The foul line

A review of the sports stories from this season list drug sales, tax avoidance, money laundering, sexual assault, theft and other assorted crimes. Saints receiver Albert Connell won this year’s Least Likely to Become a Rhodes Scholar Award for stealing $3,500 from a teammate and losing a $14 million contract.

Dennis Rodman has now made a sport out of having the Newport police visit his home. Stats show this week’s total brings him up to 70 police calls, which leads the league. Rodman recently paid a fine for assaulting a gambling employee by rubbing his dice in the poor man’s crotch.

It’s not so funny to read about the NFL’s Rae Carruth paying a hit man to murder his pregnant wife and the child being born with mental disabilities, or the NBA player who raped a nanny while his children were in the house.

It may be time to hand out the award for Athlete Best Able to Avoid Arrest.

Beyond speeding tickets, the Kings have stayed clear of this crime wave recently, as far as we know. And amid all these ugly sports stories there are a few heartening ones (See "A Center of Compassion" on page 16) that make you think there may be a few heroes left.