Friday column: What was 2010 about? Take a guess

So, Boss, you say you want a quick review of Toyland in 2010? Can do:

Sex.

Money.

Ego.

There you go, Boss; now I’ll start on next Friday’s col — … what’s that? You need more? You want it fleshed out, so to speak? Really?

OK.

Well, for sex we have Tiger Woods, whose addiction to the amorous cost him his reputation, his wife and his game — in that order.

We have Lawrence Taylor, whose attempted tryst with an underage paramour — the entrepreneurial kind — has cost him his reputation (what was left of it) and oodles of green. It also may cost him his freedom.

We have French soccer stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, who’ve been charged with soliciting an underage prostitute (I’m sensing a theme here).

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, sex-wise. As for money, where do we start? Or end? Let me give you just one story — two, actually, that are linked by — what else? — dollars.

In June, the NCAA fell like a ton of bricks on Southern Cal because Reggie Bush’s family took hundreds of thousands of dollars in freebies in his Trojan days. In December, the NCAA admitted Cam Newton’s father did everything to shop his son except list him on eBay — but still it allowed the star quarterback to continue playing for Auburn, maintaining there was no reason to think the son was in on the deal.

The real difference between the two cases? Bush’s college career is over, while Newton still has money to make for his school, his conference and the BCS. The NCAA pulling the plug on the Heisman Trophy winner before Jan. 10’s national title game would cost the BCS and its sponsors a bundle.

Wasn’t. Going. To. Happen.

By the way, Boss, there were some nice stories this year.
We had Detroit’s Andres Galarraga showing amazing self-control and sportsmanship when an ump’s blown call cost him a perfect game and a ticket to Cooperstown. We had Santa Fe Little Leaguers accepting sure defeat rather than have their team broken up. We had Grant Desme, a young Oakland prospect, giving up a promising baseball career to pursue the priesthood.

What’s that? Forget the sweetness and light and give you the ego angle?

I can do that in two syllables: Brett Favre.

Favre began his last ride (please, Lord) on the Ego Train by making Vikings teammates trek to Mississippi to beg him to play. Then he squeezed the team for more millions. Finally, he embarrassed the NFL — if that’s possible — by stonewalling an investigation into charges he sexually harassed a twenty-something Jets employee.

What? That’s more than just ego? Right you are, Boss. With just one player in one sport, you have the essence of Toyland in 2010:

Sex.

Money.

Ego.

Like I said.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

A cheater speaks

It still amazes me that athletes — I guess because of their celebrity status and obscene wealth — think they can utter the most amazing bullshit and have people not challenge it.

Take Reggie Bush, who says of the massive sanctions placed on the Southern California football program because of his and his family’s greed: "…nobody feels worse about it than I do."

Really, Reggie? Nobody?

I think former athletic director Mike Garrett, who lost his job over it, feels worse than you do.

I think Pete Carroll, who left the best job in college football to escape the sanctions he knew were coming, feels worse than you do.

I think all the current players who will be denied a chance to play in a bowl game the next two years and will have their team weakened by the loss of scholarships feel worse than you do.

I think all the current students and the other members of the Trojan family who live and die SC football feel worse than you do.

Other than some minor embarrassment and the odd question — which you handled with the “let’s move on” mantra straight out of The Sleazeoid Handbook, you’ve hardly been touched by the scandal. You’re still making tens of millions of dollars with the Saints, still raking in millions more in endorsement deals.

No one feels worse?

What a joke.

What? No O.J. Simpson?

Reggie Bush’s lawyer says the former USC star fully cooperated with the NCAA investigation into allegations he and his family accepted illicit benefits — such as living rent-free — while Bush was a star with the Trojans.

The NCAA says he didn’t cooperate fully.

Hmmmm. Who to believe? Who to believe?

Bush attorney Shawn Chapman Holley said his client sat down with the NCAA though he couldn’t be compelled to do so. The NCAA said that while that may be so, Bush failed to provide information that could have backed up his claim of innocence.

Holley insisted that Bush’s willing to meet with the NCAA investigators showed “he had nothing to hide.”

So, who to believe?

What's that, you say? Holley’s former clients include Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Mike Tyson?

