The year of the fraud
By Staff
Justin Schuver, Sports Editor
One of the biggest stories in sports this year is the impending toppling of Hank Aaron's career home run record by one Barry Lamar Bonds. All you need to know about Mr. Bonds is the first line I read in his Wikipedia article on Monday afternoon (which I looked up for this column only to learn what Barry's middle name was).
"Barry Lamar Bonds is a lying, no-good cheater."
Now, here is the important thing to realize about Wikipedia – it is a website where anybody can join and edit encyclopedia articles. Ostensibly, there is a large group of administrators who have the editorial responsibility to make sure that all articles are based in fact. The fact that Barry Bonds' article began with this line means one of two things has happened.
1) The article was only recently edited to include this sentence, before the administrators had time to go in there and erase it.
2) The administrators are aware of the sentence and have chosen not to do anything about it.
Either way, the sentence served as a biting indictment of Bonds and the notoriety he has gained in the sports world. Yet Bonds is just one of many frauds and cheaters who have made their impact in sports recently. Here are just a few more – some are cheaters, some are overpaid, some are liars – all are frauds.
Jeff Weaver, Seattle Mariners pitcher – If there is any bigger nonsense in the world than the phrase "clutch postseason performer," I have yet to find it. Weaver spent eight mediocre seasons in the major leagues before doing his best impression of a blind squirrel finding an acorn when he finished 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA in the 2006 postseason for the St. Louis Cardinals. Impressed by Weaver's "clutch postseason performance," the Seattle Mariners signed him as a free agent and are paying him $8.3 million this season.
What have the Mariners gotten for that money? An 0-6 record and a 10.97 ERA.
Floyd Landis, American cyclist – Landis was fired from Phonak Hearing Systems cycling team on Aug. 5, 2006, after testing positive for overly-high levels of testosterone. Since that firing, Landis has been in the crossfire with numerous other doping allegations that have placed a pall over the sport. He is still listed as the 2006 Tour de France champion, although Tour officials do not officially recognize his championship. His championship is in doubt over a failed drug test that included a testosterone level nearly three times the legal limit. Landis continues to deny he has ever used performance-enhancing drugs.
Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks forward – In the regular season, Nowitzki had a strong campaign with a 24.6 points-per-game average and his Mavericks had an NBA best 67 victories. The MVP voting, which was all but done by the time the league's playoffs began, was down to a three-man race between Nowitzki, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Phoenix point guard (and two-time defending MVP) Steve Nash.
The voters chose the big German, who then went out in the playoffs and laid an absolute egg. Not only were his Mavs upset by the eight-seed Warriors in the first round, but Nowitzki's performance was abysmal – 19.7 ppg and just 38 percent from the field.
Hardly what you expect to see from your most valuable player.
Tyrone Willingham, Washington football coach – Here's a quick quiz. Who was the highest paid coach on Notre Dame's payroll in the 2005-06 school year? The answer is NOT current head football coach Charlie Weis but instead former head coach Tyrone Willingham, who received $650,000 as part of his contract settlement after being fired on Nov. 30, 2004 (Weis' base salary was $565,566).
In Weis' first 25 games at Notre Dame, the Irish had a record of 19-6 and scored 239 more points than their opponents. In Willingham's last 25 games at Notre Dame, the Irish were 11-14 and scored 94 points fewer than their opponents. Here's another fun stat – in Willingham's 2004 season Notre Dame was outscored 71-102 by Pittsburgh, Purdue and BYU combined. In Weis' 2005 season Notre Dame outscored those same three teams 140-72.
In Willingham's last four years at Notre Dame and Washington (both programs with a historical winning tradition), he has won a total of 18 games (with 28 losses).
His 12-season career coaching record is 72-67-1.
(Editor's note: I just checked again and Bonds' Wikipedia article has been fixed. Of course, by the time this column runs, some other angry baseball fan might have changed it back again…)
