Kosar - Filing for Bankruptcy...

[BrownsKidd]

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=116257

[Kosar_For_President]

Recessions even effects Gods.

[Guest mz.]

Goes to show one guy can keep Anheuser-Busch afloat for only so long.

[Guest AdaM]

Recessions even effects Gods.

 

 

 

We should take up a collection. theres no way he has enough beer now.

[Kosar_For_President]

My cousin delivered a pizza to him when he lived in the Penthouse of the Pink Building in Rocky River. The pizza was like $16. Kosar gave him a $50.

[Guest AdaM]

My cousin delivered a pizza to him when he lived in the Penthouse of the Pink Building in Rocky River. The pizza was like $16. Kosar gave him a $50.

 

 

So maybe he's not great at handling money.

 

 

 

Bernie, I would love to be your personal finance manager... when you get some more money, call me.

[PlaygroundLegend]

Women can bankrupt you, physically, and mentally, I hope he keeps stake in the Gladiators, they were doing very well with him on board. The stoppage of the league probably has something to do with this, he had probably planned to rake in some cash from it this year.

[Flugel]

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=116257

 

That's too bad - I hope things turn around for Bernie. ANYTHNG I ever read about him was he was WELL liked by teammates and coaches. Just think: TODAY or TOMORROW, this could be any one of us. We're all just a curveball or a changeup away from something like this.

- Tom F.

[Fooleeze]

Here's what I don't understand. . . why in the world would he owe the Cleveland Browns money??? I'm sure there's a logical explanation.

 

 

[dencyguy]

That's too bad - I hope things turn around for Bernie. ANYTHNG I ever read about him was he was WELL liked by teammates and coaches. Just think: TODAY or TOMORROW, this could be any one of us. We're all just a curveball or a changeup away from something like this.

- Tom F.

 

 

True enough, but I would point to two things: first, it has been any one of us in recent years (well, not me, since I'm a grad student and lenders would be foolish to give me anything more than a quarter for a parking meter), and second, here's a selection from the story:

 

>>Kosar's Chapter 11 filing Friday lists assets between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million.

 

Kosar owes almost $1.5 million to the Cleveland Browns, the team he quarterbacked from 1985 to 1993. Kosar also owes his ex-wife Babette $3 million and $725,000 to the owner of the Cleveland Gladiators team in the Arena Football League. He owes a bank more than $9 million for bad real estate deals.<<

 

Alimony isn't cheap, but it's nothing compared to bad investments.

 

Dennis

[ballpeen]

Here's what I don't understand. . . why in the world would he owe the Cleveland Browns money??? I'm sure there's a logical explanation.

 

He probably took a loan from Lerner

 

[Canton Mike]

Keep in mind that a "chapter 11" bankruptcy is a BUSINESS bankruptcy (restructuring) as opposed to "chapter 7" & "chapter 13" bankruptcies, which are personal. Bernie is a pretty smart guy & my bet is that he has protected assets out there.

I'm sure there are Attornies on this board who could shed more light on this.

Mike

[Kosar_For_President]

Damn you lead the most interesting life I've ever heard of. You surpass Forest Gumpf. Your on ESPN, your mother did this, your brother did

 

that, your aunt had a gazillion DUI's and did life for DUI manslaughter. Now your cousin blew BK! Man your AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

 

Dud, I mean dude, if this shit ain't flashbacks, lay off the mushrooms.

 

It's weird when I was young it seems I was always in the right place at the right time. Shit happened to me weekly. Here's another one I am particullary proud of.

 

Many people know I used to live in England and am a citizen of England, Ireland, and the US. Anyways in 1992 I was the United Kingdom Sega Champion Runner Up. I lost in the finals in front of 80,000 drunks at Old Trafford in Manchester, England.

 

What is funny about this story is before we went out at half time and played on the field we played in front of say 500 dignitaries in a back room (some English Prince xxxx was there, he was an asshole). So, I was playing the guy in soccer on the Genesis and I used Team England as my team. In the game at half time I subbed out a guy on the team named Bobby Charlton (dude is like Babe Ruth in England, scored a hat trick in 1960 World Cup). He was also the MC of the event and part owner of Sega in England. He puts the mic up to my face while I was playing and asked "why I subbed him out", I said "because your too slow". The whole room erupted in laughter because I just subbed out Babe Ruth.

 

 

I tell my girl, that I can die a happy person tomorrow from some of the shit that already has happened to me.

 

I have more stories is anyone is interested....

