Well, since he bounced about $1 million worth of checks in Las Vegas you can chalk a healthy portion of that up to gambling losses. But that doesn't explain it all way. Walker was a generous friend and teammate. A little too generous. A Boston Globe investigation into the former Celtic's lavish lifstyle includes free spending, not just on himself—in 2002, he had a new suit made for every day of the playoffs so he wouldn't have to wear the same one twice—but on those in his very large orbit. Teammates say he routinely picked up giant dinner tabs on the road or would hire limos to take everyone out on the town. According to his mother, at one point Walker was financially supporting seventy of his friends and relatives.

However, Diane Walker doesn't see what's wrong with that:

Walker's mother, Diane, said her son does not have a gambling problem. She added that "he doesn't party any more than the next person'' and "what you do with your life is your business.''

"Antoine doesn't owe anybody any explanation,'' said Diane Walker. "He's not out here hurting anybody. He's trying to live his life peacefully. That's all he's doing . . . My son is young. Why can't he just enjoy life, go where he wants to go?''

Because, believe it or not, $110 million does not last a entire lifetime. (At least not when you're spending $10 million a year on watches.) Apparently, Walker gave very little thought to where that money might come from once his basketball career was over. When he did invest, he invested poorly or simply gave it away to charities. Sadly, playing $15,000-a-hand blackjack with Michael Jordan is not a sound retirement strategy.

In 1999, when he signed a six-year, $71 million deal with the Celtics, then-president and coach Rick Pitino said Walker "will never have to worry about money again in his life." So add that to the list of everything else Pitino got wrong in Boston.

Former Celtics star Antoine Walker pursued by creditors as wealth vanishes [Boston Globe]

Mike Ornstein is not part of the wide receiver's football negotiations, but he says Crabtree is "not under the gun" to sign a football contract any time soon, thanks to $750,000 in endorsements that Ornstein and his partner have already secured. I sure hope those are guaranteed dollars because commercial endorsements don't carry much weight when they come from unemployed people. Crabtree has deals with Subway, Jordan Brand, Upper Deck and Topps-although again, you generally don't get to be on trading cards when you don't own a football uniform.

Only in the last sentence of this article does Ornstein admit that Crabtree would have significantly more endorsement dollars had he already signed—yet another reason why rookie holdouts are extremely counterproductive. Of course, this is after he declares Crabtree "the Reggie Bush of this draft." Is that because he has such a marketable personality, he likes curvy reality stars, or because Bush fired Ornstein after his rookie year?

Ornstein: Marketing cash keeps pressure off holdout Crabtree [Sports Business Journal]

The NFL will be archiving this season's games online so that you can "replay" them, on demand, for a small subscription fee. But if your local game happens to be blacked out some weekend, then they won't charge you to watch that game. You just have to wait until after midnight, while also avoiding all football-related media—including NFL.com—that will inevitably reveal any important details to you. Thank you so much, gracious masters.

In a statement, the league says they "understand that the economy is limiting some families and corporations from buying as many game tickets as they had previously," so the free games let you see what you're missing. Of course, if America is bankrupt then denying local fans the live broadcast doesn't really earn the league any more cash, does it? (Has it ever? Do people with no plans to attend a game ever change their minds and shell out for tickets simply because of TV?)

Watching the re-broadcast the next day—but not during Monday Night Football, kids!—isn't really helpful to the kind of people who take advantage of this service. What are you going to see that you can't get from the 40 national and local highlight shows immediately following the game? It just allows the NFL to sound awesome and generous, without actually being that way.

Plus, I'm pretty sure that I still can't get NFL Network in my cable package so screw everyone.

NFL.com to show blacked-out games free in local markets on delayed basis [NFL.com]

The New York Times has the sob stories of several college athletes who suffered severe, sometimes debilitating injuries, but then got stuck with the medical bills, because the school that recruited them to compete on their behalf wouldn't cover it. As you might imagine, it's the small, financially challenged schools—where athletes probably don't have full rides to begin with—that suffer the most. You could get a head transplant at Michigan State (probably from a med student, but still), whereas at Wisconsin's smaller D-III campus you're lucky to get Band-Aids.

In typical NCAA fashion, they have mandated that colleges insure all their athletes, but didn't bother to set guidelines for how much coverage they need—or give them money to do it. So most budget-strapped schools have opted for very little coverage. Power conferences, with huge TV contracts, do a pretty good job. The rest don't.

Spalding University, in Louisville, Ky., also pays for secondary coverage for athletes. "These young men and young women are representing your institution," said Charlie Just, the compliance director there. "Ethically, I think it's the right thing to do."

