The face of ... well, you call it

At the very close of 2010, Tucker Carlson made a strong big for Cretin of the Year. Which isn't that surprising. Carlson's ability to continue to find employment on one cable news network or another speaks to the content of the 24-hour news cycle (not favorably).

Saying that Michael Vick should have been executed for the killing of dogs may not be the dumbest thing he’s ever said, but it’s certainly in the top 5.

I would explain why it’s dumb, but if you really need an explanation, you most likely wouldn’t understand it.

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.

Credibility problem? What credibility problem?

So.

In Columbus, Ohio, football players — including Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeyes’ best and most marketable player — are found to have taken improper benefits that will cost them five-game suspensions.

But not until next season.

Too much money involved in the Buckeyes’ Sugar Bowl appearance to suspend them now.

Greed and hypocrisy, thy name is NCAA football.

Yes, Bret, we know you're special ...

In Minnesota, Vikings quarterback Brett Favre spent some time after possibly his last NFL appearance patting himself on the back: “It's been a 20-year career; not too many guys can say that. I took one day off and a half, but again not a lot of guys can say that.”

Oddly enough, he didn’t add, “And I sexually harassed a sideline reporter.” He probably didn’t add that because he couldn’t — not with a straight face — finish with, “not a lot of guys have done that.”

Friday column: In trial, no surprises — just pain

Christmas is a season for the unexpected; for some, the unbelievable.

Unfortunately, in sportsland the last few days, we’ve seen nothing but the expected and the believable. I discuss a couple of incidents today in my blog.

But of the expected, nothing was more tragic this week than the end of the trial of Andrew Thomas Gallo.
An athlete? No, a killer of one.

Last year, Gallo — driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.19 percent after a night of drinking with his stepbrother — blew through a red light in Fullerton, Calif., and hit a car carrying Nick Adenhart, a 22-year-old pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels.

Adenhart was killed, along with friends Courtney Stewart, 20, and Henry Pearson, 25. Jon Wilhite, 24, survived, but sustained major injuries.

The trial played out along predictable lines. The state charged Gallo with second-degree murder; the defendant pleaded not guilty.

Gallo, with a previous DUI conviction and at least two stints in rehab on his record, was defended by his family.
“It was an accident,” his mother, Sandra Sagahon, said.

The jury said it was murder, leading to the penalty phase of the trial, which also moved along predictable lines.

In emotional testimony, the families of Stewart, Pearson, Wilhite and Adenhart understandably pressed for the longest possible incarceration.

“Andrew Gallo, the night you killed my daughter you killed me,” Stewart’s mother said. “I will never be the same.”

Wilhite’s mother discussed the excruciating pain her son had been in and his difficult recovery. “Mr. Gallo, you put my son through hell,” she said. … I hope you enjoy your new address.”

The Adenhart family sent a letter that said, in part, “There is no justice as long as Mr. Gallo is drawing a breath.”

While families of the victim asked for the maximum, Gallo’s family asked for leniency.

Gallo didn’t get it, the judge sentencing him to 55 years to life. Gallo, 23, will be eligible for parole when he’s 72. As he handed down the sentence, the judge put it bluntly:

“Mr. Gallo, you have devastated four families — really five families, with your own.”

If there was any hint of grace, it came when Gallo’s father, after asking for leniency for his son, turned to the victims’ families and said, “My family prays for you all the time. We also pray that someday you’ll forgive us.”

Forgive us.

That’s the father including the family in the sins of the son.

Then, there’s someday.

In the courtroom Tuesday, just four days before Christmas, there was nothing unexpected, nothing unbelievable. Which doesn’t mean there won’t be — somewhere, someday.

Transcendence can take time.

An impressive lineup

Good thing Albert Haynesworth makes so much money. He just might need every dollar.

The big-earning-but-not-so-hard-working Washington linesman is facing a few legal challenges. According to a Thom Loverro story in The Washington Examiner:

* He’s being sued by a woman who claims Haynesworth’s reckless driving caused the accident that left her disabled.

* He’s being sued by a Tennessee bank for not paying back a $2.38 million loan.

* He’s being sued by an exotic dancer for $10 million for allegedly impregnating her.

* And his former wife has been in court charging him with not paying her health insurance or their children's bills.

On top of that, his current team reportedly is considering going after the $21 million bonus they paid him earlier this year.

Haynesworth has made his employers very unhappy; but it appears he’ll make his lawyers very happy — assuming, of course, he actually pays them …

Blame game

So.

Terrell Owens has unloaded not on his quarterback — his usual target — but on his coaches.

“I think there's underachieving from the top down,” Owens said of the 2-11 Bengals. “You start with the owner, you start with the coaches. And obviously we as players, we are a product of what the coaches are coaching us throughout the course of the week.”

Cincy is an undisciplined team, so the coaching probably isn’t first-rate. But perhaps the bulk of the blame should go to the Browns — President Mike and Vice Presidents Pete and Paul — the player personnel people who keep bringing in players such as … well, Terrell Owens.