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Sports blotter: Walker wiggle

Call a cab, genius
By MATT TAIBBI  |  January 14, 2009

090116_walker_main
SLAMMER DRUNK: Ex-Celtic Antoine Walker used to drive to the hoop from the top of the key. Now he’ll lose his keys for driving drunk.
The last couple of weeks have sucked for Celtics fans. Now, add to that the fact that old friend Antoine Walker got himself arrested in the early morning hours on January 5. Cops in Miami Beach pulled him over, detected the ever-present “strong odor of alcohol,” and rang him up for driving under the influence.

Walker was known in his playing days for driving into the lane without a plan and then hurling his arms — and the ball — wildly in the air upon contact. Seems like he was doing the same thing here, without the ball. He was caught driving a black Mercedes with a “sleepy look” on his face and no lights on. He refused a breathalyzer test, and was later released on $1000 bond.

Antoine has been looking for a job for a while. He played with the T-Wolves last year, although “played” is putting it a bit strongly. Now it looks like he’s headed to the glue factory. Sorry, ’Toine — and 25 for the DUI.

Hojo’s major no-no
Here’s a semi-major crime involving some college football players that occurred in December, but didn’t come to our attention before the end of the year. It seems a pair of freshmen from the University of Arkansas-Monticello were busted this past month on felony home-invasion charges after incidents in Metarie, Louisiana (near New Orleans), on December 15 and 19.

Defensive lineman Nick Howard and running back Andrel Johnson, both Louisiana natives, were two of three men busted after police pulled over a white Cadillac Escalade belonging to one of the men. Inside, authorities found stolen property that was traced to a December 15 break-in, but, honestly, further details of this first incident are so far hard to come by. Howard and Johnson were charged with home invasion, aggravated burglary (a possible felony), and possession of stolen property.

Judging by details of the December 19 incident, it sounds like a pretty ugly scene all around. When a 52-year-old man inside the house went outside to investigate what he thought was a power outage, some of the robbers snuck inside. The man came back in and was held at gunpoint while a 38-year-old woman in the bedroom was “inappropriately touched” by one of the assailants. The goons then took whatever meager stuff was to be found, jumped in their ride, and got themselves caught.

Both players are on scholarship for the Boll Weevils, but UAM coach Gwaine Matthews hasn’t dismissed the pair from the team yet, saying he doesn’t want to throw any of his players “under a bus” before they get their day in court. This seems like at least a 65-point crime to me — put ’em on the list.

College credit
Yet another athlete has been busted after stealing a credit card and attempting to use it at a store. The culprit this time was Maze Stallworth, a player for the Morehead State basketball team.

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Related: Amazing grace, QB freak, Number two blues, More more >
  Topics: Sports , Sports, New Orleans, Crime,  More more >
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