The Seven Deadly Sins Of Sport

Since Pope Benedict XVI has decided to come up with seven new sins out of freakin thin air, I think its only fair that someone should come up with a set of Seven Deadly Sins specifically geared towards the world of sport. Here goes nothin' and may God have mercy on my soul:

1) Thou shall not get caught using performance enhancing drugs.
- See, its ok to use them, its ok to give them to your teammates, its ok to shoot them in other's rear ends, its even ok that you sell them and supplement your already hefty income that was unjustly given to you because you aren't naturally that good...just do not get caught doing any of it. Its the ultimate don't ask, don't tell, don't get caught. Don't get caught, and you're a hero like Albert Pujols, not sayin' just sayin. Get caught and you're vilified...unless you're Shawne Merriman.

2) Thou shall not get caught cheating
- Ok, so everyone cheats in sport. To paraphrase the famous quote is if you aren't cheating you aren't trying to win. If you get caught cheating however, you are found breaking the sin and of course the torches start getting lit and you begin a slow march towards execution.

3) Thou shall not create a rap/rock/blues/jazz/etc. album
- You are an athlete. You are not a musician. No one cares that you think you have talent besides playing a game. You don't. Stop trying or you shall be mocked and ridiculed for all of eternity.

4) Thou shall use prophylactics when engaging in sexual behavior.
- For this, its ok to be a womanizer, it's your birthright as the ultimate alpha-male, just do it right and don't spread your seed. For every Shawn Kemp, Travis Henry (not his actual kids in the picture...least he doesn't think they are) or Elijah Dukes that is spat on there's a Wilt Chamberlain who does it right and is praised for it. Don't be a dork, cover your pork.

5) Thou shall not get caught harming animals for fun.
- No one knows this rule better than Michael Vick, Tripp Isenhour, Pedro Martinez or Qyntel Woods. Pedro gets a bit of a pass because he did it in a country where its legal, but pretty much any athlete who does anything cruel to an animal meets a pretty unfortunate sports demise. The Lord looks down on those who harm the lesser species. We'll see what happens with Pedro this season.

6) Thou shall not get caught gambling.
- Tim Donaghy, Pete Rose, Wayne Gretzky's wife, Michael Jordan's mysterious retirement for baseball all have some ties to gambling and all have never be the same. The easy solution is to wait til you're out of sport like Charles Barkley here to publicly gamble away all your money. People find that kind of gambling far more light hearted, but if you do it while you're active in sport you shall have a pall cast upon you...and you might get forced to run a team in Charlotte named after a guy called Bob for all of eternity.

7) Thou shall not beat on your lady, get caught, arrested, and have a mugshot taken like this
- Sports, by their nature, are very aggressive. It takes an aggressive person to participate at the highest of levels of sport. The problem some have is leaving that aggression on the field or court of play. Those who choose not to will forever be branded WIFE-BEATER and those scarlet 2 words will follow you until your death...Jason Kidd.