Athletic Misconduct

Sports offered a mixed bag over the last 10 years, integrity often fading into the background and the 2000s producing nearly as many scoundrels as it did stars. A decade that gave us the BALCO scandal and a corrupt Olympic figure skating judge at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games also served up transcendent figures such as Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, all in their athletic prime and each perhaps the greatest-ever champion in his chosen field. Of course, as Woods' carefully crafted image eroded over the last month amid a series of tabloid-ready revelations, even the best of the best weren't immune to embarrassment.

Buried deep within the soul of every sport is a select group of traditions that are followed religiously. Whenever a competitor feels he's been wronged, these eye-for-an-eye creeds demand retribution. So, of course, after Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Takashi Saito hit St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols on the left hand Tuesday, St. Louis was going to hit back. And Cardinals reliever Jason Matte did, the next inning, hitting Milwaukee All-Star Ryan Braun in the back. He was just following the game's long-standing retaliatory rule: Throw at somebody.

Twenty-five years later, it is hard to recall a time before the rumors and accusations. A time before athletes competed without suspicion hovering around each record-setting performance. A time before sprinters and swimmers had to share the sports page with the likes of nandrolone and stanozolol. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, it seems, were the last innocent Summer Games before the dawn of the steroid era.

A British rugby player's blood sample emerged this week as a landmark case, the first positive result for human growth hormone in testing by a national sporting anti-doping agency. The athlete, Terry Newton, confessed to using the banned substance and Wednesday, after being slapped with a two-year ban from the game, publicly apologized for his "grave error in judgment." Newton's positive test is expected to be followed shortly by others, a source familiar with worldwide doping programs told The Times on Wednesday.

Former Olympic track and field superstar Marion Jones pleaded guilty Friday to federal criminal charges that she lied to investigators about using steroids before her five-medal performance at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, and about her involvement in an unrelated New York-based counterfeit check scheme. The admission that she used steroids, made in U.S. District Court in White Plains, N.Y., represents a fall from grace for a woman who was once among the most celebrated athletes in the world.

A quiet day of tennis turned bizarre Saturday, when American Jeff Tarango was defaulted after walking off a court during his third-round singles match, then later accused an umpire of fixing matches for other players. In a remarkable postmatch news conference, Tarango, of Manhattan Beach, made several serious and at times rambling accusations against chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh of France, whom Tarango called "corrupt."

Well, Mike Tyson didn't need a new referee. He needed a rabies shot. He has been hailed as having the fighting style of a wild animal. He sure has. He proved it here Saturday night. He tried to bite Evander Holyfield's ear off Saturday. Twice. Referee Mills Lane disqualified him before he tried to bite his nose off. America's Wolfman made a mockery of the Marquess of Queensberry rules. He made a mockery of sportsmanship. He took pugilism back to the cave. He is one disturbed young man.

Alabama, with the third-winningest program in major college football history, was placed on three years' probation and severely penalized after the NCAA Committee on Infractions found the school guilty of unethical conduct and "a distressing failure of institutional control."

It's too early to write off the Clippers' season. Lamar Odom doesn't get that same benefit. He has failed. He let down his team, his fans, himself. When the Clippers need someone to take their hand and guide them in the right direction, their best player will wander off into a minimum five-game suspension for violating the league's anti-drug program, the NBA announced Monday. That's twice now.

Can diamonds be a guy's best friend? Just days after being charged with sexually assaulting a hotel employee in Colorado, Kobe Bryant gave a purple diamond ring worth a reported $4 million to his wife, Vanessa. The Laker star commissioned the 8-carat ring from Rafinity, a Santa Monica jeweler on the Third Street Promenade that caters to a celebrity clientele. The couple picked up the ring earlier this week.

Todd McNair could not wait to finish. Tim Floyd cannot wait to start. So it goes for USC, which is scheduled to complete its three-day hearing before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions on Saturday. McNair, the Trojans' running backs coach, appeared relieved late Friday afternoon after enduring two days of grilling from the 10-member committee during the closed-door proceeding in a hotel ballroom. Floyd, who resigned as USC's basketball coach last June, had hoped to appear Friday.

