Terrell Owens money woes highlights a sad trend in sports

Terrell Owens has returned to Texas to play football.

No, not for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, a team he once suited up for, but for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League. Owens made his debut on Feb. 25, scoring touchdowns on all three of his catches.

It's a far cry from the stardom he once reveled in, but its about the only contract the 38-year-old could command after missing the entire 2011-2012 season recovering from a major knee injury. Owens' stands to earn $500,000 for his contributions to the team, more than the NFL's minimum wage. He also gets a 50 percent ownership stake of the Wranglers. The average IFL player makes $225 a game.

Besides co-owning the Allen Wranglers, Terrell Owens will also suit up for the team

When you put that in perspective, half a million bucks is a lot of money to give to a player who will do little more than boost the publicity of the team. But why does one of the NFL's greatest wide receivers need to suit for a team he had never heard of, or for a league so far down the NFL's recruiting depth chart?

Because T.O. is broke! With no income coming in and plenty of mouths to feed, Owens net worth has been drastically reduced. While he says he isn't really broke, Owens has acknowledged that he is in jeopardy of losing everything he earned in his 15 seasons in the NFL; most notably a house he purchased for his mom.

It's the same old cycle. Boy grows up poor, gets an athletic scholarship to college, propels that into a professional career worth millions of dollars, then squanders everything on an expensive lifestyle, supporting his entire neighborhood and bad investment decisions.

Former NBA players Allen Iverson, Latrell Sprewell (who's famous for turning down a three-year, $21 million contract because it wasn't enough to feed his children, effectively ending his career,) Anthony Mason and Derrick Coleman are just a few athletes who are heavily in debt despite earning several million dollars.

Some are just guilty of mismanaging their earnings, but there's one other factor many of these athletes have in common: baby mama drama. In an interview he gave to GQ magazine, which you can read in its entirety here, Owens discusses his financial hardship, which is compounded by monthly child support payments of $44,600 he was ordered to pay to four women who bore four children for him. Though he has earned at least $80 million in his career, Owens said unlike many athletes, he never made exorbitant purchases. He said his biggest mistake was being to trusting. Trusting friends with access to his accounts, trusting financial investors to make investment choices in his behalf and engaging in a sexual relationship with each of his baby mamas despite never actually dating them.

It's a similar situation former NBA player Antoine Walker faces. Despite making $110 million in his career, Walker is now heavily in debt. Owing thousands of dollars in back child support payments to the mothers of his two daughters, Walker also blames trusting friends who squandered a chunk of his wealth in bad investments and have disappeared now that his debtors have come calling. Walker, no saint himself, is also indebted to a few Las Vegas casinos for an expensive gambling habit he picked up while rolling with NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Retired NBA veteran Antoine Walker reportedly owes millions to several debtors

Then there are the grand daddies of the child making factories: former NFL running back Travis Henry and current New York Jet Antonio Cromatie.

Henry, whose story you can read here, played six years in the league, and fathered nine children with nine women. With his first child conceived while he was in high school, Henry admitted that all but one of his children were unplanned. By the time he got into the NFL, he already had three children, but laughed his way through an NFL symposium educating rookies on the dangers of risky sexual activity. His explanation for fathering so many kids? Trusting the women when they claimed they were on birth control pills. By the time he turned 30, Henry's career was already over, and with no income coming in and plenty going out, it was no surprise when he was arrested for allegedly trafficking cocaine.

Travis Henry, no longer in the NFL, has struggled to provide for his nine children

Cromatie also has nine children he fathered with eight women across six states, one of whom he is currently married to. Cromatie, drafted in 2006, has not been in the league very long, and needed a $500,000 advance when he signed with the Jets to catch up on his child support payments. All nine kids are separated by a five-year gap. Unlike Henry, who claimed to be in long term relationships with most of his baby mamas, Cromatie, whose story you can read about here, engaged in multiple relationships simultaneously.

The N.Y. Jets cornerback fathered nine children within a five-year period

Guys, you can't make these things up.

What goes through these athletes minds when they are hitting the sack with women they barely know, yet trusting these women who say they are on the pill? No regard for the risk of picking up an STD, and certainly no regard for the possibility of bringing in an innocent child into the mix. Both Owens and Cromatie have admitted to not having any kind of relationship with at least one of their kids; apparently not really concerned about how their absences affect these kids and their future.

Which is why I have no sympathy for Owens when he talks about being ignored by friends and the NFL. You made your bed so you must lay on it. Walker, in an Outside The Lines interview, talked about discussing his story so young guys entering the league can be aware of what could happen if they don't manage their money, careers and the people around them properly. But there have been plenty of examples before him. While Walker was partying with Jordan, he could have looked up the stories of athletes like Evander Holyfield, who reportedly has fathered 11 children and blown an estimated $250 million in career earnings.

Owens recently won a petition to have child support payments to four women reduced to reflect his reduced income

At the end of the day, what these guys, and others like them, need to understand is, you can change a financial advisor who risks your money in bad investments. You can develop another career after your playing days (many athletes end up as analysts, others take up coaching or become authors,) but you can never change the mother of your children. And what some of these women have shown is they don't care if they fall to number 10 on the depth chart, they expect to get paid like they are No. 1.

If the billionaire team owners who pay your salaries won't pay the fourth or fifth guy on the depth chart what the franchise player earns, what makes you think you can afford to do just that?

My advice: stop trusting these women to recognize that your money may not always be there for the taking and start making better decisions on the people you choose to establish a lifetime bond or commitment with.