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Luke Willson was a Seahawk for one day, and has retired due to health issues (buildup of fluid around heart). Best wishes Luke, we enjoyed watching you and much enjoyed listening to you....

....and Mike Holmgren and Matt Hasselbeck go into the Ring of Honor. They gave us our first Super Bowl experience (and most think they should have been the winner) and I'm glad to see them in.

TriCitySam wrote:Luke Willson was a Seahawk for one day, and has retired due to health issues (buildup of fluid around heart). Best wishes Luke, we enjoyed watching you and much enjoyed listening to you....

....and Mike Holmgren and Matt Hasselbeck go into the Ring of Honor. They gave us our first Super Bowl experience (and most think they should have been the winner) and I'm glad to see them in.

Wow, that was quick with Luke. I just saw this morning that we'd resigned him. It would have been his third time around with us. Good receiving tight end. Hope his medical condition isn't serious.

The Walrus and Hass both are well deserving of the ROH. It was a foregone conclusion that they'd be included at some point in time. Hass was always one of my favorite personalities, a true leader.

Hass was always one of my favorite personalities, a true leader.

Absolutely! If his NFL career didn't pan out, he could've made it in stand up comedy.

Hass was always one of my favorite personalities, a true leader.

Vegaseahawk wrote:Absolutely! If his NFL career didn't pan out, he could've made it in stand up comedy.

Indeed, he could be a stand up comic. I remember him telling about his getting his first fan mail of his professional career as a Packer quarterback that read "Could you please get me Bret Favre's signature as he won't answer my letters." I can also recall some of his defensive teammates teasing him about being "follicly challenged", a reference to his bald head. I always got the impression that he was a stand up guy and a locker room favorite.

Pretty hard to argue with these choices. Poor Luke, I am like River, when I first read that I thought he was back.

I hope Willson was smart with his money. He only made about $10 M over his career, and even though that's a lot by most of our standards,
young people tend to think it's going to last forever and don't plan well. I would like to see him get some type of work in the media as he's
a guy that's interesting to listen to and can be quite funny.

NorthHawk wrote:I hope Willson was smart with his money. He only made about $10 M over his career, and even though that's a lot by most of our standards,
young people tend to think it's going to last forever and don't plan well. I would like to see him get some type of work in the media as he's
a guy that's interesting to listen to and can be quite funny.

"Only" $10 million? If that wasn't enough for him to be set for life, not to mention the name recognition and other opportunities that come with being a former NFL player, then he's a damn fool.

It seems a lot, but there are expenses, lifestyle, and the stupidity of youth that may or may not be
a factor, but I don’t know his mindset about money. There are a lot of athletes who made more and now
have nothing, so i hope he was smart about it.

NorthHawk wrote:It seems a lot, but there are expenses, lifestyle, and the stupidity of youth that may or may not be a factor, but I don’t know his mindset about money. There are a lot of athletes who made more and now have nothing, so i hope he was smart about it.

Boy, that would have to be one helluva lot of expenses, lifestyle, and stupidity to blow that kind of scratch. Let's put that $10M in perspective for a minute. If a husband and wife make $200k per year between the two of them, pretty darn good money for a combined income and way more than my wife and I ever made, they would have to work 25 years to equal the kind of cash Luke made in 9. Plus a 9 year veteran NFL player gets extraordinary benefits, ie pension, health care, etc, far in excess of what Joe Six Pack can get by working at the lumber mill. If all Luke did was save 1/5th of that $10M and only got a 5% annual return, that's still $100,000/year in earnings he could live off of.

I hope Luke was smart about his money, too, and judging by the way he holds himself, I have no doubt that he has. But I have zero sympathy for him, or anyone else for that matter, if expenses, lifestyle, and the stupidity of youth causes one to blow $10M.

Boy, that would have to be one helluva lot of expenses, lifestyle, and stupidity to blow that kind of scratch. Let's put that $10M in perspective for a minute. If a husband and wife make $200k per year between the two of them, pretty darn good money for a combined income and way more than my wife and I ever made, they would have to work 25 years to equal the kind of cash Luke made in 9. Plus a 9 year veteran NFL player gets extraordinary benefits, ie pension, health care, etc, far in excess of what Joe Six Pack can get by working at the lumber mill. If all Luke did was save 1/5th of that $10M and only got a 5% annual return, that's still $100,000/year in earnings he could live off of.

