Michael Vick's Financial Crisis Not Ending Soon After Bankruptcy

From Our Partner: The Loop 21

Oh what a tangled web we weave with our choices. A man with one of the most tangled financial webs in America is Mr. Michael Vick. Vick has re-positioned himself as one of the leading quarterbacks in the NFL, and I'm sure a massive financial offer is forthcoming at some point. But don't expect Michael to be rolling pretty for quite a while, since I haven't seen this many financial problems since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Where do we begin? Let's start with Vick's stellar salary with the Philadelphia Eagles. Michael brings home a cool $4.1 million, which might seem like a lot of money for a man who didn't just file bankruptcy while serving time in prison. A condition of the bankruptcy is that Vick doesn't get to spend nearly any of the money he earns for anything other than absolute necessities. So, that means no Cristal at the club, no 'blingin, flossin', shinin' or stuntin' allowed, which seems to be the mandatory calling for far too many African American athletes.

A full two-thirds of Michael Vick's salary goes to the IRS and bill collectors. He is given $4,250 per month for rent and $472 per month to pay his car note. He is, however, allowed to pay his mother $2,500 per month for whatever job she has – we should always make room in the bankruptcy deal for mama. Vick then gives the rest of his money to lawyers, child support, and his agent, who gets $800,000 up through the year 2015. His creditors will get $12 million over the next five years as well.

Hardly the lifestyle of a baller, ya know?

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Athletes Who Left Their Teams

By now, you've heard that LeBron James has left the Cleveland Cavaliers to play for the Miami Heat. He leaves a disheveled franchise, a pissed-off owner and, most importantly, thousands of heartbroken Cleveland fans.

He's not the first athlete to leave an entire city in mourning, though. To prove it, we scrounged up a list of athletes who left their teams and left a trail of tears behind. Grab a box of Kleenex -- this isn't going to be pretty.

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Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Wayne Gretzky

The Transaction: Traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988

The Reaction: Gretzky was already a king in Edmonton. So when the owner of the team faced financial troubles and traded him to the L.A. Kings for a slew of draft picks and a pile of money, hearts all over the city broke. People even called for the Canadian government to get involved and block the trade. To this day, it's still referred to as the biggest trade in the history of sport.

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Brett Favre

The Transaction: Traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets in 2008

The Reaction: Stop us if you've heard this one: Brett Favre retired and then came back and...Okay, okay, so it's a little hard to keep track of all the times he's done it. But this trade happened after his first retirement. He wanted to rejoin the Packers but the team had moved on. So they agreed to trade him to the Jets instead, leaving many of the franchise's fans in shambles.

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Allen Iverson

The Transaction: Traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Denver Nuggets in 2006

The Reaction: A.I. was the heart and soul of the Sixers' franchise for a decade, epitomizing the toughness and resilience of a city full of sports fans that haven't had much luck when it comes to sports. So imagine what it must have felt like when Iverson ripped their hearts out and asked to be traded out of there. He's since returned-but it just isn't the same as it was, is it, Allen?

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Reggie White

The Transaction: Signed a free agent contract with the Green Bay Packers in 1993 after seven seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles

The Reaction: Allen Iverson wasn't the first franchise player to opt out of playing in the City of Brotherly Love. Eagles fans had their franchise player stolen away when Reggie White became one of the first players in the history of the NFL to use free agency to get the hell out of town when he accepted a lucrative deal with the Packers over resigning with the Eagles. Cold move, man.

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The Transaction:Traded from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975

The Reaction:Before LeBron and Shaq, there was Kareem. After dominating for a number of years in Milwaukee, Kareem asked to be traded to a major market where he could ~~find something fun to do~~ further his career. The small market team agreed-and then promptly turned into one of the least desirable places to play in the NBA. Um, see what you have to look forward to Cleveland?!

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Deion Sanders

The Transaction: Signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers in 1994 after five season with the Atlanta Falcons

The Reaction: "Prime Time" was something a cult hero in the ATL. He played baseball for the Braves, shut down wide receivers for the Falcons and even helped a young producer named Dallas Austin get his music career started! (um, not really...) So Atlanta fans were obviously upset when Deoin took his services elsewhere following the 1993 season. *shrug* Must have been the money?

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Johnny Damon

The Transaction: Signed a free agent contract with the New York Yankees in 2005 after four seasons with the Boston Red Sox

The Reaction: Picture your best friend walking up to you the day after your birthday and slugging you in the face. Now you know how Red Sox fans felt after Damon helped the Sox win the 2004 World Series and then signed with their nemesis in 2005. How'd that knife to the back feel, Sox Nation?

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Wade Boggs

The Transaction: Signed a free agent contract with the New York Yankees in 1993 after ten seasons with the Boston Red Sox

The Reaction: Before Johnny Damon, there was Wade Boggs. A lifelong Red Sox player, Boggs left the team in 1992 to take a contract from the Yankees. And to make matters worse, he was infamously photographed on the back of a police horse after the Yanks won the 1996 World Series. No, seriously, Sox fans: How. Does. That. Knife. Feel?

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

The Player: Carlos Boozer

The Transaction: Signed a free agent contract with the Utah Jazz in 2004 after three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers

The Reaction: The funny thing about the whole LeBron ordeal? It might have never went down the way it did if Carlos Boozer had resigned with the Cavaliers in 2004. Instead, in one of the most controversial free agency moves in the history of the NBA, Boozer signed with the Jazz after the Cavs had let him out of the last year of his contract in order to sign him to a long-term deal. Oops!

Athletes Who Left Their Teams

Even with his amazing play, Michael Vick can't ease too much of the financial pressure with pay increases. If his annual salary jumps to $10 million or more per year, Vick must give his creditors 40 percent of what he brings home. Perhaps through time, this financial discipline can lead Vick to engage in the act of wealth building instead of debt creation. He won't be able to run, jump and take brutal hits much longer and will need something to sustain him into middle age.

Vick's experience with sports, debt and the criminal justice system defines the travels of quite a few black athletes. Unfortunately, the prized athlete doesn't always realize that a good education in business and money management is essential for anyone earning that kind of dough at an early age. That's one outcome of the tragic reality that so many black athletes trade their educational opportunities in exchange for sports. Having debt is not always a bad thing, but thinking that you're made of money can be a problem, especially when you are providing for so many people.

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