[Flugel]

True enough, but I would point to two things: first, it has been any one of us in recent years (well, not me, since I'm a grad student and lenders would be foolish to give me anything more than a quarter for a parking meter), and second, here's a selection from the story:

 

>>Kosar's Chapter 11 filing Friday lists assets between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million.

 

Kosar owes almost $1.5 million to the Cleveland Browns, the team he quarterbacked from 1985 to 1993. Kosar also owes his ex-wife Babette $3 million and $725,000 to the owner of the Cleveland Gladiators team in the Arena Football League. He owes a bank more than $9 million for bad real estate deals.<<

 

Alimony isn't cheap, but it's nothing compared to bad investments.

 

Dennis

 

That's very true and an excellent analysis Dennis. Relating this toward the average Joe or Missy, I read where ALOT of foreclosures on homes stemmed from the unplanned and serious injuries or illnesses that exceeded health insurance coverages. I ALSO realize there's been alot of shadey mortgages but the insurance world can be just as brutal when there's some REALLY tricky underwriting going on that companies don't want to be UPFRONT about when they're selling their disability policies to various employers. It coats their proit margins at the end of each year.

 

People gag at the sound of healthcare for all because they PREFER to think of it as Communism or Socialized Med. HOWEVER, capitalism in something that should be a RIGHT instead of a priviledge OPENS the gates to SCREWING people in need. BEFORE somebody wants to correct me about the GOVT intervening with healthcare - there's quite a FEW countries in this world that weren't as wealthy as the US ranking higher in their delivery of Healthcare in the eyes and criteria of the World Health Organization. It does NOT have to be the GOVT footing the entire bill or takigng the eniire LEAD but it sure would be nice if LEADERS worked together instead of against each other because 1 side of bipartisonship doesn't want the OTHER side getting more credit. NONE of them come from the hard working middle class either. Again, there's creative ways to get HMOs tagteaming with employers AND the govt as well as the individuals pursuing the healthcare coverage. That's 4 responsibles parties in the formula that should chip in to make the coverage doable and affordable not JUST the govt. If a sweat like me can open up for an idea - I'm guessing people that are better at financials and medicine can plan this out. It start s with an idea that requires COOPERATION and maturity from the leaders of this country.

 

It CAN be done because it SHOULD be done. I'm so sick and disappointed of 1 side pointing a finger at the other and trying to deceive people into thinking that IMPROVING everyone's ability to get healthcare means the President wants us to be a Communist Country. The forefathers of THIS nation that picked up a gun and put their lives on the line didn't do that so just a small percentage of future Americans could enjoy the quality of life that coinscides with residing in America. "Liberty and justice for ALL" doesn't sound like percentages. If your wide has a cancer diagnosis and you're one of the guys from that plant in Ohio that loses COBRA benefits when it's time to battle to keep your life alive is THAT justice? And when COBRA ends, what health insurance will accept someone with a pre-existing condition like Cancer? When does ANYONE recall worrying about this type of thing growing up in the 60s, 70s, 80s or even the 90s?

- Tom F. (Time to change the mindset about Healthcare delivery or bear witness to some unthinkable atrocities that could visit ANY one of us)

[Farang]

If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until it is free.

 

That's very true and an excellent anlysis Dennis. Relating this toward the average Joe or Missy, I read where ALOT of foreclosures on homes stemmed from the unplanned and serious injuries or illnesses that exceeded health insurance coverages. I ALSO realize there's been alot of shadey mortgages but the insurance world can be just as brutal when there's some REALLY tricky underwriting going on that companies don't want to be UPFRONT about when they're selling their disability policies to various employers. It coats their proit margins at the end of each year.

 

People gag at the sound of healthcare for all because they PREFER to think of it as Communism or Socialized Med. HOWEVER, capitalism in something that should be a RIGHT instead of a priviledge OPENS the gates to SCREWING people in need. BEFORE somebody wantsd to correct me about the GOVT intervening with healthcare - there's quite a FEW countries in this world that weren't as wealthy as the US rankign higher in their delivery of Healthcare in the eyes and crtieria of the World Health Organization. It does NOT have to be the GOVT footing the bill or takign the LEAD but it sure would be nice if LEADERS worked together instead of against each other because 1 side of bipartisonship doesb't want the OTHER side gettign more credit. Again, there's creative ways to get HMOs tagteaming with employers AND the govt as well as the individuals pursuing the healthcare coverage. That's 4 responsibles parties in tyeh formula that should chip in to make the coverage doable and affordable not JUST the govt. If a sweat like me can open up for an idea - I'm guessing people that are better at financials and medicine can plan this out. It start s with an idea that requires COOPERATION and maturity from the leaders of this country.

