The Biggest Legal Stories in Sports of 2011

2011 saw some truly memorable moments for great games and matches, but also had some some memorable moments of the legal variety as well.

From murder, drug and car chases, to child sex abuse cases, 2011 offered no shortage of legal cases plaguing the sports world.

Here are the five biggest legal stories that occurred to notable members of the sports world over the course of the last year.

5. Kenny Britt, Wide Receiver, Tennessee Titans

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt got in legal trouble not once, but twice in 2011.

His first offense in April stemmed from a car chase with police in New Jersey, which resulted in three charges.

Then, just one day after pleading guilty to reduced charges stemming form the April car chase, Britt was arrested again in June in New Jersey, again for resisting arrest, which resulted in two more charges.

The charges that resulted from his resiting arrest in June were eventually dropped, allowing Britt to put his legal problems on the back burner and play in the 2011 NFL season, until he tore his ACL and was put on the IR, ending his season in late September.

4. Floyd Mayweather, Welterweight Boxer

Floyd Mayweather has been involved in criminal complaints before over the past several years, but he always seemed to dodge jail time as well as he dodges punches in the ring.

But 2011 finally saw the undefeated boxer see his first loss in the courts.

On December 21, Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. to begin on Jan. 6, 2012 on 2010 domestic violence charges that Money May took a plea deal on.

The three-month jail stint will put an end to any talk of a possible megafight between Mayweather and fellow pound-for-pound great Manny Pacquiao on the anticipated May 5, 2012 date.

Mayweather also settled on a separate incident involving an alleged altercation with a security guard over parking citations given to the champion boxer.

3. Sam Hurd, Wide Receiver, Chicago Bears

In mid-December, Chicago Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd was taken into federal custody after he tried to set up a huge drug deal with an undercover agent, buying a pound of cocaine from the agent.

The 26-year-old Hurd allegedly was interested in buying 10 kilos of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana a week to distribute in the Chicago area.

Hurd was sequentially cut from the Bears a short time later, and then was released from federal custody after posting a $100,000 bond.

Hurd faces up to 40 years years in prison if he is convicted and receives the maximum penalty for the alleged crimes

2. Jarvaris Crittenon, Guard, Dakota Wizards (NBDL)

Former NBA player Jarvaris Crittenton was arrested at the John Wayne Airport in Southern California in late August on murder charges stemming from a shooting that occurred earlier in the month in Atlanta, GA.

It is alleged that Crittenton murdered an innocent 22-year-old mother of four in a failed revenge attempt on a subject who robbed him in April of this year.

Crittenton's arrest was not the first high-profile incident involving guns surrounding him, as he was the other guy who was suspended as a result of brandishing a gun in a locker room gambling dispute with NBA star Gilbert Arenas back in 2009.

Crittenton was suspended for 38 games for his part in that incident and also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge as a result of the locker-room incident. He was placed on one year of probation.

Crittenton, who was a member of the Dakota Wizards of the NBDL at the time of his arrest, has played for the Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Bobcats and the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in China since coming out of Georgia Tech in 2007 . He is currently out on $230,000 bond awaiting trial.

1. Jerry Sandusky, Former Assistant Coach, Penn State

In what became one of the biggest news stories in 2011, Jerry Sandusky's child sex abuse case rocked not only the sports world, but the entire world as well.

Sandusky was arrested in early November and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse against young boys over at least a 15-year time span, with at least one of the incidents happening in Penn State's locker room.

The fallout from the Sandusky case resulted in long-time Penn State head coach Joe Paterno being fired as a result of him possibly knowing of some of the sex abuse.

The case surrounding Sandusky keeps getting stranger and stranger, as Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, keeps slipping up in the handling of the case.

From allowing Sandusky to be interviewed without much censoring to throwing parties for reporters, where one of the reporters got a D.U.I. after leaving the party, Amendola is not making things any easier for Sandusky.

Sandusky faces life in prison if convicted on the charges and is currently free on a $250,000 bond, but under house arrest.