Oh Fumble! 16 Sports Stars Involved In Nude Scandals
These athletes are playing dirty on (and off!) the field.
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Call in Olivia Pope. Because these sports stars need a fixer to help us forget their dirty indiscretions.
Certainly, Tiger Woods' checkered past hasn't left your mind. Nor have you forgotten about the $4 million ring Kobe Bryant's wife wears on her finger as, you know, a reminder of their love—and maybe his cheating!
Let's take a look at the other celebrity athletes who like to get down and dirty!
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1. Brett Favre The football legend has been married since 1996, but that didn't stop him from playing off the field. In 2010, Brett was the center of a photo scandal after an employee of the New York Jets alleged that Favre sent her lewd messages and d*ck pics. Favre admitted to sexting the employee but has denied sending any explicit photos. After an investigation by the NFL, Favre was found not to be in violation of its personal conduct policy. He was fined $50,000 for failing to cooperate. Get your head in the game, Favre!
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2. Dorell Wright Let this be your lesson to not get naked on Skype. In March 2010, an explicit photo of the basketball star was posted to several websites as well as various Twitter accounts. The photo of Wright had been taken unknowingly during a private video chat session. He certainly learned the pitfalls of the Internet and apologized in a statement, saying "I lacked judgment and was naïve about the Internet."
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3. Tiger Woods Tiger Woods likes to sink his balls into holes. Dirty, huh? Seems to be the story of his life on and off the green. In December 2009, more than a dozen women claimed to various media outlets to have had affairs with the famous golfer. Soon after, his wife left him and he was dropped from countless million-dollar endorsement deals. He has since returned to the game and is currently in a relationship with Olympian Lindsey Vonn.
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4. Eugene Robinson Who needs morals in football? Well, besides the guy that was awarded the Bart Starr Award for "high moral character." For Eugene Robinson (formerly a Falcons safety), that honor lasted just a few hours. After accepting the award in 1998, Robinson was caught soliciting oral sex from an undercover police officer. We call foul on this one.
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5. Sean Salisbury The former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst is still trying to forge a comeback after his d*ck pic scandal. At a bar in 2006, Salisbury had reportedly taken photos on his cell phone (can you imagine how grainy those pics were?!) and showed them to coworkers at the bar. He denied the allegations, but eventually confirmed the rumors.
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6. Chipper Jones A longtime favorite for Atlanta Braves fans, Chipper Jones was a star on the mound. He also found a way to score off the diamond. In 1999, the married athlete came clean about fathering the child of a Hooters waitress local to the Braves' spring training home. Maybe Jones should have paid more attention to the seven-year itch in his marriage instead of the seventh-inning stretch.
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7. Greg Oden Remember hearing about "Penis-Gate 2010?" Here's the back story: The basketball star has been known for an unfortunate streak of injuries that kept him sidelined as he began his career. So on his downtime, he'd take nude selfies and send them to his girlfriend. Well, as nude photos tend to do, they popped up on the World Wide Web. Hence, what is now known as Penis-Gate 2010, as dubbed by the local media in Portland, OR. Naturally, in the coverage of the scandal, a female reporter asked Oden how he felt about everyone being "impressed" with the size of his package.
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8. Michael Vick We all know Vick was a d*ck for running a dog fighting ring. But he also has a dirty sexual history. In early 2005, a former girlfriend of the football star accused him of knowingly transmitting genital herpes. He was treated for the disease at clinics under the name "Ron Mexico." Eventually, the case was settled out of court. And for a short period, "Mexico No. 7" jerseys were a hot ticket item!
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9. Fred Smoot If you really want to know how athletes party when they get a week off, just ask the 2005 Vikings team. Seventeen Vikings, led by Fred Smoot, rented two boats and hired multiple prostitutes for a night of debaucherous proportions. And silly football players forgot to clean up. Photos, lewd acts, and other remnants of the night gave authorities all the evidence they needed.
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10. Kobe Bryant Though he's revered now as the star of the Los Angeles Lakers, it's hard for many fans to forget Kobe Bryant's headlines in 2003. He was accused of rape by a 19-year-old hotel employee. Details of the night covered various media outlets. Bryant admitted to adultery with his wife, but she—and her new $4 million ring—stood by his side. The charges were settled in civil court. And it took years for Bryant to repair his image and regain his endorsements.
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11. Martellus Bennett Nobody wants d*ck pics. Can we make this a worldwide memo that every man will receive? Include on that list former Chicago Bears tight-end Martellus Bennett. In July 2010, nude shower selfies of Bennett appeared—where else—on the Internet. He said the photos had been taken four years prior and were posted online without his knowledge or permission.
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12. Dennis Rodman Say this b-baller's name and you'll think of many wild caught-on-camera moments. But have you heard about this one? At a 2010 hotel party, Rodman knocked back drinks and lived it up large. So large, that he eventually took six women upstairs to his room. Once there, he forgot to turn off his mic, therefore allowing the entire party downstairs to get an exclusive listening to all of Rodman's verbal foreplay. Oops.
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13. Alex Rodriguez A-Rod is a tabloid regular! How did that happen? Well, leaving your hotel with a stripper might cause some eyebrows to raise and cameras to flash. And on top of that, when it's revealed that you've been having a full-fledged affair with said stripper, well, you can pretty much count on your wife leaving you. But A-Rod has dated some of Hollywood's hottest blondes (Madonna, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz), so he's probably not too upset.
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14. George Hill 2010 was the year of nude athlete pics! In February, pictures that Hill captured of himself using his camera phone were posted online. He quickly apologized saying, "A year ago, I made a mistake and take full responsibility for my actions. I have matured and learned from this episode."
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15. Ben Roethlisberger The more serious of sports star scandals centers on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. In 2009, Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault twice within eight months. After investigations and trials, the NFL announced Roethlisberger would be suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2010 season due to a violation of the personal conduct policy. As these things tend to go, the suspension was reduced to four games. He also was ordered to undergo a league-mandated "behavior evaluation."
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16. Chris Cooley File this under "I know how to work a camera, I swear!" In 2008, Cooley accidentally revealed his "friends" in a selfie he uploaded to his blog on his website The Cooley Zone. He had intended to take a picture of a page in the team's playbook, resting on his lap. But—and this is a big but—Cooley wasn't wearing any clothes at the time.
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