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BY RON BARR

You’re probably saying, “Yeah, right.  Where’s my multi-million dollar house(s), bling, expensive car(s) and everyone wanting to make my life easier.  I don’t take my business trips in luxury and on a private jet.”  Okay, maybe not everything in your life is like a successful, highly paid, pro athlete, but the problems you have, they have too.

Allen Iverson has been a star NBA player for 15 years and has been paid millions of dollars to be one.  But, as the saying goes, “Money can’t buy you happiness.”  Making a lot of money doesn’t shield you from “life’s everyday problems.”  And, right now Iverson is dealing with everyday problems all of us can relate to and some of us are dealing with now.  Being an outstanding athlete, hearing the crowds roar at the mention of your name and making a lot of money hasn’t given him a free pass from dealing with a seriously sick child, a wife who filed for divorce recently and reportedly drinking and gambling problems.  No, Iverson's world is crumbling around him just like the family who doesn’t have health care, is behind in their house payments and facing foreclosure, and the everyday man or woman who has lost their job. Iverson is also fighting for his life.

As a longtime sports and human nature observer, I’ve always wondered why there’s a human disconnect between the fan and the athlete when it comes to seeing them as everyday people.  Certainly the media plays a large part in that disconnect by the way they portray athletes.  Many times that portrayal is rich, spoiled, arrogant, pampered and irresponsible.  In some cases that’s deserved, but those athletes who are that way are in the minority.  Most are nice, intelligent and responsible people who contribute to society in normal, constructive ways. 

The life of a pro athlete is complicated and being paid a lot of money, having adoring fans, having your job performance scrutinized on a daily basis by the media are added burdens the average person doesn’t have to deal with.  Now, add to this having to deal with a seriously ill child, a crumbling marriage and self medicating with booze and gambling and no matter how bad your life may be, it probably isn’t as bad as Allen Iverson’s life is right now.

I’ve said this on air before, but I think it bears repeating.  Most of us don’t have to live with the moment to moment job employment evaluation athletes have to deal with.  We don’t have to worry about being booed or told “you suck” when we’re struggling in our job performance and we walk into our office.  And, we certainly don’t have to read or hear about our failures everyday in the newspaper or on ESPN SportsCenter as athletes do.  True they can also read and hear about their successes, but the failures will get you fired in a heartbeat in sports.  Remember you and I can do our jobs until we’re 65, an athlete has a performance shelf life on average of about 4 years.  Knowing that can create great insecurity and fear. 

Put it all together and the pro athlete has to deal with sports performance pressures, economic and lifestyle pressures, insecurity pressures, daily public critiques, and fan reaction.  Now, add the everyday human issues all of us have and I’m surprised more athletes aren’t alcoholics or heavy drug users.  And, if the athlete didn’t come from a stable home, has a healthy support system and wasn’t exposed to good role models and values, then the probability of them becoming a sad statistic and another media failure story is extremely great.

I don’t expect you to feel sorry for athletes, only that before you judge them you look at the whole picture.  If you do, you might find your life is really better than theirs is, even if you are struggling with everyday problems.      

I’m Ron Barr.

Ron Barr is an Emmy award winning writer and the host of the nationally and internationally syndicated sports talk show, Sports Byline USA.