 

It CAN be done because it SHOULD be done. I'm so sick and disappointed of 1 side pointing a finger at the other and trying to deceive people into thinking that IMPROVING everyone's ability to get healthcare means the President wants us to be a Communist Country. The forefathers of THIS nation that picked up a gun and put their lives on the line didn't do that so just a small percentage of future Americans could enjoy the quality of life that coinscides with residing in America. "Liberty and justice for ALL" doesn't sound like percentages. If your wide has a cancer diagnosis and you're one of the guys from that plant in Ohio that loses COBRA benefits when it's time to battle to keep your life alive is THAT justice? And when COBRA ends, what health insurance will accept someone with a pre-existing condition like Cancer? When does ANYONE recall worrying about this type of thing growing up in the 60s, 70s, 80s or even the 90s?

- Tom F. (Time to change the mindset about Healthcare delivery or bear witness to some unthinkable atrocities that could visit ANY one of us)

 

[Flugel]

If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until it is free.

 

Did I say it would be FREE? That's what I'm talking about with tunnel vision. I said COMBINING HMOs with consumer with employer with GOVT for afforable healthcare for all. That's a 4 way split where GOVT helps the OLD way of HMO + consumer + employer. I NEVER said I would put a novice GOVT at running healthcare in 100% CHARGE of it's coverage mostly because I did not HAVE to. I said healthcare for all which just means affordable for all before a narrow view threw restrictions on this. I DO think somebody needs to at least prove there's a GROWING need to improve upon the wealthiest nation in the world ranking 38th behind 6 nations that have Health Care for all deliveries (according to the World Health Organization criteria in 2007). There's some UNIQUE systems to study that do it different ways. The more we see downsizing

 

I'm not MAKING UP how many people have LOST homes due to unplanned lengthy hospitalization stays. I saw a show that listed healthcare coverage as the biggest reason besides shadey mortgage companies for the massive increase in foreclosures. You think one of the LEADING causes of foreclosures in this country isn't expensive? If so, I've got quick sand for sale in Florida. This bites us in the ass in more ways than you're willing to let yourself see. Sorry. Open your mind and reseacrh different National health plans and then count HOW MANY of them are Communist Nations. Let me know what you find.

- Tom F.

 

[Farang]

I'm just saying when you get the government involved in business it screws everything up. Government is already too involved in the healthcare business.

But I thought this was a Cleveland Browns forum, why did you lead us down this tangent?

 

Did I say it would be FREE? That's what I'm talking about with tunnel vision. I said COMBINING HMOs with consumer with employer with GOVT for afforable healthcare for all. That's a 4 way split where GOVT helps the OLD way of HMO + consumer + employer. I NEVER said I would put a novice GOVT at running healthcare in 100% CHARGE of it's coverage mostly because I did not HAVE to. I said healthcare for all which just means affordable for all before a narrow view threw restrictions on this. I DO think somebody needs to at least prove there's a GROWING need to improve upon the wealthiest nation in the world ranking 38th behind 6 nations that have Health Care for all deliveries (according to the World Health Organization criteria in 2007). There's some UNIQUE systems to study that do it different ways. The more we see downsizing

 

I'm not MAKING UP how many people have LOST homes due to unplanned lengthy hospitalization stays. I saw a show that listed healthcare coverage as the biggest reason besides shadey mortgage companies for the massive increase in foreclosures. You think one of the LEADING causes of foreclosures in this country isn't expensive? If so, I've got quick sand for sale in Florida. This bites us in the ass in more ways than you're willing to let yourself see. Sorry. Open your mind and reseacrh different National health plans and then count HOW MANY of them are Communist Nations. Let me know what you find.

- Tom F.

 

[Flugel]

People lost homes because they wanted the damn loans and live outside of their means. That's the plain and simple truth. They wanted the money, they signed it, they got it. You can't blame anyone or anything else on that. that's just dumb liberalism sideshow at it's best.

 

It was a REALESTATE show that did NOT have a political agenda so STOP with that nonsense. I'm not a liberal or a conservative - I'm just telling you what the show revealed about foreclosures and the TOP reasons FOUND via survey from people that lost homes. I'm guessing when the incidence of empty homes increases in volume - someone BETTER start finding answers WHY or we've got a financial epidemic spinning out of control on our hands.

 

I SAID shadey mortgages was #1 and #2 wasn't convenient at all for you so you labelled ME for being the mailman for the show's conclusions. Are you going to be worthy of intelligent conversation or do I expect more shallow name calling in return from you?

