It’s a good bet that after Sven Kramer called that reporter “stupid” for asking him to identify himself on camera, she walked away thinking “Someday, something’ll bring that kid down a peg or two…”. You gotta wonder where she was when the Dutch speed skater lost his definitive gold medal and a world record, less than a week later, on a technicality. If only Karma always worked so quickly. Ok, to be fair it was his coach’s mistake, but on the up side he probably won’t have any more issues with press recognition. Sure, Sven was a little bit of a jerk, and got a really hefty Karmic kick for it, but there have definitely been far worse offenders, who’ve also paid a steeper price. Maybe not in the Netherlands, but in the U.S it’s not uncommon for famous athletes to get their cosmic payback. Over the years there have been a number of sports giants who came crashing down when karma came around to bite them in the Astroturf.
10. Tiger Woods
Beginning with another athlete who is still lingering in the headlines Tiger Woods is a man who knows about paying for it. And we’re talking karma, not hookers. Well, maybe a little of both. For a guy who got $40 million in commercial endorsements at 21; a guy who raked in somewhere in the vicinity of $769,440,709 between 1996 and 2007, he still couldn’t buy happiness. He strayed out side his marriage, and the dozen or so classy dames he did it with just couldn’t wait to talk about it to anybody with a camera. It was cringe-worthy when the guy from 40-year-old Virgin who got busted cause he came home with the condom still on; well thanks to Karma that basically happened to Tiger on national TV. Weeks of sex rehab, millions of dollars in lost endorsements and several public apologies later Tiger’s career still remains up in the air. But if his past shows us anything it’s that peaks and valleys are the way of the Woods. So if history is indicative of his future, we’ll find him back on top soon enough.
9. Tiki Barber
Barber was an outstanding running back never missed an opportunity to run his mouth against is own team. He was drafted to the New York Giants in 1997, but didn’t become remarkable until the early 2000’s. In 2000 the Giants signed him to a 6 year contract that came with a 7 million dollar signing bonus. Barber’s public comments began during the Strahan negotiation in 2002, and by 2005 he was insulting Coach Tom Coughlin’s coaching strategies in the media. Soon after, he announced his retirement from football stating Coughlin’s coaching as a motivating factor but finishing hard with multiple career highs that season. Shortly after retiring he took a parting shot at Eli Manning’s calling his leadership “comical”. Despite claiming to have made peace with never winning a Super Bowl ring, Barber had to have felt the sting of Karma when the Giants won the Super Bowl the year after he left the team.
8. Terell Owens
With the god given talent to make amazing plays on the field but without the god given sense to keep his mouth shut, Terell Owens was always the man who said too much. Arrogant and offensive, Owens spouted off repeatedly to media outlets like a cracked out version of Cuba Gooding Jr’s character in Jerry McGuire. He publicly insulted his Eagles teammates, demanded public recognition for his individual accomplishments, and proudly sported Cowboy fan gear in public. His behavior infuriated fans, teammates and management, leading to his suspension and release from the Eagles in 2006. He was quickly signed by Dallas, but apparently the grass was not as green in Texas as TO had hoped. Six months after joining the team he was hospitalized for a depression fueled hydrocodone over dose. Fortunately, Owens recovered in time for karma to help him to suffer a humiliating loss in his first game against his former team. Though he managed to show some promise throughout his 3 year contract, when his ego once again turned him on fellow teammates, his career as a Cowboy ended soon after. Buffalo took him on for a year but as of today the future of TO’s football career is still undecided.
7. Isaiah Thomas
One of the “bad boys” of basketball in the late eighties, he took the nickname a little too seriously and paid the price. A #2 draft pick Isaiah Thomas had a bright future early on, showing both talent for the game and strength of will. He won multiple championships and was voted MVP in the NBA Finals in 1990, but four years later an injured Achilles tendon ended his playing career. He remained on the basketball circuit as an owner, a commentator, and a coach. During his most famous coaching gig with the NY Knicks, he once again ran into trouble, only this time his Achilles heel turned out to be a pretty face. In 2007 a New York court awarded 1.6 Million dollars to a woman who claimed that she had been sexually harassed by Thomas repeatedly while he was coaching the Knicks. Of course, it wasn’t his money she was given, it was Madison Square Garden’s. Two tumultuous years later in the wake of public brawls and losing streaks, Karma showed up and Thomas was replaced as coach of the Knicks. Following a prescription drug overdose in 2008, Isaiah Thomas accepted a head coach position for Florida International University in 2009. This Hall of Famer now coaches at a public research university whose basketball team has appeared only once in a NCAA championship, 15 years ago.
6. The Boys of Steroids
This collective spot is for all the boys we loved before, the all American boys who beefed up and roided out turning our favorite pastime into a courtroom drama. Names like Jose Conseco, Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were at one point regarded for their athletic prowess and their astounding records. Now they are clouded in talk of asterisks and performance enhancing drugs. Steroids were first banned form baseball in 1992, but I Can’t Believe It’s Not Legally Steroids, androstenedione, still made it into pro baseball lockers until after the turn of the century. In 2005 Karma got up to bat by way of Jose Conseco’s kiss-and-tell autobiography that named some serious names. The fallout of these and other accusations continues in the media and on the floor of congress even to this day. With the world at their feet and immortality at their finger tips, the drug that built them up came back to tear them down. The saddest part is that we’ll never know what greatness these men could have known with only the power of will, heart and practice.
