I met Derrick Coleman back in the day. I was hanging out at a spot in Cherry Hill, New Jersey (way way way before Mrs. Field) and he was there. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was at the tail end of his career and the folks in Philly were all over him because of all the money the Sixers paid for what the home fans considered a bust.
Having said that, I was sad to hear that Mr. Coleman is officially broke and filing for bankruptcy. Now I will be honest, I was going to rip into Coleman tonight, because, quite frankly, I am sick of young black men making millions of dollars and pissing it away on bullshit.
But after reading more about Coleman's situation I am going to give him a pass. Seems he invested a lot of money in financially troubled Detroit (his home town) and because of the tanking real estate market there most of his investments pretty much went under.
So Coleman gets a pass, but not Exhibit A for young black men pissing away dollars. I am speaking, of course, about one Evander Holyfield. Now this Negro was living in a 20 million dollar 54,000 square foot house. Why? Couldn't the Negro settle for a 5 million dollar crib? (I bet the Duva's ain't broke. ) No, this Negro had to go get a bigger house than all of his "baller" friends.
"You’ve got to look at this place. It’s got a rotunda and everything. The house is 54,000 square feet. That’s almost 1¼ acres. Most people would agree that 2,500 square feet is a decent-sized house, and Holyfield’s spread is 20 times that size. He’s got 107 rooms and 17 baths? The grand entry is bigger than my entire house – or at least it looks bigger. See for yourself."
One hundred and seven rooms? Hey, I know he has ten kids, but that seems like more than enough room for every last one of them.
I am making light of this situation, but it's really not funny. There is just too much of this going on. Antoine Walker made over one hundred million in his career, and he is broke. (Yes "Toine", too many of those hundred thousand dollar medallions will do that to you.) If only some of these cats had spent as much time getting good financial advise as they did trying to find out where the best jewelers were, I am guessing that some of these bankruptcy lawyers wouldn't be getting paid like they are now. Sadly, if you look at the top athletes who have gone broke over the years you will find one glaring similarity. And if you guessed that they all used E.F. Hutton move to the back of the class.
All that money pissed away and for what? A few nice whips that are worth a fraction of what was paid for them? Apartments for jump offs who have moved on to the next "baller"? Just think if all that money had gone into something really worthwhile? A scholarship foundation for needy kids? A start up company for a young entrepreneurs (not a rap label). Or, just some better investments for your damn family so that your own kids can look forward to a better future. (Not you Shawn Kemp. All those dam kids by all those different women? I am guessing you would still be broke)
Oh well, I would start a collection for Derrick and the others, but I can't trust them to do the right thing with the money. Maybe going broke will be best for them. Sometimes the bankruptcy judge knows best.
