies, “but officers said the 6-foot, 230-pound Ward used force and fear to take money from businesses,” the New York Post reported.
Derrick Ward spent eight seasons as a running back in the NFL, and spent the 2007 season as a standout running back with the Super Bowl champion Giants
According to KTLA:
“Ward, who was born in Los Angeles and attended Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, played eight seasons in the NFL with the Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texas.
“He enjoyed his best season in the league one year after winning the Super Bowl when he rushed for 1,025 yards with the Giants.”
“He was a part of the Giants’ powerful backfield, which included Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, which garnered the nickname, “Earth, Wind and Fire,'” the Post added.
“Ward missed the Super Bowl when the Giants faced the 18-0 Patriots in February 2008 after he suffered a fractured left fibula, which ended his season in Week 13.
“… Ward bounced back the next year and posted a career-high 1,023 rushing yards with an NFL-best 5.6 yards per attempt — and later signed a four-year, $17 million deal with the Buccaneers in 2009.”
The infamous Andrew McCutchen paycheck stub that he left/lost somewhere, I forget. He Grosses $820,000 and Nets $427,000, for two weeks. Look at the taxes in all the cities he plays in.
He was turning his life around ..........
I’d think that I could manage to get by very comfortably on $6,000,000 without touching the principle.
But then, I’m not a thug with a posse to pay for
We have someone who was a star in a narrow field of endeavor (professional football player). A man whose talent earned him millions, a coveted Superbowl ring, a college education (FWIW), and an admirable career in the spotlight. The left would say that he is a “winner in life’s lottery.”
...So who or what turned him into a criminal? Can’t be the life of a poor and down-trodden man. Can’t be a society that kept him down if it recognized his talents and rewarded him lavishly for it.
No, a man with overwhelming advantages and resources made the unfirced decision to rob others of their livelihood for no good reason whatsoever.
Bentleys don’t come cheap, and are very expensive to maintain.
There are lots of people who never learned to live within, or beneath, their means.
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Or an entourage..............
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That reminds me of something I read about the singer Don McLean. When asked about the success of Miss American Pie, McLean said something like “The best part is that I’ll never have to work another day of my life.”
He made phenomenal amounts of money and lifetime royalties which by living wisely has proven true.
> So if the Union really cared they would have licensed, insured financial consultants the players could use. <
A side story: I was a member of a union for decades. And yes, my union had licensed and insured financial consultants ready to help us.
All of them recommended high cost, high fee investments. I did some looking into this. It turns out that these “consultants” paid money annually to the union to get on the union-approved list.
I guess that’s better than no consultant at all. But it’s just another example of how corrupt unions are.
“You can lead a horse to water but...”.
I can’t stand state income taxes.
Taxes are penalties. A penalty for income is disgusting. A penalty for buying is reasonable.
At least I can make something myself or buy wiser. To prevent income tax, I have to stop working.
Thank you for that thoughtful post! You make excellent points about how people can have the talent to make good money but are poor at keeping it. Our education system and parents need to do a better job of teaching young people how to hold on to whatever they earn.
That’s true.You give a kid just out of the slums a three year,$2 million a year contract and there’s a good chance he’s gonna spend it very foolishly indeed. The same goes for many winners of big lottery jackpots.
He’ll get his NFL pension while in prison so he will have plenty of commissary money.
The NFL and the players union have plenty of resources regarding financial planning for players as soon as they get in the league. Unfortunately, its up to the individual player to take advantage of them.
Nice, way to rep the national felons league, great job!
Actually, the NFL offers financial planning and advise to everyone in the league as part of the deal with the players union. They are advised that their NFL career is very short. That they need to invest that money to last potentially a lifetime.
However, I believe the statistic is that 50% of NFL players are broke five years after leaving the league.
Again, that is misleading statistic because most players never make much more than the league minimum which is $400K. Plus the average player is only in the league for 2 1/2 years.
Even the star players other than Quarterbacks maybe get one contract after becoming a free agent paying $4MM - $10MM for a few years.
The issue with not being able to handle new found wealth is not exclusive to just professional athletes. The same thing happens to most lottery winners.
Even the children of very wealthy typically squander the money earned/created by their parents. Cornelius Vanderbuilt was the richest man in the world. He built an empire. His children all built huge mansions. Literally some of the largest homes in the US. His great grand children got nothing except the name.
Just a small fee to the government, and of course, 10% to the Big Guy.
The public schools do ZERO to teach basic economics and personal finance. If you went to public school and had parents who did not know how to handle money, then you enter life at a real disadvantage.
When I was in the military, it was still mostly a cash environment. Many Marines would cash their checks and blow it all in town on a single weekend, having nothing left in their pockets until the next payday. Thankfully the military had barracks, chow halls, and fifty cent draft beer at the e-Club.
I developed a reputation of someone who could be trusted so some of my fellow Marines would give me $40 or so on payday so I could hold on to it for them. I ended up being sort of a bank for them. These guys didn't even have a savings or checking account to their name and would not think to even open one.
It is no surprise that many well-paid athletes go broke after retirement. Many of them grew up in the ghettos and knew only poverty growing up. Not only did they not have the education to properly deal with their finances but they were likely taken advantage of by shysters and even fleeced by family members.
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