Sports
Porn sites exploit photos of high school athletes
An investigation by Scott M. Reid and Dan Albano of The Orange County Register has revealed that photographs of unsuspecting high school athletes are being posted next to pornographic images on Internet sites. Investigators are tracking Web profiles and e-mail trails to determine the source of photos taken at water polo events. The discovery also…
Read MoreAlleged doping aligns with boosts in stats, paychecks
Ben Poston, Derrick Nunnally and Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel built a database of every player named in the Mitchell Report. The reporters analyzed statistical performance before and after the players allegedly began taking drugs and found that more than half the 90 players named in the report showed an improvement in performance…
Read MoreCollege bowl system lines pockets
Brent Schrotenboer of The San Diego Union-Tribune dissected the college football bowl system to reveal the lucrative financial structure that helps explain the system’s staying power. The investigation checked IRS records for 19 current bowl games to find that net assets grew by 85 percent from 2001-2005, up from $3.4 million to $6.3 million The…
Read MorePlenty of holes in drug screening for college athletes
A survey by The Salt Lake Tribune of Division 1-A schools exposed extreme differences in how drug-testing programs are administered from school to school. Through FOIA requests, The Tribune “requested detailed information on student-athlete drug testing programs administered by the schools themselves, separate from the NCAA.” Findings show that broken systems allow students to abuse…
Read MoreNeglect plagues property holdings of ex-NBA star
An investigation by The Sacramento Bee’s Terri Handy and Phillip Reese shows that former NBA star Kevin Johnson is responsible for a slew of neglected properties in the downtrodden area of Oak Park where his investments have been widely publicized and praised. “Within a two-mile radius, a Bee investigation found, half of the 37 parcels…
Read MoreAthletes’ weight gain can lead to major problems
Garry Lenton of the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., reports on the increased average size of high school football players. The newspaper used high school football rosters from 1988 and 2006, calculating the body mass index of 800 players total and finding that “Eighteen percent of 2006 players had a body mass index of 30 or…
Read MoreCredit card promotions profitable for two Iowa universities
Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register reported in a two-part series that Iowa’s two largest public universities are aggressively marketing credit cards to their students as part of an arrangement that generates millions of dollars for the schools’ privately run alumni organizations. Records obtained by the Register showed that while the schools and their…
Read MoreThe football injury to die for
Most high-school football players aren’t concerned about concussions, nor would they tell their coach if they got one. However, Alan Schwarz of The New York Times, gives some compelling arguments for why they should be a lot more concerned. According Schwarz’s investigative report, teenagers who receive a second blow to the head following a first,…
Read MoreFocus intensifying on Toledo point-shaving scandal
ESPN.com reporters Mike Fish and George J. Tanber investigate the point-shaving scandal involving a University of Toledo football player. Harvey “Scooter” McDougle would have been a senior this season, but his implication in a gambling ring has likely ended his chances at playing football again, college or pro. The report includes a list of four…
Read MoreAttendance discrepancies skew economic impact figures
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel reports that inaccurate attendance reports could be skewing the economic impact that sports venues have in the community seeing as though turnstile counts are often lower than the published “official attendance” numbers. As the County Commission in Orange County, Fla. prepare to consider a $1.1 billion plan for a…
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