The sports world can look so good on the outside but there can be several trenches inside of it.

Professional athletes need to know the science behind what they need to do as performers as well as the terms of their contracts. More specifically, how to get the most exposure and how to deal with their finances; especially as it pertains to how to optimize earnings.

Playing and practicing already eats out a brunt of professional athletes' time. To understand the level of difficulty that accompanies their day-to-day lifestyles, an expert in the field is needed.

Sharks' Gilbert Arenas' Ex-Personal Assistant Guilty Of Stealing $2.1 Million Dollars

Sports agents are people who are paid of take care of these things for athletes. Some have been very successful in taking care of their clients and some just wind up being huge disappointments. This is also the reason why athletes start to question the need for people like them. In an article about Sports Agent Ranking, the very best can have up to 50 clients at a given time.

The biggest difference between the two is cited by Mr. Russell Okung, Seahawks Offensive Tackle, who discussed how an agent gives his client attention versus how much attention the client deserves. He stated that, "An unfocused agent is a useless agent".

Kobe Bryant Will Be A Key Recruiter For Kevin Durant

The time and dedication a sports agent should give his client plays a large part in the success of the player-agent relationship; how swiftly they deal with contracts, endorsements, exposures, etc. Most importantly, it's how the agent understands the more personal things about his client that makes him efficient and necessary.