NFL Players Thrown for Losses

Professional athletes need better investment managers than they sometimes wind up with. Two current examples:

Alex Brown, former Bear now playing for the Saints, is suing his investment advisers for putting him into such blue chips as airplane hangers and variable universal life insurance.

John Elway, the former Denver Broncos quarterback, and his business partner gave $15 million to a hedge-fund manager now accused of running a Ponzi scheme.

Those who play football, basketball or baseball for a living make such big bucks the rest of us don't feel too sorry when they lose millions to financial vultures or mere incompetents. But rich jocks need more financial smarts or more reliable guidance.

For professional athletes "retirement" can be a long, long time.