That rather makes my decision a bit easier.

Bush, second take

So.

Reggie Bush regrets the effect on USC of the NCAA penalties imposed on the school in large part because the extra benefits he reportedly received.

Bush said that to him it’s the “closest thing to death without dying.”

Spare me the tears.

Bush was just another young athlete who just couldn’t wait for the gravy train. If what the NCAA alleges is true — and I believe their investigators — Bush and his family were greedy.

Period.

As for Pete Carroll and USC, here’s my strong guess: They couldn’t have and should have known something was up with Bush. Like many coaches and programs, they didn’t want to know.

Friday column: Maturity issues and other problems

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the graciousness of Armando Galarraga. Last week, I wrote about the remarkable life of John Wooden. Will we have three uplifting columns in a row?

No, thank goodness. OK, let’s not thank goodness; let’s thank Vince Young, the University of Southern California and Albert Haynesworth.

Young, the former University of Texas star, now the quarterback and wannabe leader of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, got involved Sunday in a way-past-bedtime scuffle at a … wait for it … strip club.

Video surveillance showed Young getting violent after a man made derogatory remarks about UT and flashed an upside-down “Hook ’em, Horns” sign.

Let me repeat that. Young, who has been attempting to show the Titans he’s no longer the pouting, immature jock who couldn’t stand to be booed and whose erratic behavior had his mother worried about his emotional stability, attacked a man because of an upside-down rah-rah sign.

What’s that sound, you ask? Yes, I heard it, too. I’m pretty sure that was Titans head coach Jeff Fisher, still sighing.

Of course, the team Young’s Longhorns beat in the 2006 BCS title game — Southern Cal — has its own problems, thanks in part to that game’s other marquee talent — Reggie Bush.

According to the NCAA, Bush and his family received extra benefits — hundreds of thousands of dollars have been alleged. As a result, the football program has been slammed with major sanctions, including forfeiture of victories, loss of scholarships and four years probation.

The severity of the punishments is linked to the finding of a lack of institutional control at the school, which also was hit for special benefits provided another “I want it now” jock, former basketball star O.J. Mayo.

Mayo’s coach, Tim Floyd, who was accused of being his own bagman in securing Mayo’s services for the Trojans, is long gone from the scene. Also gone is football coach Pete Carroll, who in the offseason suddenly developed an itch to jump to the NFL.

Of course, Carroll insists, the prospect of major NCAA penalties had nothing to do with his decision.

And I believe Carroll; sure, I do. But, then, I believe BP will get a handle on this oil thing any minute now.

Speaking of spurting crude, it’s hard to imagine an athlete leaking more credibility at the moment than Haynesworth.

The Washington defensive tackle was a no-show at practice this week. It seems Haynesworth, who already has collected $32 million on the $100 million contract he signed last year, is miffed at the team’s switch from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 alignment, and wants to be traded.

Even his teammates are supporting the team’s attempt to reclaim some of the money they’ve paid to Haynesworth, who was a bust in his first year with the club.

Say this for Haynesworth: He might be a selfish, childish jerk, but at least the former Tennessee Volunteer waited until he turned pro to get paid.

Um … as far as we know.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Can’t Tim Floyd afford a bag man?

Yahoo! Sports is reporting that USC basketball coach Tim Floyd allegedly graced a man with $1,000 in cash in 2007 to help steer star guard O.J. Mayo to the Trojans for his “one-and-done” season.

Louis Johnson, a former associated of Mayo and “runner” Rodney Guillory, said he saw Floyd and Guillory meet outside a stretch of Beverly Hills cafes on Valentine's Day in 2007. When Guillory returned to his car, where Johnson was waiting, he had the cash.

Johnson has given this information to investigators from the U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI, IRS and the NCAA.

A former sportswriter, Johnson said the moment he locked eyes with Floyd outside the café was telling. "He knew who I was, a writer," Johnson said. "I read body language well. He was uneasy. It was written all over his face."

USC, which is facing a major NCAA investigation not only over Mayo’s recruitment but also over money and benefits allegedly given to football star Reggie Bush, isn’t talking. Neither is Floyd.

How about a simple denial, Tim? No?

This isn’t looking good for the cardinal and gold.