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With Brett Favre in the news for allegedly sending X-rated photos of himself to former Jets game day hostess Jenn Sterger I have received  number of e-mails from people who want me to look back at the most famous sex scandals in sports history. You ask and I deliver. Here you go....

Some of the Most Famous Recent Sex Scandals in Sports

TIGER WOODS

The world's greatest golfer admitted to having several affairs with strippers and porn stars while married. He eventually entered rehab for sex addiction and his wife Elin divorced him and walked away with in excess of 100 million dollars.

BRETT FAVRE

This scandal is just developing and was broken by the website Deadspin who released voice mails and X-Rated pictures they claim are from Favre to former Jets employee Jenn Sterger. Now Deadspin claims there may be more women coming forward to say that Favre may have inappropriately pursued them.

KOBE BRYANT

Bryant was accused of sexual assault by a hotel employee while he was in Colorado to have knee surgery. He denied any wrongdoing claiming that the sex was consensual. The alleged victim refused to testify and the case was dropped. Bryant reportedly settled a civil claim out of court.
 
RICK PITINO

The University of Louisville basketball coach had sex with the wife of his equipment manager in a restaurant one evening and the whole sordid affair became extremely public when she tried to extort him and claimed rape. She also reportedly had an affair with her lawyer during her trial and that story was also broken by Deadspin. She was convicted in the summer of 2010 and is awaiting sentencing.

STEVE MCNAIR

Straight from his Wikipedia:

On July 4, 2009, McNair was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds, along with the body of a young woman named Sahel Kazemi, in a condominium rented by McNair, at 105 Lea Avenue in downtown Nashville.^[McNair had been shot twice in the body and twice in the head, with only one of the shots coming from closer than three feet. Kazemi had a single gunshot wound to the head, which was proved to have been fired from a gun that was held to her temple. McNair was believed to have been asleep on the couch when the shooting occurred. The bodies were discovered by McNair's friends Wayne Neely and Robert Gaddy, who called 911. The Nashville police declared McNair's death a murder-suicide, with Kazemi as the perpetrator and McNair as the victim. The 9-mm gun used was found under Kazemi's body and later tests revealed "trace evidence of (gunpowder) residue on her left hand." Kazemi had a worsening financial situation and also suspected that McNair was in another extramarital relationship. McNair, who was married at the time, had been dating the 20-year-old Kazemi in the months prior to their deaths. On July 6, police stated that the gun found at the scene of the crime under Kazemi's body had been purchased by her after her release from jail on the DUI charge. Kazemi purchased the gun from a convicted murderer she met while looking for a buyer for her Kia.^.

STEVE PHILLIPS ENTERS SEX REHAB

The former New York Mets General Manager entered a rehab center for sex addiction after he admitted to having an affair with a fellow ESPN employee. He was summarily fired from his high paying gig as a baseball analyst and has only recently begun to resurface in the baseball world.

KAREN OWEN AND HER DUKE THESIS

Well said by the Wall Street Journal: Karen Owen's now infamous PowerPoint "thesis" detailing the thirteen men she had relations with while an undergraduate student at Duke University has quickly become a social media cautionary tale.

Though Owen wrote her 42-page dossier, titled "An education beyond the classroom: excelling in the realm of horizontal academics" reportedly for a few select friends, nothing juicy stays a secret for long in today's Web world -- especially when said item is easily forward-able. After circulating amongst the Duke student body, the mock thesis went viral after it was published by several websites, including the Gawker-owned Jezebel and Deadspin.

What a tremendous moment to see the Stanley Cup handed to Jonathan Toews by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the wild celebration that ensued moments later. In my lifetime I have seen several championships. The 1985 Bears, the 6 titles won by Michael Jordan and the Bulls, the 2005 White Sox who won the World Series, and even the 1982 Chicago Sting who claimed the NASL soccer title.

Now all that is left is for the Cubs to end more than a century of futility and finally win a World Series. That is a topic for another day. Now let's celebrate the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks who are the NHL Champions.

Photos of some Chicago Blackhawks players engaging in a night of partying have surfaced in Vancouver where the Hawks played on Saturday evening, losing to the Canucks 5-1.

