DrContrarian

Drove my son to the football training yesterday. As we passed a bus, he asked me whether they earned a lot of money. "About $20 per hour", I ventured. He was impressed. (He is 9.) I then proceeded to tell him that it wasn't that much - not with a mortgage and such. Then came the million dollar question: "How much did you make today?" The truthful answer was ... "nothing". He did not seem to really get that tomorrow or next week I might make$10k or $20k, which makes up for the all the 'nothing' days. "I am never going to go into business," he ventured. "I am going to be a sport star or an actor or a musician or something like that." I might not have made any money yesterday, or even the day before; but I got to drive my son to the football, AND sit and watch him play. Priceless - as they say in the ads. The joys of being an entrepreneur. (No footy pic on this computer...)

I run a ‘words of wisdom ticker’ on www.ganador.com.au – and one of my favourites is: Fame is the cancer of personality. It really is. Here is just one way in which fame eats away at the essence of the person, and it relates to the number of sportspeople who are currently (in Aus at least) under a drug cloud. Suddenly the public is expected to ‘allow some privacy’ for the poor souls to deal with the very stressful time in their lives. There is some sympathy from misguided commentators. The media – bless their souls – generally don’t relent because they understand the equation: Fame is a coin with two sides. Heads: to be known and admired by all, to be cheered from sidelines and the couches. The free meals and the good seats. The pretty girls and the A-list parties. Tails: to be followed by paparazzi when you are checking into rehab, the idiot that wants to fight when you are trying to have quiet night with a few mates. The pressure and the scrutiny. It is all part of the fame game...