Worst Sports Scandal?

[Life Path 7]

I had to go with the Black Sox scandal because it is the granddaddy of them all. It led to 8 White Sox being banned for life AND the hiring of the first Commissioner in professional sports history. It set the precedent that gambling, associating with gamblers, and throwing contests is the prime cardinal and unforgivable sin in sports. I couldn't go with the Jerry Sandusky/PSU story, not because I'm a PSU alum (I am btw.), but because I think the whole sports thing is secondary in that one. Sandusky is simply a child rapist who had ties to the sports world. His profession made it a sports story, but he would have victimized children regardless of what he did for a living. The Black Sox scandal was EXCLUSIVELY a sports story, so it won out for me.

"Honorable" mention to the Saints Bounty Scandal due to recency and the breadth of the scandal (the number of people caught up in it and the likely high number of people suspended after the dust has settled...we already have a head coach bounced for a year, an assistant coach out for God only knows how long, another assistant out for 6 games, and a GM out for half the season). Hell, when all is said and done, the entire defense from last year might be suspended to some level.

 

[MaxPleasureITA]

Italian "Calciopoli" in 2006 and This year's betting scandal... I can not believe that people who earn millions per year can sell games for a few thousand euros

 

[Supafly]

Calciopoli
A scandal concerning the Italian soccer league, involving team such as AC Milan, Juventus, Lazio Rome, Fiorentina, Reggina and the italian football referees organisation. Managers of the teams had been rigging games by asking the referees organisation to select favourable referees for their games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Italian_football_scandal

Yes, that was pretty bad. Our Bundesliga had several similar incidents, with Balkan thugs rigging games, but not on sich a large scale.

 

[Smallville22]

PSU and Jerry Sandusky

 

[Will E Worm]

1919 Black Sox and Michael Vick Dog Fighting Scandal
NFL bounty scandal


PSU and Jerry Sandusky



Pete Rose, seems there was a witch hunt to get him. He should be reinstated and then inducted into the Hall of Fame.

 

[Will E Worm]

"If I had been an alcoholic or a drug addict, baseball would have suspended me for six weeks and paid for my rehabilitation," he writers. "The distinction between drugs, booze and gambling told me that baseball was interested in punishment, not treatment.

“I should have had the opportunity to get help, but baseball had no fancy rehab for gamblers like they do for drug addicts, ... If I had admitted my guilt, it would have been the same as putting my head on the chopping block -- lifetime ban. Death penalty. I spent my entire life on the baseball fields of America, and I was not going to give up my profession without first seeing some hard evidence. ... Right or wrong, the punishment didn't fit the crime -- so I denied the crime.”

Article

 

[maildude]

Carmello Anthony faking injuries on the court to make his later play look more excusable.

 

[C.K. Lawrence]

I had to go with the Black Sox scandal because it is the granddaddy of them all. It led to 8 White Sox being banned for life AND the hiring of the first Commissioner in professional sports history. It set the precedent that gambling, associating with gamblers, and throwing contests is the prime cardinal and unforgivable sin in sports. I couldn't go with the Jerry Sandusky/PSU story, not because I'm a PSU alum (I am btw.), but because I think the whole sports thing is secondary in that one. Sandusky is simply a child rapist who had ties to the sports world. His profession made it a sports story, but he would have victimized children regardless of what he did for a living. The Black Sox scandal was EXCLUSIVELY a sports story, so it won out for me.

"Honorable" mention to the Saints Bounty Scandal due to recency and the breadth of the scandal (the number of people caught up in it and the likely high number of people suspended after the dust has settled...we already have a head coach bounced for a year, an assistant coach out for God only knows how long, another assistant out for 6 games, and a GM out for half the season). Hell, when all is said and done, the entire defense from last year might be suspended to some level.

I agree with this and thus my vote.

 

[teejay420]

Ohh yea! Forgot all about that.

 

[Deepcover]

Minnesota Vikings boat party scandal. Too bad the team got caught otherwise I think it would have been one hell of a sex party.