Clinton Portis was about to murder his financial manager

Clinton Portis's public bankruptcy, private fury

Prepared as he was to commit murder, sacrificing his freedom and his name for revenge, he never found whom he was looking for. But what if he had caught a glimpse before coming to his senses? What if their paths had crossed, there in the darkness? Portis doesn’t hesitate: “We’d probably be doing this interview from prison.”

Sneaky getaway get-up, too.

 

Would have been the perfect crime: He could easily frame Sheriff Gonna Getcha or Dolla Bill for it.

 

About 90% of rags-to-riches stories end like this, sadly. It's either blowing your wad on the entourage and Bentleys, or making it rain at Da Club, or trusting someone shady to handle the money.

 

And it really is about being too stupid or arrogant. Look at Bernard Hopkins. He did not have an Ivy League education, but he has some common sense.

 

Hard to believe this guy got clowned.

 

That is a special kind of crazy there.

 

As part of a story once, I went out "clubbing" with Clinton and Santana Moss. (They told me to say I was John Hall, the kicker. I'm white, but there the similarities end. Everybody bought it.) I went over to the Virginia house, saw the giant aquariums, watched a barber come over and get paid big money to make Clinton's hair look pretty much exactly the way it looked before, and then we went out. I don't have an actual total of what Clinton spent that night, but it was tens of thousands of dollars. He owned the VIP section. There were concentric circles of women around us, and dozens of bottles of champagne and God knows what else (it was very hard to get just, like, a beer) and we were there all night. He spent a fortune. And it was just a regular night, nothing fancy.

So: While I have no doubt that his financial advisers were pieces of fraudulent shit, Clinton also spent his money in a way that would have made the Sultan of Brunei blush.

Those are the twin pillars of athlete bankruptcy.

 

You can kind of tell the guys who are going to be all right and the ones who won't be. Carlos Delgado comes to mind as a guy who knew what he was doing and would only get richer after retirement. Derek Jeter's another.

Clinton Portis was doomed.

 

Great anecdote.

(For real.)

 

That ESPN 30-for-30 "Broke" was pretty compelling. Jamal Mashburn, his story turned out nice. He used his basketball to set himself up nicely. He said something to the effect of these being the best, most satisfying years of his life.

 

Malone was a very nice guy. Ran into him more than a few times late in his life and he was always friendly, down to earth, and fun to chat with.