Josh Hamilton and the Adult Baby-Sitter.

I need you, by me, beside me, to guide me,
To hold me, to scold me, because when I’m bad
I’m so, so bad

-Donna Summer

Sports Illustrated recently did a cover story  about Josh Hamilton and his comeback from addiction.

Josh has gone to the depths of hell, but found his way back.    Redemption  was a combination of Jesus, his wife, 12 step, and  his coach, Johnny Narron, who serves as  Josh’s, adult  baby-sitter.

Narron is with Hamilton nearly 24 hours a day.  He handles all Josh’s money, including petty cash.  He eats with Josh, prays with him,  guards his hotel room  and acts as a shield between Hamilton and temptation.

It’s worked.  Hamilton is now one of the greatest players in baseball.

A professional athlete has the means and motivation to have an adult baby-sitter. I'm wondering how many average Americans  need the same service.

Earlier this summer, I had breakfast with Joe  Nocera, the award-winning columnist for the New York Times.   In his  1994 classic business book, A Piece of the Action,   Nocera chronicles the history of personal finance in America.   He concluded the moves gave  Americans  the chance to have their own “piece of the action” controlling their financial destines.

 It stunned me when Joe  said that  Americans were doing a poor job of handing their newfound   freedom.

I realized he was right.

Americans were better-off when they had a defined-benefit, fixed pension, instead of a 401k, where they are subject to fluctuating markets and their own investment decisions.

J

For the past 26 years,  my job has been to act as a financial baby-sitter for people who  receive large sums of money.  My success rate is good, but it comes from understanding that  people are going to fall to temptation or do something stupid.    I’ve learned to place barriers between people and their money.

I tell lottery winners never to take the lump sum payment.   Take the payments over time.

Judge Brandy Brown and Drug Court Program Coordinator Anna Beth Hardiman,, having been showing me  the juvenile  drug court in Madison and Clark  Counties (Kentucky).   I became interested watching the two of them  on  an Emmy winning A&E program called Life or Meth.

There was a captivating scene on Life or Meth  when  Judge Brown scolded  a young man who slept through   a 2 pm appointment.   Her tone  was similar to how a parent  deals with a child.

Judge Brown developed the same solution  that baseball created for Josh Hamilton:  Strong supervision and fewer opportunities for temptation.

At some level, adult Americans are crying out for the  kind of supervision, guidance and structure that Judge Brown brings to juveniles in her court.

You can see it happening everywhere.

One of the hottest new occupations is life coaching.    People  have personal trainers to help them exercise, financial advisers  to handle their money and psychologists to  talk about life problems.

Others  adults don’t have counselors or advisors.  When they can’t cope,  they turn to drugs and alcohol.   Just like Josh Hamilton did.

It is not practical to assign an   adult baby-sitter to every hurting American.  Few  people  have the talents  of  Josh Hamilton.   Even fewer have  an employer  motivated to maximize those talents. 

Whatever they are doing with Josh Hamilton,  it is obviously working.  I’m headed to Judge Brown’s  drug court to see how that is working as well.

I’m a big advocate for individual freedom but it in areas  like addiction and finance, many adults and juveniles  would be better off with someone beside them, to guide them.

Because they are  bad, they are  so, so bad.

Don McNay is the Chairman of the Board for McNay Settlement Group in Richmond, Kentucky.   You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and  his award winning, syndicated column at  www.donmcnay.com.  McNay is Treasurer for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.