INDIANAPOLIS -- Retirement isn't working out so well for Scottie Pippen.

He has lost more than $18 million in bad investments, cutting deep into his retirement plan.

"It's very stressful," Pippen said. "It's hard not to take it home with you. All your mail and phone calls involve that. I retired from basketball and now I have to deal with chasing my own future, and I wonder how long I can chase it. There isn't any job out there like the NBA where I can just go out there and recoup my money."

Of course, he wasn't getting a whole lot of sympathy from the good folks in Chicago, for whom he helped win six NBA championships. A local radio station ran a poll and 88 percent of their listeners said they shed no tears for him, given that he made well over $100 million in his career.

"It has happened before (losing money); why not again?" Pippen said. "You can wake up one day, and someone can decide to take everything you have. It could be your best friend."

Pippen's money was lost in some shaky real estate investments, as well as in some failing small businesses. He is suing one of his former financial advisers for apparently not telling him about a deal that had him becoming a majority owner of a Gulfstream airplane. According to the lawsuit, Pippen lost $1.7 million and is liable for an additional $5 million because of that deal.

"I tried getting my assets away from this guy for a couple years," Pippen said, "and he's still walking around a free man, able to do whatever he's doing to others. I expect this to go on for the next four to five years. In the meantime I'm paying attorney fees trying to get it back. Good money chasing bad."

Things have gotten so bad that Pippen is considering taking a media job (horrors!). He said was going to take some broadcasting classes.

"I'm not looking for a job yet," Pippen said. "But I've done it before and I want to be well-polished if I'm going to put myself on a national stage."

Pippen, who attended the Pistons' game in New York recently, was offered an audition by ESPN radio but has not accepted.

"It's not that taxing," he said of broadcasting. "I can still have a life, still have a family. I know it's a little bit of work, but it's the kind of work I'm ready to go into after being a professional athlete."