It's not the first time the city has been home to one of sport's most salacious scandals. No surprise when you take into account the long histories of its franchises.
So without further ado, here are the Top Ten Chicago sports scandals.
10. The Blowup Dolls
Have inflatable dolls ever created this big of a controversy?
The Sox were in the midst of a miserable road trip, playing up in Toronto, when the team needed a slump buster.
The solution? A pair of rubber dolls surrounded by strategically placed bats with a sigm that read 'You've Got to Push' hanging around one of their necks.
Think Ozzie Guillen had anything to do with that?
9. The Tank
Former Bears defensive lineman Tank Johnson was arrested by federal agents in 2006 after they searched his home and found a weapons cache that would make Rambo blush and marijuana. And that's just a taste of this guys laundry list of offenses during his stay in the Chi.
8. Albert Belle’s Disappearing Bat
Before Belle brought his muscle bound persona to the South Side, he was involved in what has to be considered one of the strangest tales in league history.
During a game against the Sox in 1994, then skipper Gene LaMont requested the umpires check Belle's bat for signs of tampering. Nothing was found, but the bat was confiscated and was to be sent to league offices for further investigation.
Belle's teammate Jason Grimsley decided to hoist himself up into an overhead crawlspace in the visitor locker room, shimmy through a narrow passage and lower himself into the adjacent umpire's locker room. There he switched Belle's bat with one of teammate Paul Sorrento's bats, only to have the umpires notice the change.
In his 2002 book, former Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel noted that they had to use Sorrento's bat because 'all of Albert's bats were corked'.
7. Tragedy at Ditka's
This one is going back a ways and has probably slipped from the memories of those old enough to remember it.
But on New Years Eve in 1964, an assortment of Chicago Bears players gathered at a bowling alley owned by the one and only, Mike Ditka. At some point in the night, a fight ensued between Bears players and patrons of the alley, resulting in the death of former Redskin Tony Parilli.
6. Blago's Bargaining Chip
This yarn combines the two attributes Chicago is notorious for: the Cubs and shady politics.
Blago's exploits have also been well documented and the feds are still trying to sort through the details. But according to the federal complaint, in a tapped phone conversation, Blago said that in order for the Cubs to secure IFA financing for the sale of Wrigley Field, they needed to "fire all those (expletive) people, get 'em the (expletive) out of there, and get us some editorial support."
5. Cubs = Ticket Scalpers
For years getting a ticket to Wrigley has progressively become more and more of an arduous challenge. And when you find out that the Cubs were running a shady ticket scheme, it should be no surprise the fans went absolutely balistic.
The Cubs had ownership in Wrigley Field Premium Tickets; an outfit provided with face-value Cubs tickets that they in turn, sold for a higher price to the fans.
Only in Chicago.
4. M. Jeff's Night Out in Atlantic City
The night before a playoff game against the New York Knicks in 1993, Jordan created a media firestorm by being spotted at an Atlantic City casino. That alone wouldn't have been so bad until you combined it with the fact Jordan admitted to dropping $57,000 on gambling debts earlier that same season.
3. Sammy’s Corked Bat
The curious case of Sammy Sosa and the source of his power at the plate came more into focus on a June day in 2002 when he was caught using a corked bat against the Rays.
He claimed to only have the bat in his possession for batting practice to give the fans a show but nobody bought it.
2. Derrick Rose
This is so fresh in the minds of Chicago sports fans that I won't rehash the stories of alleged cheating on the SAT or grade fixing.
But the truth is, regardless of what else comes from this scandal, the perception of Rose won't change much. He's a professional athelte now and a hired gun when he was in Memphis. This entire situation is more indicative of the serious issues surrounding NCAA basketball that nobody wants to acknowledge exist.
Might not be that way for much longer.
1. Black Sox
The Black Sox are perhaps the most notorious team in the history of baseball for all the wrong reasons. Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest of the pale hose cohorts fixed the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
They're responsible for the biggest black eye this city has ever had to endure and will remain the first reference anyone makes when the topic of gambling in sports arises.
7 comments:
There's no way Derrick Rose should be ahead of Sammy's corked bat. 15 years from now people will barely remember this Rose scandal.
Well, I can see your point.
But will they remember Sammy more for the corked bat or the possibility of steroid use?
Obviously the alleged steroid use, but I just think the corked bat incident was a more memorable, significant, and controversial event than the fact that some H.S. basketball players need academic "help" to get into college.
in regards to the Albert Belle corked bat, I think you meant to say that game was in 1994, NOT 2004!
Excellent catch.
Thank you.
First of all, D-Rose isn't accused of committing any NCAA infractions. He is accused of not taking the SAT test submitted under his name. If Memphis knowingly accepted a tainted test score so the kid could play ball, it is Memphis who committed the infraction. That is why Rose has nothing to lose in any of this. Secondly, Belle was with the Indians during the corked bat scandal, hence not ChiSports. Thirdly, have more respect for His Airness than to refer to him as M. Jeff. No one has ever called him that and you only use it as a substitute for your lack of creative writing skill. I wouldn't have commented at all if isn't wasn't for the whole "M Jeff." reference. That's just dumb.
Olsen,
Wasn't there also some story of Jordan playing like 54 holes of golf before one of the conference finals games in Miami?
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