Robert Milkins
It’s uncommon to witness sportspeople, alcohol, and common sense all at the same time, and this year has been no exception. Take, for instance, the three-time Olympic medalist speed skater from South Korea, Kim Min-Seok, who in August gave three other skaters a ride home from a friend’s birthday party at the national training center outside of Seoul, drove straight into a crash barrier.
And received an 18-month suspension from the sport (two of his passengers received six-month driving suspensions for aiding in drunken driving, and a coach who wasn’t even there received a year for “lack of The most embarrassing alcohol-related sports incident of the year.
However, occurred in Antalya in March when English snooker player Robert Milkins, who had just enthusiastically celebrated his birthday, showed up for the Turkish Masters opening ceremony while intoxicated, confronted a senior official, hurt himself falling over in the restrooms, and required stomach pumping in the hospital.
I honestly don’t remember what occurred; I was in a daze and unsure of my surroundings, he admitted. “When I went to the bathroom, I couldn’t feel my legs, and I believe I cut my chin open by slamming it into the basin or the floor.
My ribs may have shattered, as I was nearly knocked out. I don’t recall having my stomach pumped either. The concussion can’t have hurt him too much because he won his next competition, the Gibraltar Open, after 27 years as a professional golfer without ever picking up a trophy.
Draymond Green
Basketball star Draymond Green was in a sorry state in October after a video of him landing a good full-on right hook on his Golden State Warriors teammate Jordan Poole in practice surfaced. There are apologies and then there are apologies. The lifelong stir-maker admitted, “I failed as a guy.
I am an extremely flawed person. Green has repeatedly demonstrated this. Some of his greatest moments include being suspended for a pivotal game of the 2016 NBA finals after hitting LeBron James in the groyne, posting an unintentional photo of his naked groyne on Snapchat (he claimed it was “intended to be a private message,” adding that “we’re all one click away from placing something in the wrong place,” and receiving a second suspension for arguing with a different teammate, Kevin Durant).
All of this doesn’t seem to have significantly lowered his self-esteem. He proclaims, “I’m the best defender to ever play this game.” “100%.” This year, Indian wrestler Satender Malik also assaulted a referee after losing the under-125 kg final in his nation’s Commonwealth Games qualifications.
He was consequently given a life ban. After being called in for a drug test, he allegedly “ran out from the venue without alerting anyone” and was later banned for another four years, if that is even conceivable.
Elton Jantjies
Elton Jantjies, a 42-cap South African rugby union player, has had a special year. His solo flight from a family vacation in Turkey to Johannesburg in May was so uncommon that he was detained right away for “malicious property damage.”
According to reports, he damaged the screen and light at his business class seat, broke a glass there, and broke his knuckles while banging on the door of the restroom while pleading with the air hostess to “komaan, my skat,” or “come on, my darling,” in Afrikaans. The air hostess had locked herself inside for her safety.
When he finally gave up, “blood was all over the toilet door.” He was summoned back from a tour of Argentina in September after allegations that he had checked out of the team hotel and stayed at another one with the team’s dietitian, Zeenat Simjee, surfaced. Simjee’s attorney argued that he had not been having an affair with her, but with another lady, while he admitted having one.
She traveled to Europe with the team for their winter vacation, while Jantjies remained in South Africa and checked himself into a rehab center to “cure his sleeplessness.” As a fly-half, I think I need to be sleeping wonderfully to play Test rugby, he remarked.
Chase Cominsky as well as Jacob Runyan
The idea of vibrating anal beads in chess has, for better or worse, sprung irrevocably into the public consciousness in what has been an extraordinary year for cheating allegations and conspiracies. But out of this large group, who merits a spot in the Anti-Spoty spotlight?
The successful fishing team, along with their pike, bass, and catfish, were knocked off their perch when Runyan and Cominsky entered the scene. The two’s honesty had previously been called into question; after winning the Fall Brawl on Lake Erie last year, Cominsky failed a required polygraph test, depriving them of the first prize of a $125,000 boat (fortunately, they passed the tests for another competition they won that same weekend, sailing home with a $152,000 boat).
Runyan said that he was “fairly good at sniffing out where there’s dodgy stuff going on” when he stated that the two were “pursuing legal action” at the time. Unfortunately for him, Jason Fischer, the director of the Lake Erie Walleye Trail this year, was also suspicious of the astonishing weight of the smaller fish Runyan and Cominsky had caught. He cut one open and began removing lead weights.
They were charged with one count each of cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal instruments, and unauthorized ownership of wild animals instead of winning the prize of $28,760. They also encouraged major fishing tournaments to begin spending money on metal detectors. The two entered a not-guilty plea to the accusations. Bass angler Ron Taylor observed, “This has been disastrous for fishing as a sport.”
It’s been difficult for those who are following the rules and, in my opinion, for those who simply enjoy hearing about enormous fish being caught.
Van Ginkel, Sander
Van Ginkel won the gold medal in a fiercely contested field, beating the mixed team ski jumping jumpsuit-based disqualification frenzy. It was a Winter Olympics year, which is essentially a guarantee of controversy.
Van Ginkel, a sports scientist employed by the Dutch speed skating team, launched a systematic smear campaign against Mark Messer, a Canadian icemaker in Beijing, to persuade him to create ice that would be suitable for his country’s skaters. He made no effort to conceal his role and cheerfully spoke about it in interviews. He said, “Ice gets tougher as it gets colder.”
“Many other nations develop skaters with shorter strides who are less reliant on hard ice. I want to provide the finest environment for our skaters while also trying to persuade Messer and his followers of my viewpoints. He seems interested in what I have to say, and so does his staff, in my opinion. Competing skaters did not take kindly to this. Nils van der Poel of Sweden commented, “This is far from fair play; this is corruption.”
The biggest scandal in our sport is this. I don’t think this matter is any less serious because we’ve seen doping cases. They have a man whose responsibility is to exert pressure on the ice maker to alter the ice in the Netherlands’ favor. However, I find that the worst ice is the finest ice.
I do pretty well when the ice is terrible. The Dutch dominated the medals table, winning six of the sport’s 14 gold medals, but the ice couldn’t have been that good because Van der Poel also took home two golds.
A special Anti-Spoty trophy for gaslighting
The country of Qatar for hosting the 2022 Anti-Corruption Excellence Awards, or, to give them their full name after being given in honor of the country’s emir, the Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani International Excellence Awards, in the middle of the World Cup.
For the first time this year, a prize was handed expressly to a champion of the campaign against sports corruption; Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa, attended the ceremony.
Year’s top anti-Spoty quotation
“You make me feel uncomfortable down there, that stomach, those abs, those images you send me so I can keep track. I’m going to conclude by expressing that you are my love, friend, and soul.
Most importantly, though, you believe in me, which makes me as tough as a totem pole. – Ryan Giggs’ love poetry, which was read aloud in court during his prosecution for using coercive or controlling behavior against Kate Greville, the subject of the poem. Since the jury was unable to make a decision, a new trial has been set for the summer of 2019.
