oh the humanity http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=650452 I guess skipping the payments on a 1.5 million dollar boat allows for a bit more food on the table. Sprewell yacht repossessed Former NBA star has defaulted on mortgage loan, bank says By RICK ROMELL rromell@journalsentinel.com Posted: Aug. 21, 2007 When a man has to think about putting food on the table, it can be difficult to keep a yacht. Former professional basketball star Latrell Sprewell, who three years ago rejected a $21 million contract offer, calling it insulting and saying he had a family to feed, had his 70-foot, $1.5 million, Italian-built yacht repossessed Tuesday. Armed with an order from U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Callahan Jr., a federal marshal seized the vessel in Manitowoc, where it sat in storage. Callahan is presiding in a court case filed by a New York bank that claims the yacht's owner, a company run by Sprewell, has defaulted on a mortgage loan. The firm, LSF Marine Holdings, hasn't made monthly payments of $10,322 on time and hasn't maintained the necessary insurance on the vessel, North Fork Bank alleges. It wants the yacht, "Milwaukee's Best," sold to pay off the $1.3 million it says is remaining on the loan. Sprewell has guaranteed the loan personally, a contract filed with the court shows. He could not be reached for comment on the repossession. A Milwaukee native, Sprewell, 36, played for 13 years in the NBA. He was known for a slashing style, steely intensity and a fierceness that sometimes got him in trouble - most notably when he was suspended during the 1997-'98 season for choking his coach. Sprewell last played in 2004-'05 for the Minnesota Timberwolves. At the beginning of that season, he spurned the team's offer of a three-year, $21 million contract extension. In the midst of Sprewell's acrimonious negotiations with the club, a reporter with the Star Tribune in Minneapolis asked him if he would be interested in playing out the final year on his existing contract, trying to win a title and then becoming a free agent. "Why would I want to help them win a title?" the paper quoted Sprewell as saying. "They're not doing anything for me. I'm at risk. I have a lot of risk here. I got my family to feed. Anything could happen." That sealed the end of his career with the Timberwolves, prompted a rebuke from NBA Commissioner David Stern and made Sprewell a symbol of fans' frustration with highly paid athletes divorced from everyday economic realities. The four-time all-star played out the season, earning a reported $14.6 million, but hasn't returned to the league. Sprewell's boat was built in 2001 by Italian firm Azimut-Benetti, a world leader in crafting so-called mega-yachts - ships that, at roughly 80 feet and up in length, can dwarf even "Milwaukee's Best." Documents filed in court indicate Sprewell bought the boat in 2003. Sprewell, who owns a home in River Hills and has moored his yacht here, had to have the vessel freed by a tugboat last summer after running aground near Atwater Beach. He also has popped into the news at other times while afloat, including an occasion off Milwaukee in which he broke a hand about a month before the 2002-'03 season. Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
sprewell will always have his memories "If you're like me, when you heard that New York Knicks star Latrell Sprewell's broken hand may have been the result of throwing an errant punch on his yacht, the first question that popped into your head wasn't "When will Sprewell learn to control that violent temper of his?" It wasn't "Were the Knicks right to fine him $250,000 for not reporting the injury to them immediately?" It wasn't "Does this mean Sprewell is going to be traded?" It was this: " oh man he's got to be kicking himself over not taking that contract in minny
Sure..., but it would only mean that it would take a couple years longer until the boat gets repossessed.
*Classy* name for a yacht! "Well, if I just stick to drinking MB, I can afford these mortgage payments *and* feed my family... as long as they like frozen cheap-beer cubes... hmm... this makes me so mad I could just punch something sometimes..."
I lost my first wife to a woman Lost my second to a man Lost my third wife to my cousin Lost my fifth wife to my aunt I said you gotta train them girls Like bulldogs, boys If you want to keep them around I got a case of old milwaukee She won't never let me down I like to drink em with my friends around Suck em back till i hit the ground They're here with me and They'll be here till the end Well the wife and the kids and the dogs are gone And i can't get jesus on the phone But old milwaukee's best is my best friend They say old milwaukee aint the best way For the american boy to go I got a dually pickup truck I got ten miles of open road My windshield is marked with gravel And my rearview is streaked with tears I got the pages of larry flint To show me the honeys of the year I like to drink em with my friends around Suck em back till i hit the ground They're here with me and They'll be here till the end Well the wife and the kids and the dogs are gone And i can't get jesus on the phone But old milwaukee's best is my best friend Oil prices are dropping now And my third wife had enough of that She ran off to the holy land with yassir arafat He's got thirteen girls in a harem He's got carpets and bags and beads I got a 12-pack of old milwaukee And i got one more trick up my sleeve I like to drink em with my friends around Suck em back till i hit the ground They're here with me and They'll be here till the end Well the wife and the kids and the dogs are gone And i can't get jesus on the phone But old milwaukee's best is my best friend My daddy was a preacher In a church full of old outlaws I've got about as much fear of satan As i've got of santa claus I've read the revelations And I'm not worried in the least I got three six-packs of old milwaukee And the number of the beast
Sprewell could have signed for SOMETHING and continued playing if he wanted to but apparently didnt find the game appealing enough to continue on...Since the league had to be fair to HIM to MAKE him interested enough to play... This wouldnt be much a story if he didnt make those comments.
Countdown to comeback, if anyone still wants him, that is. The guy was looking pretty washed up his last year. In fact, $21 million over 3 years would have been doing him a huge favor.
he should have taken the $21 million deal but if he really wanted or needed the money he could have picked up with a team at any point after that and at least made some money. i doubt he's just broke now.
After the Pistons won the title and he decided to hang it up, they called him to ask him to play with them. Mind you they had just won a title. He told them "My legs are too fresh and my IQ is too high to play for you" Can't say he doesn't get what he has coming to him.
Damn...I feel bad for Sprewell's family. Imagine walking out of your house and your family yacht has been sold!!
