Shaq undoubtedly made a lot of money from his basketball contracts over the course of his career, but I sometimes wonder if he’d invested poorly (or had been taken advantage of by agents or managers), because he appears in so many ads now, for just about anything. Either he really likes working, or he needs the money.
He actually has made quite a bit of money in investments. He owns some Krispy Kremes (though his most famous store burned down recently) and Papa John’s in Atlanta. He just likes working and making money.
The OP talks about having hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s enough that you could invest in hedge funds, venture capital or private equity. Some of these supposedly make really high returns, but they’re also expensive. Hedge funds, for instance, take two percent annually and twenty percent of profits. You might be better off just passively investing in index funds. Buy a couple of houses someplace nice and enjoy retired life why you’re relatively young.
I’m loud, obnoxious, boorish and think I know a lot more than I really do and share my “knowledge” with others whether they want to hear it or not, so retired I’d be a shoo-in for color commentary on ESPN. Or The Ocho.
This is something I’ve wondered. With jerks like Deion Sanders, Charles Barkley, or Shannon Sharpe, at least they busted their chops in the big leagues so they have the credentials. But just what exactly makes someone like Skip Bayless or Stephen A. Smith’s opinion any more qualified than yours or mine?
Bayless and Smith were both sports journalists/columnists for various newspapers before winding up on TV. (And, Smith played college basketball.) But, otherwise, the only thing that makes their opinion more “qualified” is that someone at ESPN or FS1 is willing to pay them a lot of money to bloviate on TV every day.
The same reason why anyone is invited on TV to talk about something: the promoter of the program thinks that what they have to say is worthwhile. Presumably they say things that at least sound good, and hopefully make predictions that tend to work out. I’d much rather hear people that have genuine insight into a sport than a random player who was just gifted athletically.
IIRC, both Bayless and Smith were well respected newspaper journalists (Bayless more than Smith). But like with cable news, they were basically told that in order to get ratings on 24/7 sports networks you need to get into the hot takes business. Bayless originally was on ESPN in The Sports Reporters show hosted by Dick Shaap. He was very different back then.
So it’s kind of a don’t hate the player, hate the game sort of situation.
Yes, Kemp was Dole’s VP candidate in 1996. As to why he’s not in the Hall of Fame – it’s a good question. He was one of the AFL’s best quarterbacks throughout that league’s existence: he won two AFL titles (and played in five championship games), was a five-time All-AFL selection, and was the league’s MVP in '65.
He’s probably one of the best quarterbacks not in the Hall, and I think one could argue the case that he should be in. It’s possible that his career was overshadowed by other successful AFL quarterbacks who did get elected to the Hall, including Len Dawson, George Blanda, and Joe Namath.