2007: A Year of Scandals, Denials, and Apologies

I'm sorry, I apologize, I wish that it never happened, I take the blame.

That's a lot of what you heard this past year in the sports world. From one sports scandal to another, "I'm sorry" seemed to be the phrase heard around that nation.

The year got off to a feel-good start with first Boise State pulling off the dream upset against big bully Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. That was followed by the Florida Gators' destroying the Ohio State Buckeyes in the BCS title game.

Oh yes, Peyton Manning finally won a Super Bowl, so all was well in the land of "Priceless."

Then things started to unravel in the world of sports. You had players arrested, indicted, convicted, imprisoned, and stripped of titles and records.

It all started at the Daytona 500 when upstart the Toyota team owned by veteran driver Michael Waltrip was fined for using a fuel additive during qualifying. The team was deducted 100 driver points, and Vice President of Competition Bobby Kennedy and Crew Chief David Hyder were ejected from the garage at Daytona.

Hyder was also fined $100,000, the largest fine ever handed down by NASCAR.

Waltrip's Napa, team along with his Dale Jarrett's UPS team, never really recovered and had a tough season.

During the Nextel season a total of eight crew chiefs were suspended for cheating.

You had the crazed gunmen Seung-Hui Cho, who shot dead 30 students in the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16. This was something that the Hokie football team took to heart with each game as they carried their storied lunch pale to work.

Even in the rich and snobby world of F1 racing, there was a scandal as the McLaren F1 team was fined $100 million for using technical documents it pilfered from rival team Ferrari.

Heck, that's enough money for some countries to run on.

Pacman Jones was suspended for a full year for his constant run-ins with the law. He then made tried a new career in pro wrestling with the TNA promotion.
He tried twice to be reinstated and was denied by Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Michael Vick pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison for running a dogfighting operation. Of course Vick said that he was sorry after originally denying the charges and lying to both his Atlanta Falcons team owner Arthur Blank and NFL Commissioner Goodell.

Vick threw away millions of dollars, fan admiration, and who know what else on stupidity and arrogance. The funny thing is that is was a cousin who turned him in to avoid drug charges.

NBA referee Tim Donaghy resigned after being accused of betting on NBA games, giving information to bookies and point shaving. He is facing jail time, is out of work, threw a good career away, and of course said that he was sorry.

In other NBA shenanigans, New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and the organization were found liable for sexual harassment of a former team executive. They also settled out of court in a separate sexual discrimination case that was going to be brought forward.

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