Reggie White endured more than a decade of bone-crushing hits as a defensive lineman, but the future hall of famer didn't last two months in the trenches of the agent business.
Earlier this year, while working with veteran agent James "Bus" Cook, White said he quickly became disgusted by agents trying to steal their competitors' clients, and by athletes trying to play their suitors for a quick buck.
White said he was also the victim of nasty rumors spread by agents "who didn't even know me," and that he heard about even worse dirty tricks during a pre-draft recruiting season that has been described by veteran football agents as the meanest ever.
"It makes you want to put your hands around people's necks," White said. "I think there needs to be some reform and some major penalties taken against some of these guys."
Although White's career as an agent was short-lived, his sentiments echo those of longtime industry veterans who said the business of representing athletes, especially in the rough and tumble worlds of baseball, hockey, basketball and football, is at a crisis stage.
Tom Reich, who has been a top baseball and hockey agent for 33 years, said there are agents who are honorable, but that he knows of counterparts who offer "bounties" to anyone who will deliver prize athlete clients.
"The impropriety and corruption is, absolutely, as I look back, at an all-time high," Reich said. "It's like Al Capone's Chicago and it's despicable."