There is only one thing better than watching and betting on sports, and that is watching the antics sports stars get wrapped up in off the field of play.
When it comes to big names getting into trouble, this past week or so has been the World Cup.
Is it time to give up on Jon Jones?
How many chances is this guy going to get?
UFC 200 was left in tatters on Wednesday after USADA informed the MMA franchise that Jon Jones had tested positive for a banned substance.
While UFC officials urged that Jones and his case would be given a fair and full review in due course, they wasted no time scrapping his scheduled title fight with Daniel Cormier.
This is just the latest in a string of worrying missteps for a man who was once considered among the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.
Jones has proclaimed innocence and apologised to Cormier since the news broke, but his record – which includes testing positive for cocaine metabolites in 2015 – isn’t doing him any favours.
Innocent until proven guilty, but a drug charge from USADA could mean the end of the line for Jonny Bones.
Lionel Messi’s life is getting pretty messy
Lionel Messi has had a wild week.
It began with a monumental dummy spit after blowing a penalty shootout against Chile in the Copa America final.
Messi’s international record with Argentina is less than spectacular, having only won an Olympic gold medal with the squad in 2009.
Since then the South American nation has been ever the bridesmaid, never the bride.
You would think the amount Messi wins with his club team, Barcelona, would minimise the disappointment, but apparently not.
So after losing again and rage quitting his international career you wouldn’t think things could get much worse for Messi.
Well you were wrong.
Messi and his father were both handed 21-month jail sentences this week after being convicted of an assortment of income tax fraud charges.
Thanks to Spanish law, however, neither Leo nor Jorge is likely to spend a day down the river, because they are first time non-violent offenders with sentences of less than two years.
Thankfully for the Messis, rich folks never go to jail. Unless you are Martha Stewart, of course…
Parramatta’s year from hell
The Parramatta Eels have been tarred, feathered and dragged over the coals this year.
Everything that could go wrong for them has gone wrong. Even things you wouldn’t conceive as possibly going wrong have gone pear-shaped on them.
First they were penalised for systemic rorting of the salary cap. Then Keiran Foran went off the rails. Then Keiran Foran was injured. Then Corey Norman started hanging out with gangsters and got pinched carrying drugs. Then Nathan Peats and Junior Paulo were forced to leave the club so it could be salary-cap compliant for the rest of the year. Then Semi Radradra fled to Fiji and threatened not to return, apparently flirting with the idea of playing French rugby. Then Semi did return, only to be arrested at the airport upon his arrival for domestic violence charges.
Now reports are emerging that the club is broke and will be hitting up all and sundry for a bailout.
It is hard to imagine what else can possibly go wrong for the Eels, but the constant surprises have made for great entertainment.
If at the beginning of the year someone were to tell you that Foran would be dropped as captain and Norman would be charged with drugs offences, would you have believed them? Half the fun is in the surprise.
Given that they have been docked 12 competition points, it is understandable WilliamHill.com.au has Parramatta at $201 to take out the 2016 NRL Grand Final.
But still, money keeps coming in on them. So who knows?
Are we staring down the barrel of the next Cinderella story?