The website "The KurtenBlog" posted photos of some Blackhawks partying in a limo with several females. The team is already aware of the pictures and issued this statement that is included in a story on the Chicago Breaking Sports Website run by the Chicago Tribune: "We're aware of (the photos). It's a team-related issue and will be handled like any other situation and that will be internally."

As the first decade in the 21st century comes to a close, let's take a moment to reminisce about the best and worst moments and athletes of the past ten years in Chicago Sports.

Best Team: 2005 Chicago White Sox

Only one Chicago team could call itself champions in the first decade of the 2000s, and that team plays at 35th and the Dan Ryan.  The White Sox magical run to a world championship in 2005 erased an 88-year drought of glory on the south side.  Everything went right for Ozzie Guillen's club that year, as his starting staff of Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia each won 14 or more games in the regular season, leading the club to a 99 win campaign.  Playing "Ozzie Ball", the Palehose used speed and timely hitting to scratch across runs with Scott Podsednik changing the team's offensive strategy.  The White Sox stormed through the playoffs, going 11-1 in October, which included a sweep of the then-defending champion Red Sox, and the Astros in the World Series.  Their bullpen was rock solid all year, as Bobby Jenks burst onto the scene as a bona fide closer, and earned the save on October 26, 2005 to earn the Sox a ring.

Worst Team: 2000-2001 Chicago Bulls

After a historic run of six world championships in the previous decade with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, things went very bad and very fast for the Bulls after the nucleus of the team left the Windy City.  The team did have Elton Brand, who averaged 20 points per game, Ron Mercer, who could still contribute, and Ron Artest--who by his own admission--was drinking on the job.  The team went 15-67, bad enough for a miserable .183 winning percentage, and ranked dead last in the NBA in points per game (87.6).  Need any further proof this team was a disaster?  This team only had three players average double-digit scoring, and Ron Artest barely qualified in double-digits with just over 11 points per game.  Also, how about these names that contributed minutes to Tim Floyd's club that year:  Dragan Tarlac, Khalid El-Amin, Dalibor Bagaric, A.J. Guyton, Jake Voskuhl.  Need I say more?

Best Athlete: Brian Urlacher, Chicago Bears

Say what you want about Urlacher's attitude, or problematic character at times.  It's no question this city could have embraced him far more than they did over this past decade.  But when it comes to the best athlete in Chicago sports over the last ten years, Urlacher takes the cake.  After being drafted in the first round out of New Mexico in 2000, Urlacher immediately emerged as a standout linebacker for the Bears and quickly vaulted to the top of the NFL.  He had more than 800 tackles in the decade, 37.5 sacks, and 17 interceptions.  He was one of the most feared defensive players in the league for the majority of the decade, and led his team to multiple playoff appearances including a Super Bowl berth in 2006.  Note: Honorable Mention goes to White Sox ace Mark Buehrle, for a consistent and successful decade.

Worst Athlete: Corey Patterson, Chicago Cubs

Corey Patterson had a three good months as a Chicago Cub.  That's it.  Otherwise, his career as a Cub could really only be described as a debacle.  The 3rd overall pick in the 1998 draft figured to solve the Cubs center field problem for the long haul.  All we read and heard about him coming up was that he had great speed, great power, and could be a five-tool superstar type player to anchor the Cubs outfield.  Instead, he was a free-swinging, undisciplined, stubborn liability for the Cubs for parts of five seasons.  Other than the 83 games in 2003 in which he hit .298 with 13 homers and 55 RBIs, he was detracting from the team's success.  (And funnily enough, when Patterson got hurt the Cubs acquired Kenny Lofton, who was a catalyst and a big reason why the Cubs nearly reached the world series that season.)  In 2004, he was a microcosm of the team's shortcomings, and his 2005 season was one of the worst statistical seasons put forth by an everyday player in history.  He's still toiling around baseball, last seen with the Brewers this past season.  The Cubs traded him to Baltimore before the 2006 year, and the Cubs have still not found a long term solution for center field.

It was an interesting past week in the sports world with the Tiger Woods scandal hitting new levels each and every day. Not a day went by that we didn't hear about another woman who was allegedly sleeping with the Tiger. Who knows where this whole sordid mess is headed. Here is the latest information on a deal that Tiger reportedly made to keep a story about an affair from being published.

