First I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I hope you’re able to spend it with family and friends.  As I put this annual list together, I am 25,000 plus feet up in the air flying home to my family.  I get to put together this fun list over my five hour flight.  Enjoy and don’t take it too serious.

1. Jerry Sandusky/Penn State Scandal: Just sick and so sad for all the victims.  Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period. Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz (who oversaw the Penn State police department) were charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse by Sandusky. Sadly, Joe Paterno was fired by Penn State trustees in after the arrest of his long-time assistant coaches Sandusky on the child sexual abuse charges.
2. Vancouver Canucks-Riots: The Canucks lose to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and city of Vancouver goes off! At least 140 people were reported as injured during the incident, one critically; at least four people were stabbed, nine police officers were injured, and 101 people were arrested that night, with 16 further arrests following the event. Estimates suggested the losses due to vandalism, theft, and damage to property to far exceed $4 million. In a report released in September says that a major contributor to the riot was that Vancouver police underestimated the number of people who would attend the event in the downtown area. The number of people was estimated at 155,000. Once the crowd became unruly, the police’s communications systems failed, leading to a loss of control of the situation by civil authorities. No Kidding!
3. Glendale City Council: The City of Glendale is responsible for the Phoenix Coyotes fiasco, and a close second is the Goldwater Institute. They have continued to screw up the handling of their tenant the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com. I do give them credit for adopting a resolution back in May which grants the City Manager authority to extend the management agreement between the city and the NHL for $25 million. One of the potential owners will hopefully clear all the hurdles and be able to bail out the City of Glendale from their huge investment in Jobing.com Arena over the next month.  However, it’s the Glendale City Council who got themselves into this situation years ago. I truly believe a deal was done with Matthew Huliszer, but the City of Glendale along with the Goldwater Institute screwed that up. Side note: In the past year, the City of Glendale has screwed up so many times. It began last fall when Jerry Colangelo wanted to build the USA Basketball headquarters in Glendale and why not? Glendale had an open checkbook for Bidwill, Burke, Reinsdorf’s White Sox, the McCourt’s Dodgers. Meanwhile Glendale had problem in 2010 that carried over into 2011. The Arizona Stadium and Tourism Authority (AZSTA) was and is broke. That is the group that has raised funds for the Cardinals Glendale stadium and various Major League Spring Training ballparks. Hotel/motel and car rental taxes from tourists that fund the authority are flat.
4. Goldwater Institute: This libertarian-conservative watch dog group led by Darcy Olson threatened to sue to block Glendale’s $197 million subsidy of Matthew Hulsizer’s purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes. They got their nose in over the Coyotes situation. If they didn’t mind their own business the Coyotes would be owned by Hulsizer group. The Goldwater Institute doesn’t want Glendale to sell bonds to help complete the sale of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes to a Hullsizer nor do they seem to care that things didn’t work out attendance wise for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox during the 2011 Cactus League Spring Training part of the baseball season at the new Glendale baseball park. Glendale is providing $54 million in financing for the stadium and we don’t hear anything. Oddly enough The Goldwater Institute have sat on their hands and have been mum about the Fiesta Bowl revelations, which is so unlike them. Plus they did not comment on Colangelo USA Basketball deal.
5. Ohio State Scandal: It all started with the Yahoo story alleging that Head Coach Jim Tressel knew of his players selling the items more than eight months before school officials said they were made aware of the transactions. He learned of the situation when former OSU walk-on and local attorney Christopher Cicero emailed him. Ohio State suspends Tressel for the first two games of the 2011 season and fines him $250,000. The NCAA upholds the five-game suspensions for the five Ohio State players. Tressel asks Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith to increase his suspension from two to five games to match the players’ punishment. Smith accepts Tressel’s request. Then the Columbus Dispatch reports Tressel forwarded the emails he received concerning the players to Ted Sarniak, a businessman from Jeannette, Pa., and a mentor to Pryor. It got better as reports that Ohio State’s director of compliance reviewed at least 50 car sales to Buckeyes athletes and relatives. Then, former Ohio State wide receiver Ray Small tells The Lantern, Ohio State’s school newspaper, he sold his Big Ten championship rings and other memorabilia while playing for the Buckeyes from 2006-10. Small also said he received deals on cars. Tressel suspended Small multiple times, including his senior year before the 2010 Rose Bowl. You wrap that all up and Tressel resigned. Luke Fickell named interim coach for the 2011-12 season. Buckeye Nation takes a big hit due to tattoos and memorabilia. Terrelle Pryor takes off to the NFL. Tressels get hired as an consultant for Indianapolis Colts, while Pryor is riding the bench for the Raiders.
6. Indianapolis Colts: Coming off a 10–6 record in 2010 and a second consecutive AFC Championship as well as a ninth consecutive playoff appearance are having one of their worst seasons in franchise history. Currently 0-10 and hosting Carolina on Sunday. You lose Peyton Manning and your season turns into a nightmare. It’s sad they get to host the Super Bowl this season.
7. Kris Humphries: Married and divorced Kim Kardashian in the 72 days. Enough said.
8. John Daly: Wild Thing John Daly lived up to his name at the Australian Open as he walked off during his first round after hitting all of his balls into the water. Daly’s troubles began on the 10th when he reacted angrily to receiving an automatic two-stroke penalty for hitting the wrong ball in the bunker. The 1991 US PGA champion and 1995 Open winner then reached the 11th and proceeded to put seven balls in the water before grabbing his young son and heading for the exit after telling his playing partners: ‘I’m off’.
9. Brian Wilson: A big year for Wilson after his success in last year’s World Series. At this year’s ESPY Awards, Wilson arrived wearing a spandex tuxedo. Wilson appeared on Lopez Tonight dressed as a “Sailor”, dyeing his signature beard grey. Partway through the interview, Wilson pulled out an action figure of The Machine from his shirt pocket. The toy had been given to him by an ESPN staff member during the making of his “Fear the Beard” SportsCenter commercial. Definitely a turkey, but great for the game and I think is hilarious.
10. Fiesta Bowl: This one is tough to list since I have been involved on the committee for over a decade and volunteer for 20 years. I love the bowl, love the college bowl system and love many of the people involved. I have to list former CEO John Junker and Board of Directors (who looked the other way to Junkers actions) as turkeys. They collectively scarred an amazing organization. Hopefully over time things will get back on track. Side note: The Junker situation could ensnare Arizona elected officials for ethics violations and could be an opening for Congress to investigate the Bowl Championship Series (and maybe tax exemptions that members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association enjoy).

