Pete Rose Scandal

Gambling is a huge issue in the sports world, especially in Major League Baseball (MLB). So when someone gets caught red handed, the system tends to make an example out of them. Pete Rose was a prime example of that. Rose is one of the all-time leaders in games played with 3,562, plate appearances with 15,890, and hits with 4,256. He had an incredible career as a Cincinnati Red where, according to InfoPlease, he earned the nickname "Charlie Hustle" for his work ethic.

He had a 24-year long career, during which he made many accomplishments such as three appearances in the World Series (twice with the Reds, once with the Philadelphia Phillies), a career batting average of .303, and a 44 game hitting streak. Rose was basically all but guaranteed a spot in the World Series until 1989, when he was first accused of gambling. More importantly, betting on his team. Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball, which also meant he lost his spot in the Hall of Fame. At the time he did not admit to the gambling accusations in hopes to get reinstated in a few years.

Now in 2015, Rose has still not been reinstated, and he still remains ineligible for the Hall of Fame. A little over a decade ago in 2004, after realizing his hopes for the Hall of Fame would never be, he finally admitted to gambling on the sports and his own team in his book.

According to ESPN, on August 24, 1989, Bart Giamatti, the commissioner of baseball, took the mic in New York City to reveal Rose's fate. He said, "One of the game's greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts."

Also according to ESPN, after it all this came out, Rose said a few words. "My life is baseball," Rose said. "I hope to get back in baseball as soon as I possibly can. I've been in baseball for three decades, and to think I'm going to be out of baseball for a very short period of time hurts." He went on to say, "I made some mistakes, and I'm being punished for them. however, the settlement is fair. One of the mistakes wasn't betting on baseball. I have too much respect for the game, to much love for the game."

To this day, Pete Rose is banned from baseball. I bet he wishes he didn't make that bet. I hope he learned his lesson.

Tiger Woods Scandal

Possibly one of the most successful golfers of all time, Tiger Woods had the world at his fingertips, or should I say club? Through his tremendous talent, he turned pro at the young age of 20 in 1996 and had won his first major in just less than a year.

By the 2000s, Woods had bypassed the role of number one golfer in the world. He was an unstoppable force on the course. In fact, he spent 264 weeks (August 1999-September 2004) and then another another 281 weeks (June 2005-October 2010) as number one golfer in the world. He still holds the record for holding the top spot for the most consecutive weeks in a row.

He also holds other records such as being awarded the PGA Player of the Year 11 times, being awarded the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average 8 times, and he also led the money list in 10 different seasons. During his career, he has won 14 professional major golf championships which is the second highest of any player in history. Also, he has 79 PGA Tour events, which is also second highest in history.Out of any active golfer, he has the most career major and career PGA Tour wins.

Tiger woods had it all, at least until the end of 2009 when his infidelities surfaced in the media. After his wife attacked his car with one of his golf clubs after she caught him cheating, dozens of women came forward about their sexual encounters with Woods. The final count was close to 120 different women. His poor wife. When she attacked his car she believed that he had cheated with 1 women, imagine her surprise when 120 different women claimed to have sexual encounters with her husband. The media ate him alive. In December of 2009, he announced his indefinite break from professional golf. Between his behavior and his hiatus from golf, he lost most of his endorsements deals including his main Nike endorsement. Not much was heard about Woods until February 2010 when he made a televised apology to the public for his behavior.

Following his apology, he returned to professional golf in the 2010 Masters Tournament. He finished in 4th place, but his career began to downhill spiral from there. After his infidelity scandal, his career suffered as bad as his image. It wasn't pretty for Woods. He went from the top of the world to the bottom of the crop in just a sort time. Karma's a bitch Tiger.

Paralympics Scandal

In my opinion, the Paralympic scandal of 2000 is one of the most disgraceful events of all time. It went far beyond cheating and crossed a bigger line of ethics.

In the Sydney Paralympic basketball games, Spain dominated all other seven teams. According to Stolen Gold, they beat Portugal by 15, Brazil by 56, Japan by 67, Poland by 30, and Russia by 24.They were a great team, good enough to bring home the gold metal. But what people didn't know was that they were at a slight advantage.

To be qualified to compete in a Paralympic game, one's IQ level must be a 70 or below. Only two people on the entire basketball team met that criteria. Only two out of twelve players were actually eligible to play.

Only two weeks after the end of the games, Carlos Ribagorda wrote an article for Capitol, a Spanish business magazine exposing not only the team, but the Spanish Paralympic Committee(SPC) as well. In the article he explained that ten members of the team, himself included, were not handicap at all. The article also revealing the SPCs involvement, explaining that they were actually the ones who recruited the players. He also exposed Spanish participants from other events suchs as table tennis, track and field, and swimming for fraud as well.

Why you might ask? The only reason people ever came up with was for the thrill of winning. Is winning really worth losing all your morals. It was sick and devise stunt to pull. They must have known they'd get caught eventually.

The loss of their metals was not enough.

The O.J Simpson Scandal

Millions tuned in on October 3, 1995 to watch history be made as O.J. Simpson was acquitted of all criminal charges against him including the murder chargers of his ex wife; Nicole Brown and her "friend" Ronald Goldman.

Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson was arguably one of the best players in the NFL of all time. After receiving the Heisman Trophy in college he went on to NFL to set the all time record for yards rushed in one season. While other players have now matched his 2,000 rush yard record, he is still the only player to accomplish that in a 14 game season. In 1983 Simpson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and then the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. Even after his football career came to an end, he still stayed in the spot light as a football broadcaster.

On June 17, 1994 Simpson received more attention than he ever had before, but not the kind of attention one would want...

Simpson and Brown began dating in 1977 while Simpson was still married to his first wife Marguerite Whitley. They got married in 1985, but the marriage only lasted 7 years. Brown filed for divorce after claiming Simpson was physically abusive towards her. He denied the allegations.

On June 12, 1994 Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman; Brown's friend, were found stabbed to death outside of Brown's condominium in Los Angeles, California. After evidence pointing to Simpson was found, he fled which soon turned into a car chase. After he was finally caught, he plead not guilty to the murder charges. 

Millions followed the trail and to this day nobody knows the true story. Everyone has their theories and everyone can guess, but the only person that will ever truly know if O.J. Simpson is guilty is O.J. Simpson himself. My opinion? He was caught red handed, but social conflicts of the time led to an acquittal.

Even though he was acquitted of the murder chargers, Simpson was found liable for the wrongful death of and battery against Ronald Goldman and battery charges against Brown on February 5, 1997. Fred Goldman; Ronald's father, sued after fully believing that Simpson was his sons murderer. Simpson was ordered to pay $33,500,00.00 in damages. Goldman later took Simpson back to court in 2006 after Simpson was recieving compensation from a book deal and interview pertaining to the 1994 murders and trail.

So where is he now? Jail. Shocker right?

After getting in and out of trouble with the law for a couple years, Simpson  led a group of men in a robbery at the Palace Station hotel-casino at gunpoint. After two of Simpsons men flipped on him by taking a plea deal and testified against him, On December 5, 2008, Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 9 years. On July 31, 2013 the Nevada Parole Board granted him parole on some charges but still has to serve at least four years on other chargers.

Could he be innocent? Possibly of murder.

Could he be guilty? Yes. O.J. Simpson is an arrogant thug who has gotten away with so much because of his money.

Juan Williams brings us up-to-date with the peoples verdict as of 2014.