In addition, the lurid details about his sex life are now surfacing which has turned the intensely private Woods into a late night talk show punch line. And with the count of women coming forward now at six who knows when this story will leave the news and allow Tiger and his wife some time to work on repairing their relationship.

Then you had the Bears who were coming off of an embarrassing blowout loss to the Vikings. Well, on Sunday the beloved Bear finally put a game into the win column by beating the completely inept St. Louis Rams 17-9 at Soldier Field.

The Bulls finally won a game after they beat the Detroit Pistons at the United Center earlier in the week. However, they were drilled both Friday and Saturday by the Cavaliers and Raptors respectively with the latter winning by 30+ at the United Center.

The Blackhawks won 2 of 3 this week with an 11 round shootout deciding a tough win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday evening before the Hawks lost to Nashville on Friday night at the United Center. However, the Hawks bounced back quickly beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in OT on Saturday evening.

Baseball now grabs center stage with the Winter Meetings officially underway in Indianapolis. Both the Cubs and the White Sox are expected to be very active participants with the Cubs hoping to move Milton Bradley while the Sox are considering dealing closer Bobby Jenks.

So who makes our week in pictures? Check em' out because we have the stars of the week and the women who are reportedly chasing a Tiger.

Enjoy and get ready for our updates of the Winter Meetings which are in high gear through Thursday and where we have a ton of great sources. Also, please make sure you tune into Chicago Tribune Live at 5:30 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet and Sports Central on WGN Radio at 7 p.m. Have a great week! Kap

Here is Part Two of our post on the hottest baseball wives and girlfriends. There were so many candidates that we had to separate them into two posts because all of the pictures wouldn't fit into one!

Enjoy!

The Chicago Blackhawks have signed three of their best players - Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith to long term contract extensions and will hold a 2 p.m. press conference Thursday afternoon at the United Center to announce the signings.

Toews and Kane will get 5 year extensions and Keith will sign a 13 year deal. More to come.

A great topic of debate is who are the best athletes in Chicago Sports history. But how do you ask that question? Is it the best athlete? Or is it the most individually dominant in terms of statistics? Or perhaps you ask is it the guy who has won the most championships?

So here is how I have decided to ask the question. If you had to carve a Mt. Rushmore of Chicago sports who would be the four men who would have their likenesses carved into your tribute to their greatness?

Below I have pictures of the players that I have nominated. Am I missing someone? Please post a comment with your nominees and your thoughts. Soon I will have a competition to crown the winners based on your voting. However, I have to make sure that the ballot is correctly done. And for that I need your help. So please weigh in. Thanks, Kap

After a nice break on the beach in Maui it's time to get back to work covering all of the happenings in the Chicago sports world. So let's start with the Cubs, who are still trying to unload Milton Bradley after talking with a number of teams at the recently completed GM meetings.

The latest I am hearing has the Cubs and the Rangers seriously discussing a trade that would send the disgruntled outfielder back to the the team that he starred for before signing with the Cubs last winter. However, read this nugget in Rangers' beat writer Evan Grant's blog regarding a possible Bradley return to Texas, and you'll see just how tough it may be for the Cubs to move him.

As for the Tigers willingness to trade center fielder Curtis Granderson, things are starting to heat up, as they explore several different options in both the AL and NL.

Detroit Tigers CF Curtis Granderson would be a huge upgrade for the Cubs outfield defense.

The Cubs are definitely on the Tigers radar, since they fit several of the requirements Detroit has in any Granderson deal. First, they have a handful of excellent prospects that are nearly major league ready and they would be the key to any deal. Also, the Cubs don't play in the AL and definitely don't play in the AL Central. That could make this deal more likely, since Detroit is very reluctant to trade him within their league and even more so in their division. If you were Jim Hendry, would you trade rising shortstop prospect Starlin Castro in a package to land Granderson?

While I consider Rick Morrissey a colleague and a friend, we usually disagree on most of the topics we discuss in the sports world. However, his column this morning in the Chicago Tribune was outstanding. For a world class city with the best sports fans in the world, we sure don't have much in the way of colorful personalities who are compelling enough for even the casual fan to pay attention. How big would Chad Ochocinco be on the national stage if he played in Chicago or New York? He would be a mega star.

