Blame it on tabloid coverage, the ubiquity of drugs, or a shift in entitlement culture, but it seems that crime and sports are more linked these days than ever. Today’s headlines aren’t about players conspiring to throw a series, but about men and women charged with breaking some pretty serious laws and threatening the lives and livelihoods of everyone around them. The 10 infamous names on this list are just the tip, too. You think athletes would’ve learned by now that their job’s profile pretty much guarantees someone will see them doing dirt, but they never do.

1. O.J. Simpson: Far too famous not to make the cut, O.J. Simpson was mainly known as a pro football Hall of Famer and occasional actor (his credits include the Naked Gun series) before the 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, plunged him into pop culture infamy. Simpson was charged with the murders and opted not to turn himself in, instead leading law-enforcement officers on the most famous car-chase in history. The nine-month “trial of the century” ended in acquittal for Simpson, though in 1997 he was found liable for the pair’s wrongful death in a civil trial. Things got somehow worse in September of that year when he was popped for robbery with a group of men ripping off sports memorabilia in Las Vegas. He was convicted and sentenced to 33 years with a possibility of parole after nine. Right now, he’s behind bars in Nevada.
2. Pete Rose: “Charlie Hustle” is one of the most lauded baseball players ever, and still holds MLB records for hits, games played, outs, and at-bats. He’s got two Gold Gloves and three World Series rings, and he’s not in the Hall of Fame because he’s been permanently banned from baseball. He ended his playing career back with the Cincinnati Reds in 1986 but managed until 1989, when word began to get out that Rose had bet on games during his time as a player. He agreed to being banned but didn’t come clean until 2004 in his autobiography, My Prison Without Bars. He admitted to betting on Reds games but never against the Reds, drawing an arbitrary line in the sand to save some face. He’s made a few ignoble appearances at WWE events since, but he remains a controversial and criminal figure to baseball fans.
3. Michael Vick: Currently with the Philadelphia Eagles, quarterback Michael Vick spent six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons before taking a detour to prison. After a few brushes with criminal elements throughout the early 2000s, including allegations of connections to illegal dogfighting rings, searches in spring 2007 as part of an investigation into his cousin Davon Boddie’s potential drug use led investigators to the discovery of dogfighting facilities on Vick’s property in Virginia. Vick and three others were hit with federal felony charges of operating a dogfighting ring. Vick copped a plea and admitted to financing the operation, profiting from it, and to being involved of the euphemistically phrased “destruction” of between six and eight dogs. He served 23 months and paid almost $1 million to an escrow fund used to care for dogs confiscated from the ring.
4. Maurice Clarett: Maurice Clarett started out as a promising running back at Ohio State, helping the Buckeyes to a 14-0 season in 2002 and the BCS championship. After disciplinary issues led to a suspension from the school during his sophomore year, he sued the NFL in an attempt to challenge their rule that a player has to wait three years between leaving high school and entering the draft. He initially won, but the decision was overturned on appeal. He was selected the following year, 2005, by the Denver Broncos, but released before the season started after clashing with coaches. Out of football and with mounting personal problems and debt, he robbed a couple of people at gunpoint in front of an Ohio nightclub in January 2006. Shortly before a court date, he led cops on a high-speed chase that ended in a brawl. The cops also found weapons and liquor in his car. He went to prison for a while, but in August 2010 he signed with the United Football League’s Omaha Nighthawks.
5. Lawrence Taylor: Linebacker Lawrence Taylor was a celebrated member of the New York Giants, but his off-the-field exploits were enough to rival those of any other player willing to break the law. A frequent coke user, Taylor went to rehab twice in 1995 and was arrested twice during the next three years trying to buy coke from undercover officers. He was inducted to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1999, and in 2003 admitted in an interview to spending thousands a day on drugs and occasionally call girls while he was a player. In 2009 he was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident, and in 2010 he was arrested again for allegedly sleeping with a 16-year-old girl in New York. He’s charged with statutory rape and third-degree patronization for offering the girl money. In July he pled not guilty; if convicted, he could do time and be registered for sex offender status.
6. Rae Carruth: Former wide receiver got a good start with the Carolina Panthers in 1997 before he got injured and missed most of his second season. This is pretty much where the wheels came off the wagon. In November 1999, Carruth’s girlfriend — eight months pregnant — was shot four times in a drive-by after Carruth stopped his car in front of hers, and she fell into a coma shortly after being admitted to the hospital. Doctors saved the baby, but the woman died a month after. Carruth, a suspect, posted bail but hit the road, and was eventually caught hiding out in Tennessee. He was foung guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and a couple other charges, earning himself a prison sentence of 18-24 years.
7. Mike Danton: Mike Danton played for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues in the 2000s before his career took a turn for the criminal. In 2004, he was arrested on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, with authorities alleging that Danton had hired a hitman to kill his agent, David Frost. The hitman turned out to be a cop, and Danton pled guilty, though he’s recently stated that the target wasn’t Frost but Danton’s father, Steve Jefferson. Danton served just over five years in prison before earning parole, and he’s currently playing hockey in Canada for Saint Mary’s University.
8. Mike Tyson: Mike Tyson’s been making a bit of a cultural comeback recently — he’s a happily married vegan, and he showed up in The Hangover — but Iron Mike has some serious personal and criminal issues in his past. His marriage to Robin Givens ended after a year with charges of abuse and mental instability, and in 1991 he was arrested for the rape of Desiree Washington, the 18-year-old Miss Black Rhode Island. He was convicted and served three years. His 1996 comeback fight against Evander Holyfield was a loss, and in the rematch he bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear. In 2006 he was arrested again, this time for possessing cocaine and driving under the influence. His name remains one of the most villified in sports history.
9. Tonya Harding: Notorious for bringing a soap opera spin to the Olympics, Tonya Harding conspired with her ex-husband and a body guard to hire a thug to attack rival ice skater Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Kerrigan’s leg was bruised but not broken, allowing her to compete at that year’s Olympics, which is when the cover-up surfaced. Harding plead out and received probation, community service, and a fine, and she was also forced to leave the U.S. Figure Skating Association. Her pro career was pretty much shot, and her subsequent life was marred by a sex tape and repeated run-ins with the law. Now she’s just washed up.
10. Tommy Kane: A former wide receiver with the Seattle Seahawks, Kane eradicated any good memories of his years as a player in 2003 when he stabbed his wife to death after beating her in his own mother’s house. Kane had a history of drug use and depression, and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the gruesome crime.

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