Michael Jordan’s not a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame yet. He’s been voted in, of course, and he’ll be inducted on 9/11 (Guys, you couldn’t have picked a better day? Like literally any other day?), but technically, he’s not there yet. But he’s got an exhibit there already in advance of his enshrinement.

(Hey, neat, right?)

It’s a sprawling shrine to the man who revolutionized not only pro basketball but corporate sponsorship - and therein lies a rather jarring problem. That entire exhibit to him, full of sneakers and championship rings? None of it came from MJ himself.

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After his Penguins’ remarkable run to the Stanley Cup, life’s probably never been better for Pittsburgh’s young phenom Sidney Crosby. If only he’d move out of Mario Lemieux’s house.

(”Back in my day, this was what we used for a Me-Space!” “God kill me now.”)

So it seemed like a stroke of genius when his “If You See Crosby”* page on MySpace announced that he was helping raise money for a park… in Minneapolis… that was burned down… by gang members. If your BS alarm is going off like crazy, good, because it means you have a pulse.

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We can only imagine that John McEnroe had a hard time believing the caller on the other end of the line was serious earlier this week. Why? Not just for punchlines. This call brought word that his investment in a New York art gallery was at the center of a fraud investigation.

(The man who scammed McEnroe & others)

According to REUTERS, McEnroe is among a handful of victims taken for a ride by 59-year-old art dealer Lawrence Salander who has been charged with an even 100 charges of grand larceny and securities fraud. Somewhat ironically, McEnroe was invested in two paintings called “Pirate I” and “Pirate II”, all while the man who convinced him to invest was a bit of a pirate himself.

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We know that people don’t really come to SbB for the public service announcements, and that’s all right. We get it. If people wanted to be lectured to about sports all day long, Outside The Lines would have massive ratings and be not tedious at all. All that said, though, we have to make one thing totally clear to our readers: Never commit monetary fraud. Ever. It’s a cinch to prove and prosecute, it carries unholy federal penalties, and it’s the sort of thing potential employers just might raise an eyebrow over.

(The friendliest money stealer in all of Florida!)

Sadly, our advice comes too late for Scott McKinney, former host of SOUTHERN SPORTS TONIGHT, a sports radio show in Memphis. You may recall that he was busted for selling more than 100% of the shares to his show, then using the extra cash on himself, which apparently you can’t do. (Legally, anyway.) Well, it’s time for the sentencing, and the judge was extraordinarily unimpressed with McKinney’s shenanigans, giving him the maximum allowable sentence for the charges he copped to in the plea deal. Grease your ass, McKinney, because according to THE CLARION-LEDGER, it’s about to get rough: Read more…