 

The POINT is anyone with little to NO healthcare at all can enter financial ruins EVEN if they are HARD working people if thewy have encountered the misfortunes of corporate buzzsaw and/or the untimely/unplanned diagnosis of a spourse or dependent. Nobody PLANS car accidents or cancer diagnoses but they happen daily. Nobody SEES corporate buzzsaws and downsizes BUT when they live on maintence drugs for heart/diabetes/etc - the reality that COBRA only last so long and future insurers PROTECT themselves from taking in consumers with pre-existing conditions. Are we ready to discuss or are we just deep enough for namecalling Soup?

- Tom F. (MAYBE I'm getting the reminder I need as to why there is no reason to re-vist the political board. My bad!)

[Flugel]

I'm just saying when you get the government involved in business it screws everything up. Government is already too involved in the healthcare business.

But I thought this was a Cleveland Browns forum, why did you lead us down this tangent?

 

I happened to like what Dennis added to the conversation because he pointed out what happens to Americans of all socioeconomic statuses. Their spending exceeds their income and in this case - he showed what Kosar owes. My comment before that was something to the effect of what happened to Bernie could happen to any of us TODAY or TOMORROW - we're all just a curve ball or changeup away from that in life. I think THIS conversation of bankruptcy is VERY relevant when I bridge Bernie to so MANY people that have encountered financial ruins, losing their homes along with the inability to maintain healthcare coverages for their families.

 

Sorry about getting short with you Farang. I don't have a problem with you at all - I just get frustrated when people don't want to look a littler deeper than the book cover for something as vital as healthcare. There is some validity to what you say about HOW the GOVT has messed up things like SS & Medicare. That said, I just want to point there's some GREAT financial and health minds in this country that we could have researching this instead of staying content with "that won't work." If the NFL rewards innovative minds and creative leaders - why would ANYTHING else be so different? We're using an OLD idea and plans for SS and Medicare/Medicaid in the new millenium. It's outdated and requires new thinking and problem solving.

 

If I'm just an average squid, saying we should look into the Govt contributing SOME to backing the employer paid health care insurances with the employees paying a portion like I pay. It's affordable. I SAY the GOVT's help meaning they can chip in 25% of the coverage needs, which considerably helps COUNTLESS employers who cannot afford to cover their employees at this time. It CAN be done. Am I overrating America in thinking we STILL can change and progress with the times? NO, but this might be a time America needs a kick in the fanny because we're reaching epic lows with foreclosures, uninsured while corporate chainsaws are producing national highs in unemployment rates. We either meet this head on or stick with the Ostrich pose until we hit the point of no return.

- Tom F.

[osusev]

Well I think this is much ado about nothing really, Bernie probably has all kinds of different structures IE partnerships/llc's/inc/personal etc.... chapter 11 is giving Bernie much more flexibility than 13 and he is not filing a dissolution of all his debt in a chapter 7 which means his attorney's feels he can pull out of it.

 

IF he was heavily vested with real estate than he got his arse kicked like everyone else and obviously credit to operate in the midst of a loss with all of his different ventures is probably impossible.

 

Its not like he is getting kicked out of his house and he has zero money, pensions are usually protected so I am sure he is doing ok.

 

Much ado about nothing, his team is probably taking advantage of lenient overloaded BK courts to get out of payments/interest and force better terms on the money he owes in different ventures.

[daddybull1]

I think Bernies problems go far deeper than what the average fan is led to believe...

 

A lot of trash came out in the divorce proceedings and Bernie wasn't lilley white....

 

Rumor has it that Bernie got in over his head with some addictive substances which led to his marital split...

 

A few years ago he appeared pretty spacey while doing his game analysis during the pre-season games for the Browns...

 

I know his father on a social and business basis and wish nothing but the best for the kid....

 

I guess it just proves that no one is immune from the pitfalls of life....

 

peace

 

T.Dawg

[greg]

Good morning BfP. I just got back from breakfast wth EM & GK, they wanted to ask my recomendations on any last minute FA pickups

 

before the start of T camp. ( Yeah that's the ticket).

 

I sincerely apologize for doubting your veracity. I am now totally convinced that everything you say has actually happened, the only

 

question is where? Well off to lunch with Billary for some confabbing about how to deal with those pesky N Koreans & those rowdy Iranian

 

rable! (Yeah that's the ticket).

 

Got to run, the big "O" is on hold and we're trying to hash out a good time to meet. Sorry Bernie you truly are AMAZING! my mistake.

 

"YEAH THAT"S THE TICKET" By the way your sitting on a best seller when you publish your memoirs!

