Antoine Walker Attempts to Settle Up after Squandering Millions
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN)
Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap (Friday, 10 p.m., ESPN Radio)
Through bad investments, gambling, generosity and lavish spending, former Celtics star Antione Walker has lost most of the $130 million he earned during his NBA career. Walker, now 33, is in the Puerto Rican League on a tryout period with the Guaynabo Mets until April 15, hoping to get a permanent roster spot that would guarantee him $150,000.
“When I was younger, I used to travel with a lot of people, probably eight or nine guys, which is a very expensive lifestyle to live because you’re traveling the world. That’s eight, nine rooms, eight, nine flights, you go to dinner — that’s a huge bill every night.” — Antoine Walker
“When you make the kind of money that I’d been able to make throughout my career, it should last you forever.” — Walker
“He needs to liquidate everything he has, get these creditors off his back and start fresh. All the cars need to be sold, the houses need to be sold — liquidate everything. Don’t try and live a foolish way and hold on to them — it’s OVER! That lifestyle is over.” — Rick Pitino, who, as Celtics president, signed Walker to a six-year, $71 million contract, and coached him at Kentucky
“I think it was huge. I think that was the opening act.” — Cedric Maxwell, former Celtics’ forward and longtime broadcaster, on Michael Jordan’s influence on Walker’s gambling after they spent an offseason training together, then watching the two play blackjack, wagering tens of thousands a hand after a 2001 preseason game at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Casino.
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m., ESPN)
The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap (March 26, 10 p.m., ESPN Radio)
How will the legacy of Tony LaRussa, the third winningest manager in baseball history, be affected by his association with steroid users? Reporter Pedro Gomez examines how much LaRussa did and/or didn’t know about his former players’ PED involvement. While LaRussa ranks third on the all-time win list with 2,552, and is one of only two managers to win a World Series in each league, he remains linked to performance enhancers because he managed two of the game’s most notorious and now admitted PED users, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, as well as Jason Giambi (steroids) and Rick Ankiel (HGH).
“I know there’ve been questions about, ‘Well Tony had to know.’ Well, Tony didn’t know.” – Tony LaRussa
“Listen, there were a lot of managers, a lot of trainers, that knew exactly what was going on. I’m sure a lot wanted to speak out, but were fearful of having their careers, their lives taken away from them.” — Jose Canseco
Baseball’s Rogue Pitch Demystified
SportsCenter (Sunday, 10 a.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m., ESPN)
The baffling trajectory of the knuckleball, baseball’s rogue and old-school pitch, is demystified with insight from Phil Niekro, Tom Candiotti, Charlie Hough and Charlie Haeger, some of its few practitioners, as well as a University of Texas physics professor. Last season 17-year veteran Tim Wakefield of the Red Sox made his first All-Star game, yet is also one of four men in American League history to allow six home runs in one game. ESPN.com’s Greg Garber reports on the risk/reward that comes with throwing the baffling knuckleball.
ESPN Deportes SportsCenter (Sunday, 11 p.m.)
ESPNDeportes.com Reportajes Especiales piece
While most MLS players took advantage of the off season to hang up their cleats and relax, Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan debuted with Everton in January. It was his second time the 28-year-old Donovan played in Europe, and first time in the EPL.