Well, that's nice. Of course, Spalding is a private school with no contact sports so ethics don't cost them a lot of money. Didn't Obama fix this already?

With Insufficient Insurance, Injured Athletes Add Medical Bills to College Debt [NY Times]

Over two dozen people with ties to the New Orleans Saints invested in a company called Louisiana Film Studios. A film studio in Louisiana sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, but it is actually a common and popular tax dodge thanks to generous credits given by the state to anyone who thinks it's a good idea to film a movie in a swamp. (Studios are allowed to sell the tax credits to wealthy individuals who then write the credit off on their taxes. The money turns into Heaven's Prisoners.)

It's a perfectly legitimate financial maneuver—provided the studio has actually been granted the credits by the state, which Louisiana Film Studios had not. The investors (including coach Sean Payton, Drew Brees, and Archie Manning) say they were duped and could lose all their money. Defensive end Charles Grant risked the most at $425,000.

So what does that have to do with Houser? In addition to being the longest-serving current member of the Saints, it seems he was the go-to financial expert on the team—he's a registered broker—and the only one who actually had direct contact with the studio. So because his teammates were stupid enough to write checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars based on the advice of a long snapper, Houser is out of job. (His profile page has already been scrubbed from the Saints website.) And possibly $125,000 of his own money that he, least of all, can afford to lose.

(Oh, and he runs a charity for sick kids. It just gets worse and worse.)

The head of the studio says it's all a big misunderstanding—the FBI never seems to understand—and the players will get their money back as soon as he finds new investors. (This is what's known as a pyramid scheme.) As for Houser ... I have this great script about a backup center who solves crimes with the help of a talking dog. It's gold.

More than two dozen with ties to the New Orleans Saints invested in movie studio deal [New Orleans Times-Picayune]
Former Saint Houser searching for answers [WWL TV]
Related: Saints Nation: Could Kevin Houser's Job be in Jeopardy? [Saint's Nation]

Three years ago, a small company called SportsFuzion saw an opportunity. They convinced the Basketball of Hall of Fame to sell them "exclusive worldwide rights to the Hall of Fame's trade names, logos, trademarks, designs, and photos for use in sportswear." At the time, those rights didn't seem that valuable, because who buys a hat that says "Hall of Fame" on it? But SportsFuzion, was thinking ahead because they knew that in three years Michael Jordan would be in the Hall of Fame, and people will buy anything even remotely associated with Michael Jordan.

So, they took their idea—and their licensing rights—to Nike and made their pitch. And Nike passed. Michael Jordan and the Hall of Fame isn't really going to work for Brand Jordan. Thanks, but no thanks.

Then two months later, the Hall of Fame suddenly decides they don't want to be in business with SportsFuzion. They want to renegotiate their contract. Oh, and look at that ... Nike is now selling their own Jordan Hall of Fame gear! Yes, in a shocking turn of events, one of the richest companies in the world had gone behind the back of a smaller, weaker competitor and cut them out of their biggest deal ever. That almost never happens.

Does SportsFuzion have a case? Does it matter? Because this is not a inspiring sports movie, I'm going to say it doesn't. The money they could have made in a fair deal would have been lost in Nike's couch cushions, but you don't become the most powerful sports company on Earth by sharing. So yeah, sorry, SportsFuzion. That's what you get for thinking too much.

Full press release on the lawsuit below:

NIKE and the NBA Basketball Hall of Fame Sued for Fraud and Other Claims by SportsFuzion Over Michael Jordan Products

Boston, MA, June 24, 2009 – SportsFuzion, Inc., a sportswear company and the exclusive licensee of the Basketball Hall of Fame's sportswear has filed a lawsuit in Norfolk Superior Court in Massachusetts against NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and the NBA Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, fraud, and other counts for general and punitive damages. The lawsuit comes after NIKE and the Hall of Fame conspired to eliminate SportsFuzion by manufacturing, marketing, and selling sportswear related to Michael Jordan's upcoming Hall of Fame induction. Since 2006, SportsFuzion has been the owner of the exclusive worldwide rights to the Hall of Fame's trade names, logos, trademarks, designs, and photos for use in sportswear.

Leveraging Michael Jordan's highly anticipated Hall of Fame induction, NIKE will release its Air Jordan Hall of Fame (HOF) Collection into the market this summer. NIKE recently launched a major campaign to promote these products. This campaign includes the website www.getyourbasketballon.com featuring several videos of the fictitious character – Leroy Smith – who supposedly inspired Michael Jordan to greatness. It is estimated that NIKE could sell over $100 million of Michael Jordan Hall of Fame products worldwide.