5. Pete Rose
Sometimes fame and glory just aren’t enough for one man, sometimes he just needs to gamble it all. That’s what Pete Rose did. This player turned manager held astronomical life time stats, 17 All-Star appearances, 3 World Series Rings 2 golden gloves and an MVP award. But when Karma stepped in, the Hall of Fame bound great went from VIP to PNG that’s persona non grata, in record time. In 1989 allegations of illegal gambling came to light, casting a shadow on the ball player’s reputation and getting him added to the list of people Permanently Banned from Baseball. In 1991 Uncle Sam decided to kick the man while he was down slapping him with community service, fines and jail time for filing false income taxes. In 2004 via autobiography, as all sports confessions should come to be, he finally admitted to having placed bets on the Cincinnati Reds as a player and a manger. Rose remains banned from baseball and barred from induction into the Hall of Fame.
4. Tanya Harding
The only woman to be honored on this list Tonya Harding holds a special place in history. This ice crisis queen fought her way through loose skates and unsnapped costumes to reach the 1994 figure skating championships but refused to rely on talent to get her a win. In the hopes of eliminating the competition she and ex-husband Jeff Gallooley orchestrated a handicapping scheme that involved an attempt to physically handicap Nancy Kerrigan. Amidst lawsuits and controversy she made it to the 94 Olympics, danced with Karma, and finished 8th while a fully recovered Nancy home took the silver medal. After being banned forever from the skating world for her involvement in the crime Harding went on to experiment with the glamorous world of porn, car accidents, alcohol, prescription drugs, and petty crimes.
3. Michael Vick
Michael Vick had the world in front of him when he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001, but his career went to the dogs in under 8 years. A two time Pro Bowl player Michael Vick was on course to break records, and was making commercial endorsement bank from brands like Nike and Coke. However, his issues, with attitude, obscenity, law suits, sexually transmitted diseases, petty crimes and drug use ultimately culminated in 2007, when a drug investigation led to the discovery of his illegal dog fighting activities. After hearing the tales of his horrific animal abuses, if people didn’t like him before they hated him now. As if anger could summon Karma, he was suspended from the team, imprisoned and forced to file for bankruptcy. When he was released from jail in 2009 he was picked up for a single year by the Philadelphia Eagles, in spite of public outrage. At present he remains the #2 quarter back behind Donavan McNabb and the former rising star will most likely ride the bench for the 2010 season.
2. OJ Simpson
Hall of famer, movie star and legendary criminal OJ Simpson has done it all. Rising to fame as a football player Juice retired in 1979 and went on to play the guy who kept getting the crap kicked out of him in the Naked Gun movies in 19888. Six years later after a shocking, but low speed, car chase, Simpson was taken into custody and charged with the double murder of his ex-wife Nichole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. At the end of a year long press-ridden cesspool of a trial the American public made his televised acquittal one of the nations most watched events in TV history. The verdict was nationally polarizing, igniting racial tensions around the country. In spite of retaining his freedom, a civil suit awarded most of his money and possessions to the victim’s families. However, many were never satisfied with the fact that he never spent a day in jail. Karma came to those who waited in 2008 when, without Johnny Cochran to save his sorry butt, OJ was sentenced to 33 years in jail for kidnapping and robbery and remains imprisoned for his crimes in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1. Mike Tyson
This big scary man with the tiny little voice and the tenuous grasp of the English language has gone from legend to walking punch line. Tyson debuted as a boxer in 1985 and won the title of Heavyweight Champion a year later, the youngest boxer ever to hold the title. By 1988, after fighting the greatest boxers of his time, that tile became Undisputed. Soon after, he fired his trainer, and seemed to be losing his edge, favoring aggression over skill in the ring. Tyson seemed to favor aggression over skill outside of the ring as well, when during the same period his 1 year marriage to Robin Givens, which ended in 1989, was filled with accusations of abuse and mental instability. Epitomizing this period of his life and in a shocking upset he lost his title when he was knocked out by Buster Douglas in1990.
He was scheduled to fight Evander Holyfield to re-gain the title in 1991 but, something came up for Tyson. He instead spent that year in court attempting to defend himself against rape charges, and wound up going to prison in 1992. He was released in 1995 after serving only 3 years of his 10 year sentence. Tyson finally did get his chance to face Holyfield in 1996, where Holyfield won by TKO. However, this historical fight would prove to be nothing compared to their re-match. The following year when the boxers once again went head to head, Tyson shocked the world by going mouth to head and biting both of Holyfield’s ears. The match ended, and Karma showed up when Holyfield was declared the winner, while Tyson was disqualified, lost his boxing license and was fined 3 Million dollars. In1999 Tyson tried to resume fighting and despite some commercial success was never able to recapture his former glory. Though he is still widely considered among the best boxers of all time, the 21st century brought Tyson nothing but loss, retirement, bankruptcy, two more marriages and personal tragedy.
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And that’s not even getting into the evil that was OJ Simpson’s “If I Did It…” He ought to roast in the fires of hell for even considering writing that book!