Outside of Ozzie Guillen, name me one guy who you think really keeps it interesting, and is engaging not only with the media, but in the way he acts on the playing field. Let's examine the coaches and managers first, then we'll look at the players who call Chicago home.

Managers and Coaches

Ozzie Guillen

He may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I find him so entertaining to watch and to cover that he would probably the guy I'd hire if I owned a baseball team. Ozzie is honest to a fault, and he says what most fans are thinking even if his players don't like his frankness. His personality keeps the White Sox in the headlines even when his team may not be great. Plus, he has a World Series ring on his hand. So those who don't like him can't really argue much, because he accomplished something that no one else has done in this city in a very long time.
 
Lou Piniella

When Lou was hired by the Cubs, many fans and members of the media (myself included) expected a Mike Ditka-like presence in the Cubs dugout based on what we had seen of Sweet Lou during his time as the manager of the Seattle Mariners. However, with rare exception, we have seen a much more mellow Piniella, especially in 2009 when his lack of public anger frustrated many fans. When he shows his emotion, he is a colorful "Chicago type" personality. And that is what he needs to show in 2010.
 
Lovie Smith

While he may know his football, he is one of the most boring personalities we have seen on the Chicago sports scene in a long time. Smith is steady and unspectacular, but his lack of charisma drives fans who remember the days of Mike Ditka crazy, when every news conference and media moment was must-see TV. Smith is true to himself, but I believe that sometimes management forgets that professional sports are entertainment and you need to keep people watching even when you aren't going to the playoffs.

Joel Quenneville

Coach Q is very intense, and will flash a glimpse of his fiery personality from time to time behind the bench. But he does not usually show that side of himself away from game action. His news conferences are calm and informative, but he doesn't do much to garner attention.
 
Vinny Del Negro

Another of the modern day coaches who does not ever say anything to stir the pot. Del Negro is polished and concise in his comments, but like most of his Chicago counterparts he is not must-watch TV when he addresses the media.

Enthusiasm for the Chicago Blackhawks is at a fever pitch. And with the season underway and the Hawks roster loaded with outstanding talent, it is not a surprise that several national publications including Sports Illustrated are predicting a run at a Stanley Cup.

However, after watching Huet play last season and the start of this season, and talking with a handful of excellent NHL sources, it is obvious to me that the Blackhawks have no chance to contend for a title if Huet is their #1 goaltender. He allows far too many soft goals, and he has no proven track record of success, which would allow a team to believe that he can turn around a shaky start to the season.

Tonight's performance against the Calgary Flames was awful. He allowed 3 goals in less than 8 minutes and two of the three goals he should have definitely stopped with the third goal somewhat questionable on whether or not he should have handled it. Calgary's first-period goals came in a span of 5:29. Dustin Boyd, Eric Nystrom and Jarome Iginla ended Huet's night with goals within 53 seconds of each other, and Rene Bourque and Olli Jokinen padded the lead.

Once in a awhile I like to look at some of the happenings in the sports world rather than just concentrating a blog post on just one sport. So here are some thoughts and questions that I have been observing and wondering about for a while.

Did you know that the over/under total of wins for the Bears in Las Vegas when the season began was 8 1/2? You have to think that the large numbers of Chicagoans who travel to Vegas must have put some serious money down on the over. The Bears look pretty solid and with Jay Cutler at the controls it would take a real collapse to not win at least 9 games.

The total bet in Vegas that has the casinos very happy is the number that they posted on the Broncos of 6 1/2 after seeing huge money come in on the under with the total posted at 7 1/2. The casinos adjusted their number out of concern that they could lose a ton on the under. Several "wiseguys" continued to pound the under and the casinos could make a fortune with the Broncos already 4-0.

Thanks to loyal ChicagoNow reader VinMan who e-mailed a link to TSN sports out of Canada with information on the Patrick Kane arrest this morning in Buffalo, NY. Included is footage of Kane being led into the police station and an interview with the cab driver who relates his version of the events that led to Kane's arrest.

Check it out here. The cab driver sure comes off as very credible and as a guy who is still stunned over what transpired.