Beginning in 2005, legal teams for SportsFuzion and the Hall of Fame spent nearly a year negotiating the exclusive worldwide licensing agreement. More than three years ago, SportsFuzion created the concept and a detailed marketing plan around a product line for Michael Jordan's induction into the Hall of Fame. "In 2005, I knew that Michael Jordan's induction would be the biggest event in the Hall of Fame's history and, like his impact on the NBA and the game of basketball, this product opportunity was enormous," said Andrew Mirken, president and co-founder of SportsFuzion.

"SportsFuzion was built around my love and passion for basketball and my admiration for Michael Jordan," said Mirken, who has coached high school boys' basketball for almost 20 years. "Having the opportunity to work with Michael Jordan and all of the great athletes in the Hall of Fame was the dream of my lifetime. Having NIKE and the Hall of Fame go behind our backs to cut us out of the deal has become my worst nightmare."

After entering into the exclusive worldwide license agreement with SportsFuzion, senior level executives at the NBA helped arrange numerous meetings for SportsFuzion with Adidas/Reebok, Mitchell and Ness, and others in hopes of product partnerships being formed. Beginning in the fall of 2006, SportsFuzion met multiple times with top executives from Brand Jordan. After being provided with a copy of SportsFuzion's agreement with the Hall of Fame and after being educated about the opportunity, NIKE turned SportsFuzion down. Among the NIKE executives that considered SportsFuzion's proposal were Howard White, VP Sports Marketing Brand Jordan, who, on November 21, 2007 wrote SportsFuzion saying, "I just wanted to let you know that we've looked at the opportunity with the Hall of Fame from all angles. Our marketing people have looked at it along with our product team. At this time the team feels that it's not an opportunity that we can make happen. We really appreciate the time and consideration that you've given us here in Brand Jordan with Michael going into the Hall of Fame but we've explored every opportunity and at this current time there isn't a fit."

Two months later in January 2008, the Hall of Fame contacted SportsFuzion to "renegotiate" its contract. "It became clear to us that NIKE wanted to do a deal directly with the Hall of Fame and that meant the Hall of Fame had to get out of their agreement with us," said Steve Barlow, co-founder, lead investor and SportsFuzion Board Director. "It was a complete surprise when the Hall of Fame told us they did not understand the totality of the rights they granted our company and that our agreement was not good for the Hall of Fame. Nike's recent Michael Jordan Hall of Fame launch was a total shock to us because we had financed and built the company around this exclusive licensing agreement, and always operated in good faith. We sensed something unethical was in the works – and unfortunately we were right."

SportsFuzion, Inc. is a Massachusetts-based sportswear company that owns the exclusive worldwide rights to the Basketball Hall of Fame's trade names, logos, trademarks, designs, and photos for use in sportswear. SportsFuzion is represented in this matter by Fish & Richardson, the largest intellectual property law firm in the world.

# # #

Las Vegas golf-course developer, Ken Jowdy, is accused of taking more than $25 million from investors to build a resort in Mexico, only instead of actually building anything, they guy just spent the money on parties for him and his friends. Oh, and his friends are Joe Morgan, Roger Clemens, Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose.

The losers in this scenario included many ex-Rangers, Islanders and Devils including Bryan Berard, Michael Peca, Mattias Norstrom, Chris Simon, Steve Rucchin, and Rem Murray, and current Cup carrier Sergei Gonchar. The winners? The friends who got six-figure no-show construction jobs and anyone who likes to stick stuff in Roger Clemens' ass. According to the lawsuit, Jowdy gave Brian McNamee a job as a personal trainer and put "a Clemens gal pal named Adrian Moore, described as a 'regular party attendee who was close to Clemens,' on his payroll 'as a personal favor'" to the Rocket. (That's New York Post-speak for "they were doing it.")

Other winners included the "porn stars, escorts, strippers [and] party girls" who were flown for the lavish "bacchanalian revelry" that Jowdy used to woo his baseball party pals. The hockey goons weren't invited.

From one angle it makes sense: If you want to throw crazy sex parties to impress your famous "friends," you can't be stealing from those friends. So you have to target a different group of gullible millionaires to finance your orgies with the first group. On the other hand, if you're going to steal money from rich athletes, why would you go after NHL players? You don't see jewel thieves breaking into trailer parks, do you?

