Now that Vince Young’s financial struggles have been publicized, the stories about the quarterback’s out-of-control spending are emerging.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Young is suing former business advisers and blaming them for his financial problems. He apparently has very little money left despite earning $26 million guaranteed from his playing career, and reportedly around $30 million in endorsement deals. Even though it looks like Young spent around $60 million, that figure is pre-taxes, so we’re probably looking at an amount of $35 million that he spent — still an absurd figure.
So how did he blow through so much? Some of the following tales should give us a good idea.
Clay Travis’ radio show in Nashville, “Three Hour Lunch,” took calls on Wednesday from people who shared their Vince Young stories. Travis wrote about the stories on his website Outkick the Coverage (you can listen to the stories here).
According to people who served Young and other Titans at restaurants, or interacted with him in other ways, the former Tennessee quarterback would spend thousand of dollars at restaurants like T.G.I. Friday’s or Cheesecake Factory.
One person who claimed he used to work at Cheesecake Factory says that Young and the Titans came into the restaurant after every game during the 2006 season. He says the players would order a few items from each page of the menu, and that they would drink a bunch of alcohol. He said the bill would be at least $4,000 each time, and that Young always paid the check.
Another favorite spot for Young and his teammates was T.G.I. Friday’s in Nashville. Young used to hang out there and liked having the bartenders make him a specific drink — a melon ball. The person who shared the story says Young once had a bill of around $6,000 at the restaurant.
Perhaps the story that tops them all comes from a woman who was on a flight from Nashville to Houston in 2007 that Vince Young supposedly bought out. The woman says she was flying home as a freshman in college and that there was hardly anyone there when she arrived at the gate. When she got on the plane, she says there was one person up front — Vince Young — and about only 10 other people on the flight. This woman was told by a flight attendant that Young had bought out the rest of the seats — about 120 tickets — presumably so he could have nearly a private flight. The woman who shared the story says Young also paid someone $200 to carry his luggage. If you figure the tickets cost $100 each, that would be around $12,000 to buy out the flight.
Vince Young wasn’t the only former Titan whose name came up in these stories. Ex-Tennessee running back LenDale White cultivated a reputation as quite a party animal.
In several of the stories various servers shared, there were mentions of White drinking shots and/or bottles of tequila. One person said that White once walked into a Dave & Buster’s, ordered chicken wings, nachos, and 75 shots of Patron, stayed no more than 30 minutes, paid $1,500, and left. Yes, White would order Patron by the tray.
The stories about LenDale are not at all surprising; in 2009, White said that he dropped 37 pounds by cutting Patron out of his diet.
As part of his lawsuit, Young claims that his managers impersonated him and forged his name. He’s trying to blame others for his financial downfall. People are being asked to believe one side or the other, and I’m leaning towards believing that Young was just careless with his money and didn’t choose to be involved, and that’s why he’s saying a lot of these things were done without his consent. He probably thought he had so much money that he never needed to worry, and now that it’s gone, he’s figuring out whom to blame.
Though I blame Young for allowing this to happen, one thing I will keep in mind is that he seemed to be generous with his money. It would be really cool for some of his former teammates, some of the people he tipped extremely well, and some of the businesses he supported, to come together to try and help him out now that he needs it.
