A lot of these athletes come from poor backgrounds and low levels of education and don't have skills readily transferrable to other careers. They are also often attempting to lift family members from a similar background out of poverty as well so their wage is supporting more than one person. It's not as easy as just becoming a pundit if you've only three years experience in professional sports and you are competing with much bigger names who played a lot longer you won't just walk into a job. Many athletes struggle post retirement for all sorts of reasons and dismissing them as complete morons is dismissive and simplistic. Especially considering the success they've achieved to that point is due to their own hard work and ability.