Plus, why would anyone want to impress Joe Morgan? (For the record, Joe says: "It's unethical to use my name when I never went to any of those parties, nor was I involved in any other activities." (His name came up in the lawsuit, but so noted.)

According to the filings, Jowdy lavished attention on the baseball players "under the guise that these individuals would eventually purchase real estate" in the planned resorts, called Diamante Del Mar and Diamante Cabo San Lucas. But, the ex-major leaguers never expressed any interest, according to the suit.

Specifically, the suit states, "Clemens and even his wife were vocal and adamant that they would never purchase" the property.

"Nevertheless, Jowdy continued to provide - and these individuals all continued to accept - gratuitous, extravagant private air travel, five-star hotel accommodations, luxury home rentals, unlimited food and beverage expenses, golf tournaments and lavish parties several times a year over a three-year period," the suits allege.

Baseball players: "We may not like you, but we'll take your free stuff."

NHLers: Our Cash Was Blown on MLB Porn Party [TMZ]
GOLF RESORT DEVELOPER BILKED NHL STARS: SUIT [New York Post]

Celine Dion as owner of the Habs? It makes perfect sense. She can be their strength when they are weak, she can be their voice when they can't speak, and her one-of-a-kind adult contemporary stylings will reduce opponents to tears and/or induce them to slice their own ears off with a skate grinder. All will cower in fear before the high treble of Les Habitants.

Plus, any owner has to be better than the current one. Dion is actually just one of many potential suitors looking to take the team off the hands of George Gillett Jr., a dirty gringo from Wisconsin who bought the Canadiens after trying and failing to acquire the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. He also teamed up with Tom Hicks (remember him?) to buy Liverpool FC, an acquisition that has gone so swimmingly Reds fans have threatened to murder Gillett and his family. Like Hicks, his financial situation is less than ideal now so he pretty much has to dump all his sports holdings to concentrate on losing the really big money elsewhere.

How bad has it gotten? The Habs are charging $385 dollars for two playoff tickets in the 400 level—$80 for the actual seats, plus an extra $200 or so for a souvenir brick that is required with every purchase. (No substitutions. And don't forget the "convenience" fee!) That's a fantastic business model. Throw in a copy of the Titanic soundtrack and we got a deal.

MyHogtown: Are The Montreal Canadiens Going To Be The Montreal Celinediens? [My Hogtown]
Celine Dion to buy Montreal Canadiens? [Two Big Boobs]
Habs fans want seats, not bricks [Montreal Gazette]
Revivals in Chicago and Washington help hockey break attendance mark [Sports Business Journal]

UPDATE: This story supposedly debunks the earlier reports, but I wouldn't know for sure because it's in French. [Cyberpresse]

Here's what they said in a blurb buried in a otherwise dull NBA roundup:

According to an NBA executive, there is growing concern inside the Kings organization that if their arena issue isn't resolved, they could end up moving to Anaheim. Anaheim has been hoping to get an NBA team for years, has filled its arena for Lakers exhibition games and Clippers regular-season games, and could attract fans from as far south as San Diego. The Lakers and Clippers, however, could challenge for territorial rights fees, and it could be hard for the Kings to find a spot on television in LA, too. The financially strapped Pacers, who reportedly have lost $200 million since 1983, also could be on the move eventually. San Jose, Kansas City, Seattle, and Las Vegas are potential future NBA homes.

Yes, Sacramento wants out of their arena and there is no way the city builds a couple of casino goons a new one in this economic climate. But Anaheim will clearly never happen. The Clippers' rotting stench can reach to Orange County, thank you very much. San Jose won't work, because it's hard enough for everyone in the Bay Area to pretend that the Warriors don't exist. Seattle clearly deserves a team, but they also deserve more than a failed brokedown organization. And Las Vegas? I know everyone wants this to happen, but honestly who is going leave the roulette tables long enough to support an NBA team?

Clearly, the Kings must return to Kansas City so that the mayor can stand on the town's border with his arms crossed and say in a mocking tone, "So you finally came crawling back, huh?" Did I mention that the team must be required to walk to K.C.?

As for the Pacers, they should obviously be taken away from their inept ownership, but they aren't going anywhere. You don't lose $200 million because people in Indiana don't care about basketball. Seriously, how do you screw that one up?

Financial Troubles for the NBA: Kings and Pacers on the Move? [Fan Leader]

It's worth noting, of course, that this doesn't necessarily measure popularity; much of MLB's income has come from MLB.com, and the league's draconian measures to funnel all traffic and revenue in that direction. But baseball's setting new attendance records every year. Except, maybe, in Florida.