Kids dream. They want to be baseball players or astronauts or firefighters or actors or singers or they want to cure cancer or be the next Albert Einstein, the next Harper Lee, the next Bill Gates, the next Madame Curie, the next John Glenn, the next Babe Ruth.
Jimmy Garoppolo has gone pretty far in the dream world. He’s a professional football player, and even though his resume is slimmer than Angelina Jolie on a tabloid cover, he convinced the San Francisco 49ers to pay him $137.5 million over the next five years.
$137.5 million to play football. Seriously. Even though he has experienced no meaningful success as a professional football player.
But that’s a lament for another occasion. The point here is that by almost any standard, Jimmy Garoppolo is living his dream.
Only it turns out he wasn’t, because last week he announced something new that was final fulfillment of one of his dreams.
Not that he would play professional football.
Not that he would become famous.
Not that he would become rich.
No, Jimmy Garoppolo’s real dream was fulfilled last week when he signed a new contract to…
…join the company called “Jordan Brand.”
Jordan Brand is the company through which former basketball star Michael Jordan endorses sneakers and jock straps and other athletic equipment and enlists other athletes to endorse them as well.
Garoppolo, who grew up in Chicago, where Michael Jordan spent most of his basketball career, shared his glee with ESPN, telling the folks there that
Since I got in the league, it was one of my dreams to be with Jordan and it came true, so I’m pretty excited about it.
Also,
I was pretty young, but even when they were winning those championships, I can remember staying up with my three brothers, mom and dad — we’d all be in the living room watching it,” Garoppolo said. “It was so exciting. Ever since I was a little kid, he’s been my favorite athlete, so it’s pretty cool to be part of his brand now.
Is this really what people dream about these days? Not achieving something of value, or even not especially of value, but of the products they can endorse if they become famous and the “brand” of which they can become a part if they work hard, eat their Wheaties, and achieve success?
The Curmudgeon, for one, thinks Garoppolo’s dream is pretty sad.
Crossing Against the Light: 