Athletic Director Mike Garrett, former football coach Pete Carroll and running backs coach Todd McNair were among the members of a USC contingent that was on the hot seat Thursday in Tempe before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions. Meantime, former USC tailback Reggie Bush, the focus of many of the allegations that landed USC in the desert for its long-awaited hearing, was at the Winter Olympics in Canada, preparing to take in a hockey game and some ski races. "There are attorneys, there are lawsuits, there are all those things that keep you from being able to talk," Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, said during a promotional stop at a sponsor's office in Vancouver, adding, "I've tried to do everything I can, on my part, to help USC out."

After a nearly four-year investigation that expanded from one sport to another and involves some of the most prominent names in its storied sports history, USC finally goes before the NCAA infractions committee Thursday. The 10-member committee convenes to determine whether alleged violations in USC's football and basketball programs took place and, if so, whether they constituted a lack of institutional control. "My understanding is this one might be a pretty long deal," Tom Yeager, a former NCAA infractions committee member, said of the hearing.

Former USC men's basketball coach Tim Floyd once described the distant treatment he received from Trojans Athletic Director Mike Garrett as "a bitter pill." Floyd's bitterness about the events that led to his resignation last June could be in evidence Thursday when the school goes before the NCAA's infractions committee at a hearing in Tempe, Ariz. USC officials will defend their athletic department against college rules violations. Floyd's attorney said he would appear at the hearing.

April 2006 Pacific 10 Conference begins investigation after several media outlets report that tailback Reggie Bush's mother, stepfather and brother had been living in a San Diego-area home owned by Michael Michaels, a would-be sports marketer. Bush says the situation was "blown out of proportion." He tells ESPN, "When this is all said and done everyone will see at the end of the day that we've done absolutely nothing wrong." Soon after, the New Orleans Saints make Bush the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft.

It wasn't long ago that R.C. Johnson appeared before the NCAA Infractions Committee, and he doesn't envy USC officials who this week will defend their athletic department against allegations of college rules violations. Johnson is the athletic director at Memphis, and last year, his school was punished for major rules infractions in men's basketball and women's golf. "It's no cup of coffee," Johnson said of his appearance. "I absolutely hated being in there." USC's hearing begins Thursday, and experts say what will take place behind the closed doors in a hotel conference room in Tempe, Ariz.

An attorney for two Fresno State basketball players alleged to have shaved points for friendly gamblers this season said a Times story Wednesday that quoted bookmakers and others on the purported scheme was "trumped-up garbage." "I find it a little bit incredulous that someone would say they now have more than a rumor when what [The Times did is] quote an anonymous illegal bookie and that bookie is saying he or she has a reliable source. Is that a reliable source?"

A high school relay team, among the fastest in California, is disqualified from a championship race because one of the runners is wearing different-colored underpants. In another meet, a triple-jumper has the best performance of her life nullified when the opposing coach notices a thin, beaded cord around her ankle, a violation of a rule prohibiting jewelry. As a result, her team loses, ending a 22-year unbeaten streak.

The NCAA committee that will meet beginning Thursday to determine the fate of USC athletics will do more than hear testimony, look at the evidence investigators have gathered and ponder the university's response. It will also consider precedent -- past cases with similarities to whatever findings it makes concerning allegations that star football and men's basketball athletes received benefits in violation of college rules. "We try to be consistent," Paul Dee, chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, said recently.

The entire USC basketball season just disappeared under a slathering of Mayo, and I know what you're wondering. The hottest basketball team in the Pac-10 just got sent to the cooler, and I know exactly why you are worried. It will be 10 months before they play another meaningful men's basketball game at the Galen Center, and I know it may seem impolite right now, but, really, you have only one question, so I'll just blurt it out. What does all this mean for football? Does the temporary removal of this relatively unnoticed athletic department organ -- think appendix -- mean that they can save the Trojans heart?