No need to hate Brownshirt. Does everybody have to be a Herb around here?

 

And I'm down for more vignettes Kos-maybe pm. I'll ante up.

 

On Topic: I'm sure Bernie's just fine and simply insulating himself as he welches on Lerner and his other obligations. Reaal nice for your legacy Bern Dawg.

[ndneighbor]

Edit: I cured my laziness long enough to paste this. Bernie is still as fascinating as ever.

 

 

Here's a terrific read if you'd like a more in depth article on Bernie.

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/1106965.html

 

 

Ex-football star Bernie Kosar continues to fight through the pain

A star in sports and business, the ex-quarterback is now struggling with bankruptcy, a broken marriage and a broken-down body.

 

 

 

BY DAN LE BATARD

dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com

 

The IRS and the creditors and an angry ex-wife and an avalanche of attorneys are circling the chaos that used to be Bernie Kosar's glamorous life, but that's not the source of his anxiety at the moment. He is doing a labored lap inside his Weston mansion, the one on the lake near the equestrian playpen for horses, because he wants to be sure there are no teenage boys hiding, attempting to get too close to his three daughters. He shattered a Kid Rock-autographed guitar the other day while chasing one teenager out of his house because he doesn't mind all of the other boys within the area code thinking the Kosar girls have an unhinged Dad.

 

''There are a million doors in this place,'' he says. ``Too many ways to get in.''

 

So up and down the spiral staircases he goes, a rumpled mess wearing a wrinkled golf shirt, disheveled graying hair, and the scars and weariness from a lifetime's worth of beatings. He has no shoes on, just white socks with the NFL logo stitched on because he's never really been able to let go of who he used to be. He is coughing up phlegm from a sickness he is certain arrived with all the recent stress of divorce and debt, and now he doesn't walk so much as wobble his way into one of the closets upstairs, where he happens upon some painful, wonderful memories he keeps sealed in a plastic cup.

 

His teeth are in there. So is the surgical screw that finally broke through the skin in his ankle because of how crooked he walked for years. He broke that ankle in the first quarter of a game against the Dolphins in 1992; he threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter anyway. Don Shula called him the following day to salute him on being so tough, but Kosar is paying for it with every step he takes today on uneven footing. The old quarterback shakes the rattling cup, then grins. There are about as many real teeth in the cup as there are in what remains of his smile.

 

''I never wore a mouthpiece,'' he says. ``I had to live and die with my audibles. We played on pavement/AstroTurf back then. Getting hit by Lawrence Taylor was only the beginning of the problem.''

 

So much pain in his life. He heads back downstairs gingerly.

 

''I need hip replacement,'' he says.

 

He pulls his jeans down a bit to reveal the scar from the surgery to repair his broken back.

 

''Disks fused together,'' he says.

 

Concussions?

 

''A lot,'' he says. ``I don't know how many.''

 

He holds out all 10 gnarled fingers. ''All of these have been broken at least once,'' he says. ``Most of them twice.''

 

Broke both wrists, too.

 

The game was fast and muscled. He was neither. He was always the giraffe trying to survive among lions. Still is, really. He has merely traded one cutthroat arena in which people compete for big dollars for another, and today's is a hell of a lot less fun than the one that made him famous. More painful, too, oddly enough.

 

Kosar holds up his left arm and points to the scar on his elbow.

 

''Have a cadaver's ligament in there,'' he says.

 

And that's the good arm. He bends over and lets both arms hang in front of him. His throwing arm is as crooked as a boomerang.

 

''I can't straighten it,'' he says. ``I started breaking at 30 years old. Once you start breaking, you keep breaking.''

 

The doorbell rings. It's his assistant with the papers he needs to autograph. She puts all the legalese from four folders in front of him on a coffee table that is low to the ground. A groaning Kosar, 45, gets down very slowly onto the rug until he is symbolically on his hands and knees at the center of what used to be his glamorous life. And then he signs the documents that begin the process of filing for bankruptcy.

 

''Let me tell you something, bro,'' he says. ``It was all worth it.''