I hope Luke was smart about his money, too, and judging by the way he holds himself, I have no doubt that he has. But I have zero sympathy for him, or anyone else for that matter, if expenses, lifestyle, and the stupidity of youth causes one to blow $10M.

River, IF I had 2 million tax free dollars I would buy a home at the end of the road here in Wilsonville, Or, a Black Corvette Stingray, and live of the interest of the other million. Sorry I have 0 sympathy for those that have millions and poop it off.

RiverDog wrote:Boy, that would have to be one helluva lot of expenses, lifestyle, and stupidity to blow that kind of scratch. Let's put that $10M in perspective for a minute. If a husband and wife make $200k per year between the two of them, pretty darn good money for a combined income and way more than my wife and I ever made, they would have to work 25 years to equal the kind of cash Luke made in 9. Plus a 9 year veteran NFL player gets extraordinary benefits, ie pension, health care, etc, far in excess of what Joe Six Pack can get by working at the lumber mill. If all Luke did was save 1/5th of that $10M and only got a 5% annual return, that's still $100,000/year in earnings he could live off of.

I hope Luke was smart about his money, too, and judging by the way he holds himself, I have no doubt that he has. But I have zero sympathy for him, or anyone else for that matter, if expenses, lifestyle, and the stupidity of youth causes one to blow $10M.

After or before taxes? 10 million dollars before deductions sees 4 million going to the tax man right off the bat. If you're in Cali or another high state income tax state, there goes another million. So that 10 million drops to 5 million real quick.

Could you imagine have to shell out 5 million a year to the tax man? Damn that would suck.

RiverDog wrote:Boy, that would have to be one helluva lot of expenses, lifestyle, and stupidity to blow that kind of scratch. Let's put that $10M in perspective for a minute. If a husband and wife make $200k per year between the two of them, pretty darn good money for a combined income and way more than my wife and I ever made, they would have to work 25 years to equal the kind of cash Luke made in 9. Plus a 9 year veteran NFL player gets extraordinary benefits, ie pension, health care, etc, far in excess of what Joe Six Pack can get by working at the lumber mill. If all Luke did was save 1/5th of that $10M and only got a 5% annual return, that's still $100,000/year in earnings he could live off of.

I hope Luke was smart about his money, too, and judging by the way he holds himself, I have no doubt that he has. But I have zero sympathy for him, or anyone else for that matter, if expenses, lifestyle, and the stupidity of youth causes one to blow $10M.

Aseahawkfan wrote:After or before taxes? 10 million dollars before deductions sees 4 million going to the tax man right off the bat. If you're in Cali or another high state income tax state, there goes another million. So that 10 million drops to 5 million real quick.

Could you imagine have to shell out 5 million a year to the tax man? Damn that would suck.

Hard to say what a guy like Luke pays in taxes, but I doubt that it's $4-5M. California, where Luke played just one season, the top bracket is 12.3%, Michigan and Maryland less than half that, and Washington, where he played the vast majority of his career, doesn't have an income tax. The top bracket for federal taxes is 37%, and you have to figure that he can substantially reduce his tax burden with various deductions. As we all know, rich people have more deductions available to them than us common folk.

But even if he did pay $5M in taxes, that still leaves a huge chunk of change when you figure he doesn't have to pay for medical insurance and has a very generous pension plan he can draw from, not to mention that he likely has a world of employment opportunities. A 9 year NFL veteran that made $10M over his career and that has any kind of common sense isn't going to be hurting for money.

That's the problem with some people. They don't have common sense with their money. I have no idea if Luke is like that or not, but
there are a bunch of former high profile athletes that made far more than Willson who have run into money problems just by making
poor decisions.

NorthHawk wrote:That's the problem with some people. They don't have common sense with their money. I have no idea if Luke is like that or not, but there are a bunch of former high profile athletes that made far more than Willson who have run into money problems just by making
poor decisions.

I'm not sure how many constitutes "a bunch", but I agree that, as in all walks of life, there are some. The lack of personal finance skills is a pet peeve of mine, and I could bore you to death by relating my experience with people that were stupid with their money.

My point is that the simple fact that a person has millions means that they have a much wider margin for error, that they can afford to make a lot of poor decisions with their money and still have a bundle left over, and even if they did blow everything, a 31 year old former professional athlete still has enough earning years ahead of them along with opportunities not available to the common man to make a comfortable living. It's not something I'd be overly concerned about, especially when you look at how well Luke presents himself to the public. I'd be a helluva lot more worried about his health than I would his financial stability.