Honorable Mention:

• Boston Red Sox: Beer and Fried Chicken in the clubhouse. The Boston Globe reported that starting pitchers drank beer and ate fried chicken in the clubhouse during games, the identified players — Jon Lester, John Lackey and Josh Beckett. Plus with that payroll and talent, how do they struggle so much. And, manager Terry Francona gets fired.
• Albert Haynesworth: Ripped off the Washington Redskins for $41 million in guaranteed money for two rotten years on the field. Haynesworth was traded to the New England Patriots on July 28, 2011 for a fifth round draft pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. He allegedly threw a punch to the nose of Joel Velazques of Leesburg, Va. during a traffic altercation while with the New England Patriots. On November 8, 2011 Albert Haynesworth was released by the New England Patriots and placed on waivers. This came days after he got into a confrontation with assistant Pepper Johnson on the sidelines.
• Missouri Tigers Head Coach: Gary Pinkel: DWI incident and how he can count backwards!
• Nyjer Morgan aka Tony Plush: Morgan frequently refers to himself as Tony Plush which he states is his “name on the field” or his “gentleman’s name.” Under his nickname, Morgan will occasionally make a hand signal to look like a “T” after reaching base. Nyjer created his own Twitter account and with over 70,000 followers, Morgan often tweets after games using his catchphrase “AAAAAHHHH GOTTA GO!” He is the owner of an adopted cat named “Slick Willie.” That is enough for me!
• Ron Artest: Makes this list every year. In 2011, he had his name officially changed to Metta World Peace and died his hair blond.

• NFL Lockout – Owners and Players: The crap they put fans through from the draft to the end of July really sucked.

• Logan Morrison: @LoMoMarlin is always good for some laughs on Twitter. Marlins’ brass didn’t see what was so funny. Morrison writes about life on the road, his personal life, Miami weather, and many other topics, in addition to communicating directly with his readers. Morrison displays a similar irreverent, often R-rated, attitude on Twitter, which has caused concern in the Marlins front office. When Morrison was demoted to AAA New Orleans in 2011, some wondered whether the front office was sending Morrison a message to focus more on baseball and less on his Twitter account. He had also missed a mandatory meeting with season ticket holders and publicly criticized the Marlins’ handling of a charitable event. Morrison did file a grievance against the Marlins for what he termed was an unfair demotion to the minors.
• Chad Ochocinco: In late January Ochocinco told an ESPN reporter that he will be changing his last name back to Johnson. However in June, Ochocinco told an ESPN reporter that due to money issues, he would keep his name as Chad Ochocinco and not go back to Johnson. In July, the New England Patriots acquired Ochocinco in a trade with Cincinnati after he restructured a three-year contract for 6.35 million. The Patriots traded two draft picks, a 5th round pick in 2012 and a 6th round pick in 2013. He hasn’t done anything.
• NBA Lockout: Come on owners and players figure it out!

• Daniel Snyder: The little guy threatened a lawsuit in January demanding the dismissal of the Washington City Paper’s sports writer Dave McKenna, who had meticulously compiled a lengthy article, The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder, documenting the encyclopedia of errors made by Snyder. A great read – in some cases you could have thought the writer was writing about one of the Bidwells. Every year this man runs the Redskins into the ground. Since he took over in 1999 the Redskins have experienced just three winning seasons, and numerous coaching and quarterback changes.
• McCourts/LA Dodgers: Frank McCourt ruined one of the best franchises ever.

I hope I got most of the Turkeys of 2011.  I am sure I missed a ton.  Please comment below with your suggestions.  Here is the list from last year if you missed it.  Link to 2010: http://azsportstalk.com/2010/11/rocs-annual-top-10-sports-turkeys-of-the-year-2010/