 

UNTIL THE BITTER END

 

Brett Favre has made a spectacular public mess of his career punctuation because of how very hard it is for even the strongest among us to leave behind the applause for good. It is difficult for any man to retire when so much of his identity and self-worth and validation is tied up in his job, what he does invariably becoming a lopsided amount of who he is. But it is especially hard on quarterbacks because of how much of America's most popular game they literally hold in their hands. That kind of control -- over other strong men, over huddles, over winning, over entire swaying stadiums and their surrounding cities -- is just about impossible to let go . . . as is the attendant attention, ego, importance, popularity, fun and life. Running backs retire early sometimes because of the beatings, but quarterbacks never do. Joe Namath finished wearing a Rams helmet, Joe Montana ended with the Chiefs after 40, and Dan Marino got pushed out after losing 62-7 -- and now Favre wanders the earth so lost and searching that he's about to put on the uniform of his greatest enemy. Kings don't quit kingdoms voluntarily.

 

But there's no preparing you for the silence that comes after all you've heard is cheering. A quarterback will never feel more alive anywhere than he does at the conquering center of everything in sports. His is by consensus the most difficult job in athletics, and it requires an obsessive-compulsive attention to detail. The most diligent and consumed become Peyton Manning and Tom Brady; the talented and lazy become Ryan Leaf. And sometimes they sculpt their singular and all-consuming skill to the detriment of the balance needed for the rest of life's tacklers. Bills? Errands? Adulthood? Those things get handed off sometimes because, whether it is the offensive line or family and friends huddled around their income source, the quarterback must always be protected or everyone loses.

 

ON AND OFF THE FIELD

 

Kosar was one of the smart ones. He graduated from the University of Miami in 2 ½ years. He was smart enough to go a record 308 pass attempts without an interception. Smart enough to help build several businesses after football, with a 6 percent interest in a customer-service outsourcing company that sold for more than $500 million. Smart enough to have a wing of the business school at the University of Miami named after him. But now that the maids and wife are gone, you know how he feels walking into a grocery store by himself for the first time?

 

''Overwhelmed,'' he says.

 

He is like an embryo in the real world. The huddle gave him strength and purpose and enough fame and money that he never had to do much of anything for himself. Never had to grow, really, as anything but a quarterback. He says his kids (ages 17, 16, 12 and 9) grew up in a world where ''their idea of work was telling the maid to clean their room.'' And even the live-in maids had assistants. So now they're all trying to figure it out together, four kids led by a 45-year-old one.

 

Do you know how to wash clothes, Bernie?

 

''No,'' he says.

 

Iron a shirt?

 

''No,'' he says.

 

Start the dishwasher?

 

''No,'' he says.

 

He just learned the other day, after much trying and failing, how to make his own coffee. This is a man who owned his own jet and helped found companies, plural. But when his new girlfriend came over recently and found him trying to cook with his daughters, she couldn't believe what was on the kitchen island to cut the French bread. A saw.

 

''I was 25 and everyone was telling me that I was the smartest; now I'm 45 and realize I'm an idiot,'' he says. ``I'm 45 and immature. I don't like being 45.''

 

He still finds himself doodling plays on napkins in the kitchen. Running companies doesn't feel as rewarding as working with a high school or college tight end on routes. The only post-quarterback jobs that have given him any sort of joy are the ones near football: broadcasting Cleveland Browns games; running a company that created football websites and magazines; buying an Arena Football League team. But it isn't the same. Not nearly. As he tries to reorganize his life in a dark period that leaves his mind racing and sleepless, the people he quotes aren't philosophers and poets. They are coaches.

 

Like when he was at the University of Miami, for example. He was the weakest kid on the team. He was mortified when his statuesque competition, Vinny Testaverde, walked onto campus and bench-pressed 325 pounds a bunch of times. Kosar got 185 up just once, with arms shaking. So he went to Coach Howard Schnellenberger and, sweating and trying not to tremble, told him he was going to transfer. And now he quotes the old pipe-smoking coach and applies those lessons from nearly three decades ago to today: ``Son, I'm not going to lie. It doesn't look good for you. But wherever you go in life, there's competition. The guys who run home to mommy tend to be quitters their whole life.''

 

Kosar won. Won huge. Won the job and the national championship in a flabbergasting upset of Nebraska to begin Miami's unprecedented football run through the next two decades.

 

That seems like so long ago. As creditors close in and his divorce has gotten messy in public, Kosar has had some suicidal thoughts, but he says, 'I couldn't quit on my kids. I'm not a quitter. I'm not going to quit on them or me. I got here with hard work. I'll get out of this with hard work. No wallowing. No `woe is me.' I'm great at making money. And, as we've found out, I'm great at spending it. What I'm not great at is managing it.''

 

THE PANGS OF LOSS

 

It is hard to believe he filed a bankruptcy petition on Friday, but a bad economy, bad advice, a bad divorce and a bad habit of not being able to say ''no'' have ravaged him. He says financial advisors he loved and trusted mismanaged his funds, doing things like losing $15 million in one quick burst. There's a $4.2 million judgment against him from one bank. A failed real-estate project in Tampa involving multi-family properties. A steakhouse collapsing with a lawsuit. Tax trouble.