 

The news was stunning to many Blackhawks fans when they woke up on Sunday morning and heard that Patrick Kane had been arrested and charged with multiple counts involving a taxi driver in his hometown of Buffalo, NY.

The story was broken by the Buffalo News who reported that Kane and his cousin were involved in an altercation  around 5 a.m. after leaving Chippewa Street which is known for having some of the city's best bars and restaurants.

Solid NHL sources confirmed for me yesterday that had the Blackhawks not gone on a 9 game winning streak last season the firing of Dale Tallon would have been moved up by 6 months.

As team president John McDononough told the media at a press conference on Tuesday he and Tallon had style differences and those differences existed last winter as well.

The Tribune's Chris Kuc has the scoop on the Blackhawks signing of standout Kris Versteeg who inked a 3 year deal last night. Versteeg was part of a group of Hawks players who received their qualifying offers after a league deadline and could have had an arbitrator rule them all unrestricted free agents.

Instead, GM Dale Tallon has signed all of the affected players which quiets the controversy for now. However, if because of the snafu the Hawks are forced to part ways with a key player down the road because they run out of cap space then this controversy will grab center stage again. Hockey experts that I spoke with believe that the Hawks are headed for salary cap troubles over the next couple of seasons and being forced to overpay these 7 players because of a clerical error will only help exacerbate the situation.

Next up on GM Dale Tallon's shopping list is a veteran, stay at home type defenseman and then beginning contract negotiations with superstars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith. A quick look at the math shows the Blackhawks dealing with serious cap issues after the 2009-10 season meaning a key player on the current team will not be here after next season.

The Blackhawks have signed another player who should be a key cog in their run for Lord Stanley's Cup next season. John Madden has signed a 1 year 2.75 million dollar contract and leaves New Jersey where he was considered a very solid player. The best hockey analyst in the world, Eddie Olczyk just called me and told me that the signing is great move by Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon. Here is Madden's bio. More to come.

The Blackhawks are celebrating their signing of superstar scorer Marian Hossa who agreed to a huge deal this morning. However, the Hawks are rolling the dice that the Cristobal Huet is the answer in goal because I have just confirmed through two NHL sources that Nikolai Khabibulin has agreed to a 4 year - 15 million dollar deal with the Edmonton Oilers.

Khabibulin was excellent in the Hawks playoff run to the Western Conference Finals but his age (37) and fragile health plus Huet's big contract that he signed last summer made this decision fairly easy for GM Dale Tallon. Tune in to Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast SportsNet at 5:30 p.m. for more on the signing from our panel of experts.

Lost among all of the feel good stories being written about the Blackhawks great run in the Stanley Cup playoffs is the fact that the franchise has some serious salary cap problems that must be addressed immediately. After the 2010 season is concluded the Hawks will have to address new contracts for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith. Figuring that each player will land a deal worth a minimum of 6 million dollars per season puts the Hawks in a tough spot concerning the hard salary cap that the NHL instituted a few years ago.

Figure a minimum of 18 million for those three, 7.2 million per year for Brian Campbell (he signed a huge deal in the summer of 2008), Patrick Sharp (3.9), Dustin Byfuglien (3.0), Brent Seabrook (3.5), and Cristobal Huet (5.625). Add that up and you have spent approximately 42 million dollars for just 8 players. The salary cap is projected to be around 56 million dollars or less in 2010-11 which means that the Hawks will have roughly 14 million dollars to spend on 15 players. Add in the fact that you will have to re-sign Dave Bolland, Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, and a handful of others and you can see that a big name who is currently on the roster won't be here after next season.

The Hawks are in better position for next season salary wise and that is why they are trying to re-sign Martin Havlat and are considering a short term offer to Nikolai Habibulin when the team could add some salary to make a run at the Stanley Cup by adding some high priced veterans on 1 year deals.

The problems are not here yet but they are right around the corner so look for GM Dale Tallon to make a proactive move by shedding some salary this summer to put his franchise in a better position for the future.

Let's see....where should I start? The Zambrano meltdown? The Blackhawks elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs? Derrick Rose's name being linked to an NCAA scandal at Memphis? The Jake Peavy rumors that continue to link both Chicago teams to the superstar pitcher?

Let's start with the Derrick Rose story that was broken by the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper.