A year of ill repute

It was the kind of year when legal analysts seemed to get more air time than play-by-play men. Donaghy, an NBA referee, pleaded guilty to supplying gamblers with inside information and opened the league up to suspicion that games may have been fixed or points shaven. Though Donaghy appears to be the only ref who was involved, other officials were found to have frequented casinos, against league rules.

Donaghy wasn't the only sports figure who had to "lawyer up." Marion Jones cut a deal with prosecutors, admitted that she had used steroids and returned her Olympic medals. Pac-Man Jones was suspended from the NFL for his involvement in a series of legal scrapes, including a nightclub incident in which a member of his entourage shot a bouncer and left him paralyzed.

And no examination of the year's scandals would be complete without Barry Bonds, who faces perjury charges stemming from his grand jury testimony that he never knowingly used steroids. But Bonds had plenty of company once the Mitchell Report was released, naming 87 other players in connection with the use of performance enhancing drugs.

The Mitchell Report was a fitting ending to a scandal-plagued year, and though its ramifications will surely bleed over into '08, we can only hope that the new year will feature sports figures showing more of their finest qualities than their worst ones. And so we usher '07 out the door with a not-so-fond farewell. It was the year that couldn't end soon enough.