 

His finances have never been something he controlled. He graduated on July 14, 1985, was at two-a-day NFL workouts six days later, and immediately got on the learning treadmill at full speed, always feeling like he was catching up because his team wasn't very good; and his receivers were worse than the ones he had at UM, and everyone on the other side of the ball was very fast, and he was very slow, and the only advantage he would have was being smarter. Dad would handle the bills; the son had to handle the Bills.

 

And he was always rewarded for being consumed that way. That's how the weakest and least physically gifted guy on the field once threw for 489 yards in an NFL playoff game. But that huddle eventually breaks, and the men who formed it break, too. Depression. Drugs. Drinking. Divorce. You'll find it all as retired football players cope with the kinds of losses teammates can't help you with -- a loss of identity, self-worth, youth, relevance.

 

A recent Sports Illustrated article estimated that, within two years of leaving football, an astounding 78 percent of players are either bankrupt or in financial distress over joblessness and divorce. And over the years, a lot of those old teammates have asked Kosar to borrow a hundred grand here, a hundred-fifty grand there. He knew then that he wouldn't be getting it back. But, as the quarterback -- always the quarterback -- you help your teammates up.

 

How much has he lent teammates over the years without being repaid?

 

''Eight figures,'' he says.

 

Friends and family?

 

''Eight figures,'' he says.

 

Charities, while putting nearly 100 kids through school on scholarships? ``Well over eight figures.''

 

When it became public earlier this month that the Panthers hockey team would be sold and that Kosar would be getting a minority-owner percentage of the $240 million price, his phone rang all weekend with people asking for help. Calls after midnight on Friday. Calls before 7 a.m. on Sunday.

 

''Everyone with a sob story came flooding back,'' he says. Then there's the divorce. It has been a public disaster, with him being accused of several addictions, of erratic behavior and of giving away the couple's money. Bernie says he has no interest in fighting with his estranged wife publicly or privately because ''I can't live vengefully in front of my kids. Why subject them to that? I don't want to fight anybody. I don't want hate or anger in their life. I may hurt me, but I wouldn't hurt anybody else.'' He speaks with a slur and admits there has been drinking and pain medication in his past, but says the only thing he's addicted to is football.

 

Drugs? Alcohol? ''Would my kids be living with me if that were really the case?'' he asks. ``If I did 10 percent of things I'm accused of, I'd be dead.''

 

He says the divorce has cost him between $4 and $5 million already.

 

''That's just fees,'' he says. ``And they keep coming. Attorneys charge $600 an hour just to screw things up more.''

 

And here's the worst part: ''I don't want to get divorced,'' he says. ``I'm Catholic, and I'm loyal, and I still love her.''

 

CHALLENGES AHEAD

 

He has poured himself into being Dad, but it isn't easy. Kids listen more from 2 to 10 years old. But now there are the perpetual parental concerns of cars, driving, drinking, drugs, sex.

 

''I'm outnumbered now,'' he says.

 

And he has no clue how to help girls become women, although he gets moved to the brink of tears when his girls tell him they appreciate how hard he's trying. He wept like a child when his daughter painted him a picture of herself smiling and signed it with love. He has found therapy in learning how to clean the house with the kids and dealing with life's smaller headaches. Just the other day, while in a 10-hour bankruptcy meeting with 10 attorneys that left him ''humbled and in pain and feeling betrayed'' as he took a detailed inventory of his life, he excused himself with a smile because one of his daughters -- the oldest of his children lives with him full time, the others part time -- was calling with some sort of popularity crisis.

 

''The worst feeling in the world is being Dad on Friday night at home at midnight and they haven't gotten home yet,'' he says.

 

His daughter rolled her car the other day, getting ejected as it sank into a lake.

 

''Memorial Day, I should have been doing the funeral for her,'' he says. ``This other chaos is just stuff. Money. I'll make more. It feels bad. It sucks the life and energy out of you and is a relentless drain. But I'm going to come out of this fine. I always get up.''

 

There are photos all over his mansion. Many of them are not up. They are on the floor, leaning against the walls. He'll learn how to hang them soon enough. He goes over and grabs the one by the fireplace. In it, he is in the pocket with the Browns, and everything is collapsing all around him. You can see Kosar's offensive linemen either beaten or back-pedaling. His left tackle is on the ground, staring as his missed assignment blurs toward the quarterback's blind side. But the ball is already in the air, frozen in flight, headed perfectly to the only teammate who has a step in a sea of Steelers. It is a work of art, that photo. You can see clearly that the play is going to work. And you can see just as clearly that Kosar is going to get crushed.