When asked about what's next for him his reply was along the lines of 'I don't know. All I've done for the last 20 years is play football'.
He is personable, though and comes across as one of the guys when being interviewed or talking about the game. He was also a
good Baseball player, too and I think he was drafted by the Blue Jays, so there might be a place for him in the sports realm.

NorthHawk wrote:When asked about what's next for him his reply was along the lines of 'I don't know. All I've done for the last 20 years is play football'. He is personable, though and comes across as one of the guys when being interviewed or talking about the game. He was also a
good Baseball player, too and I think he was drafted by the Blue Jays, so there might be a place for him in the sports realm.

Plus he graduated from one of the more respected colleges in the country at Rice University, which looks pretty damn good on a resume, and as you said, he appears very personable and was well liked by his teammates. The young man has a lot of options. Given his health issues, I'm glad he had the common sense to get out when he did.

RiverDog wrote:Hard to say what a guy like Luke pays in taxes, but I doubt that it's $4-5M. California, where Luke played just one season, the top bracket is 12.3%, Michigan and Maryland less than half that, and Washington, where he played the vast majority of his career, doesn't have an income tax. The top bracket for federal taxes is 37%, and you have to figure that he can substantially reduce his tax burden with various deductions. As we all know, rich people have more deductions available to them than us common folk.

But even if he did pay $5M in taxes, that still leaves a huge chunk of change when you figure he doesn't have to pay for medical insurance and has a very generous pension plan he can draw from, not to mention that he likely has a world of employment opportunities. A 9 year NFL veteran that made $10M over his career and that has any kind of common sense isn't going to be hurting for money.

It would be very interesting to see what an athlete actually makes after taxes, agent fees, and the like. I do imagine they have a lot of write offs as accountants specializing in managing athlete money are out there making sure to maximize their deductions and tax protections.

I agree with you for the most part. Someone making the money they make should do well if they don't live too far beyond their means. I tend to think that way about most people, even in lower income brackets. The vast majority of people live beyond their means and don't manage their money intelligently regardless of how much they make. Not sure the percentage of athletes do this compared to the regular population. But I've known more people who manage their money badly than I do who manage it well. They do like athletes crying poverty or inequity when the majority of their economic issues are self-inflicted. It would not surprise me at all if a lot of athletes blew their fortunes just as many regular people in their circumstances would probably mismanage their money into a lesser life than they should have had.

RiverDog wrote:Hard to say what a guy like Luke pays in taxes, but I doubt that it's $4-5M. California, where Luke played just one season, the top bracket is 12.3%, Michigan and Maryland less than half that, and Washington, where he played the vast majority of his career, doesn't have an income tax. The top bracket for federal taxes is 37%, and you have to figure that he can substantially reduce his tax burden with various deductions. As we all know, rich people have more deductions available to them than us common folk.

But even if he did pay $5M in taxes, that still leaves a huge chunk of change when you figure he doesn't have to pay for medical insurance and has a very generous pension plan he can draw from, not to mention that he likely has a world of employment opportunities. A 9 year NFL veteran that made $10M over his career and that has any kind of common sense isn't going to be hurting for money.

It would be very interesting to see what an athlete actually makes after taxes, agent fees, and the like. I do imagine they have a lot of write offs as accountants specializing in managing athlete money are out there making sure to maximize their deductions and tax protections.

Aseahawkfan wrote:I agree with you for the most part. Someone making the money they make should do well if they don't live too far beyond their means. I tend to think that way about most people, even in lower income brackets. The vast majority of people live beyond their means and don't manage their money intelligently regardless of how much they make. Not sure the percentage of athletes do this compared to the regular population. But I've known more people who manage their money badly than I do who manage it well. They do like athletes crying poverty or inequity when the majority of their economic issues are self-inflicted. It would not surprise me at all if a lot of athletes blew their fortunes just as many regular people in their circumstances would probably mismanage their money into a lesser life than they should have had.

A fool and their money are soon parted.

As I mentioned to North Hawk, personal finance is a huge pet peeve of mine. I once worked for a company that got bought out and our former employer kicked everyone out of their 401K plan and gave us 3 options: Roll it over into our new employers plan, put it in a qualified individual IRA account, or take it all in cash minus taxes and the early withdrawal penalty of 10%. I was in the HR office when they were mating the checks of people that opted to take their money from the old 401K plan in cash to each individual's next paycheck to be handed out the next day and there were literally hundreds of envelopes in a large, apple box sized carton that had to represent at least half of our employees. It's maddening to try to rationalize with some of those people.