The dichotomy between professional athletes and everybody else when it comes to money and needs is a laborious slope to navigate, providing no easy answers.
Take the Pat Maroon situation for example.
The 31-year-old winger just won a Stanley Cup in his hometown. The dream that he rode around South County with as a little boy played out exactly how he drew it up last summer. He took less money and years to come home to St. Louis, even though New Jersey and other spots provided more luxury and security.
He took a $1.75 million one-year offer to be close to his son, Anthony, and achieve a childhood dream, and it happened.