 

Kosar runs his fingers along the frame. This is what his life once was and what it is now -- a swirl of chaos and pain and danger surrounding a man who has to remain in control for the people around him as everything feels like it is falling apart.

 

''I just wanted to play football,'' the old quarterback says.

 

A laugh and a pause.

 

``Actually, I still do.''

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ndneighbor]

I almost started a separate thread for post #26 but I thought 1 Kosar thread was enough.

 

Just bumping this for the Kosar fans who might otherwise miss it.

[Mark O]

"Bernie, Bernie" 2009 version

 

Bernie, Bernie

Oh!

Said hey now you're broke--

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

 

 

©2009 by Joseph Sixpack

all rights reserved

 

 

Wow....the creativity of those lyrics has me speechless...

 

You should be a writer....

 

[lemosley01]

The cost of having tens of millions of uninsured people is a mega drag on our system, by the way. And so is antiquated technology. The savings in those two areas will allow us to offer federally backed insurance to those who want it... and not to you who don't. It's really win-win. And pretty inevitable, I think.

 

Shep, The CBO disagrees with you. If the savings will allow us to cover those without insurance, then why are they trying to figure out ways to pay for it? BTW, the current plans STILL only insure 1/3rd of the uninsured. At a cost of 1.6TRILLION over 10 years.

 

How is it 'win-win' when my taxes increase by $2000 or $3000 a year by taxing my benefits? I get nothing out of it - I still have my healthcare and pay for that. My copays don't go down, nor do my deductibles; now I get to pay for insurance I don't use. That seems like a 'lose' for me and millions of other middle and well-to-do families that now pay more taxes.

 

What happens when business figure out they don't need to pay for health insurance when the government will provide it for their employees? So much for keeping my insurance. And the cost just went up more because 350million people are all on the dole.

 

If we insure the '10s of millions' of uninsured, how does that reduce the drag on the system and cut costs? All it does is spread them out. Someone has to pay the costs of care for the uninsured, whether it is the insurance company (passing that cost on in the form of higher premiums), or the people that pay their medical bills (in the form of higher costs from the hospital). That money STILL has to come from somewhere. Now those tens of millions of people have 'free' insurance and will run to the doctor anytime they get a sniffle, instead of using it more conservatively as they may have been. I KNOW this will happen because it happens with the HMOs we currently have in place.

 

There is a reason socialized medical systems all over the world are on the verge of failure. Why is it that we think we can make something work that has never worked? That's insanity.

 

It doesn't matter because we CAN'T AFFORD IT.

 

I will wager whatever price tag they put on this in the first year, it will be at LEAST 10% higher than 'anticipated', and it will only grow from there. If we start this giant program, it will either be rationed in a few short years, or this country will be bankrupt in 20 years - then we'll ALL be equally poor and have equally shitty healthcare. Won't THAT be something.

 

Fix immigration (we don't need to give everyone south of the border one more reason to come here), and fix the deficit, THEN maybe we can worry about the uninsured. The interest on the deficit alone would probably cover healthcare for 50% of the country. I'd be happy to roll the interest from the debt back into this country rather than lining foreign investors pockets.

 

We've got this huge debt sucking away at us, and, unlike people who have reached their limit and begin to try to pay their bills down, our government just borrows more.

 

The government runs VA hospitals, medicaid/medicare, and social security, not to mention public schools systems.

 

The Government ran the response to Katrina.

 

Why would ANYONE want them to get involved in healthcare?

[Brownshirt]

Here's a terrific read if you'd like a more in depth article on Bernie.

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/story/1106965.html

 

 

Thanks so much for that excellent article. Without a doubt the best sports story I've read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brownshirt]

"Bernie, Bernie" 2009 version

 

Bernie, Bernie

Oh!

Said hey now you're broke--

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

 

 

©2009 by Joseph Sixpack

all rights reserved

 

You will rot in hell. I hope they take away your welfare and food stamps! Vermin

 

[Silverback]

Recessions even effects Gods.

 

God's have losing records?

[Pumpkin Eater]

God's have losing records?

 

 

god's? What belongs to the gods?

 

Your ignorance is amusing. Next time try not to write your pathetic attempt at a snarky comment as if you were illiterate (I know it's not your fault, you are from Pittsburgh). Good old Slivercock. Your igorance is always good for more than a few laughs.