The lack of money is the root of all evil!
As paychecks become even more delayed I have really pondered the balance between financial stability and tranquility. The pure enjoyment of the basketball game becomes somewhat ambiguous when we become conscious of what the game can come to represent as we become professional athletes. It has been said so many times before that basketball can be used as a medium to launch oneself into a different kind of lifestyle. It is, in fact, the tool most of us basketball players use to define our life and existence. It is our guidance in life. It is what motivates us and pushes us forward in everything we do, not only athletics per say. But once we become defined by basketball, everything else tends to become more and more complicated. When basketball becomes the main outlet for our financial needs, we tend to be worried about other things but the game itself. And it is hard not to be. Some players have wives/girlfriends and children to support. The pressure to perform sometimes outweighs the pure pleasure of just playing the game. We still love it more than ever, but it is not the same liberated game we started out playing in the school yard so many years ago. Once you attach money to basketball, and thus everything else, the game transforms into a serious business with incentives that we essentially rely on to remain in peace. Take away those incentives and we lose trust in the foundation of basketball that once gave us consistency in life.
"The lack of money is the root of all evil."
- Mark Twain
