By Lang Whitaker, SI.com
Earlier this week, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley and Mavericks forward Josh Howard got themselves into some trouble, each their own doing. Cooley posted a photo of the Redskins playbook to his blog, but accidentally included a photo of his own, er, skin. And Howard found cell phone video of himself rambling during a performance of the national anthem on SportsCenter last night.
In our current media-saturated culture, athletes should know better, but they still constantly get caught on camera saying and doing the wrong things at the wrong times. Here are my top five athletes caught in Internet scandals.
1. Shaquille O'Neal: His career may be winding down, but Shaq found himself making headlines when video of a freestyle rap including a series of withering attacks on former teammate Kobe Bryant was released on YouTube.
2. Kobe Bryant: Amid rumors of Kobe perhaps leaving the Lakers behind, a video dropped of the franchise player at a mall saying his current teammate Andrew Bynum should have been traded for Jason Kidd. The result was not good times for KB24.
3. Matt Leinart: OK, so he can't break into the starting lineup with the Arizona Cardinals, but nothing can keep Leinart from getting his party on! The former Heisman Trophy winner may struggle to complete a 15-yard out, but he definitely holds a mean beer bong.
4. Pedro Martinez: While back home in the Dominican Republic, the Mets hurler was caught on video attending and enjoying a cockfight, a popular (and legal) event in the D.R. While the video only made a brief appearance on YouTube, it was up long enough to make headlines all over the world.
5. Jeff Reed: The longtime Steelers kicker has created something of a cottage industry out of cell phone camera photos of himself, as evidenced by his category on Deadspin, which is as long as my ... well, it's long. At least Reed seems to be aware that he's being photographed.
Which other athletes were caught in internet scandals? Let us know below ...
Lang Whitaker is the executive editor of SLAM magazine and writes daily at SLAMonline.com.
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