With as many athletes appearing before the bench as on it, you couldn't be a true diehard without Court TV and a J.D. Hours after Super Bowl XXXIV, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was involved in a fight outside an Atlanta nightclub that resulted in the stabbing deaths of two men and, eventually, murder charges against Lewis. He plea bargained down to misdemeanor obstruction of justice when he admitted to lying to police and agreed to testify against the two other men charged, but that didn't immunize him from being fined $250,000 by the NFL. Bruins defenseman Marty McSorley further tested our legal acumen when he brazenly struck Canucks forward Donald Brashear in the head with his stick at the end of a game in February, leading to a controversial assault conviction in Canadian provincial court and a one-year NHL suspension. Youth hockey dad Thomas Junta seemed to take his cue, charged in July with the fatal beating of a fellow hockey father over a disputed call at practice. In 2000 two NFL players (Lewis and Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth) and an NFL wife (Deidra Lane, wife of slain Carolina running back Fred) faced murder charges, one NFL player stood accused of sexual assault (Packers tight end Mark Chmura, for allegedly having non-consensual sex with his 17-year-old former babysitter at a post-prom party) and another (Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski) was accused of using friends and family to help him fraudulently obtain large quantities of phentermine, a controlled-substance diet drug. Traditional athlete crime cases -- of the illegal drug (Yankees outfielder Darryl Strawberry, Chiefs running back Bam Morris, New York Rangers left wing Kevin Stevens) and white collar (agent Tank Black, Art Schlicter) varieties -- remained, but this year's sports criminals raised the bar.

--Jamal Greene