We've seen a biter, a urinator and a cheat.
All have confessed their crimes - yes the biter finally came clean.
But out of Luis Suarez, Todd Carney and Lou Vincent, who is the baddest of a very bad trio?
Luis Suarez
Crime: Biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini in the shoulder
Punishment: Banned from football related activity for 4 months and from international football for 9 games
Initial Reaction: "It happens in football. My mouth collided with his shoulder."
Apologized: Yes, Luis Suarez has actually apologized.
The crime of biting a fellow player itself is bad - what makes this worse is the fact that it is not the first time that Suarez has been caught biting a player - indeed he has done it in every football club/association he is firmly connected with now, i.e. Ajax, Liverpool and Uruguay. Will he ever learn? Well as some other athletes show, they just never learn.
Todd Carney
Crime: Urinating into his mouth and being caught on photo
Punishment: Sacked by the Cronulla Sharks
Initial Reaction: "It was meant to be a joke. My friend set me up."
Apologized: Well, not really. He didn't front up to the Sharks management about the photo.
Like Suarez, Carney has been caught out three times in his career now but the most frustrating thing is that all his indiscretions have all taken place off the field, and have nothing to do with his talent as a rugby league player, but rather the distractions that come with it. Carney seems not to have learnt after being sacked previously by the Canberra Raiders and Sydney Roosters and after this third sacking, no NRL club in their right mind would want him in their side, and he will definitely struggle to get a work visa to play in the UK. A sad story but maybe not as sad as this next one.
Lou Vincent
Crime: Match-fixing
Punishment: Banned from the Blackcaps, and soon to be handed a life time ban by the ECB
Initial Reaction: Lou was remorseful but most of the activity was around his wife and the focus moved towards Chris Cairns
Apologized: Just did.
Vincent is really the odd one out in this trio - a seemingly nice, decent, down-to-earth Kiwi bloke who just wanted to play cricket for club and country. Vincent's career itself went pretty well, starting off with a ton on test debut and being consistently in the Blackcaps for a good 8 years. Vincent eventually disappeared off the scene but still featured prominently at club level and on the Twenty20 scene. Alas, little did we realise that there was more to his disappearance with match fixing allegations emerging this year and after thorough investigations, resulted in virtual life time bans from the sport. Vincent was heading towards the end of his career anyway but his name will be forever tarnished for his association with the dark side of the sport. A tragedy really.
An interesting thought. Carney's bad behaviour has been both on and off the field, while Suarez is more just on the field. Vincent is more dishonest, while the other two are wild, but Carney is wild both on and off the field, so I would say he is worse.
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