Santonio Holmes. He's the guy who made the catch. Interesting character.

In 2006, a few weeks after he was drafted, Holmes was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge at a Miami beach hotel, which was subsequently dropped.

Three weeks later, he was arrested again, this time for a alleged domestic violence matter involving the mother of one of his three children. The woman in question wanted the charges dropped but prosecuters in Cleveland refused. The charges were eventually dropped when the woman showed up with Holmes at his first court date.

Last October, Holmes was suspended for one game (against the defending Superbowl champion New York Giants, no less) by the Steelers after Pittsburgh police pulled him over. The coppers smelt burnt marijuana in the car and Holmes, who according the police report was ever so helpful, handed over three blunts and was subsequently charged.

And last week Holmes chose the big stage of Superbowl week to reveal he had sold drugs on the streets as a kid. He only stopped when his mother, sick of finding bullet holes in the doors and walls of her Florida home packed up and moved.

No big deal. He's the Superbowl MVP!

Just like New York Giant Plaxico Burress, who, just like Holmes, caught the winning touchdown in last year's Superbowl and who, just like Holmes, has a rather colourful past.

Plax is the proud owner not only of a Superbowl ring for his late-game heroics with Big Blue, but also of a couple of temporary restraining orders, issued by police after domestic disturbances last year.

Last month a jury told him to pay $1700 to a Pennsylvania car dealer after he damaged a loaned Chevrolet pick-up truck, and another upcoming civil lawsuit in Florida has a woman claiming he drove his uninsured $140,000 Mercedes (the insurance, which went unrenewed, expired three days before the prang) into the back of her car.

Last May, he was fined and suspended by the Giants for skipping pre-season camp. He held out in the belief his $3.25 million salary for 2008 was insufficient for a player of his championship winning pedigree.

Then in November, he attended a Manhattan nightclub the Friday night before a Sunday game with a loaded handgun tucked down his trousers. The bouncers were reluctant to let him in, but they did so anyway, because, well, he's Plax the hero of the Superbowl. The gun slipped and he shot himself clean through the leg. His teammate and Giants co-captain Antonio Pierce allegedly grabbed the gun and spirited it across the river to New Jersey, itself a possible crime.

The Giants suspended him for the remaining four weeks of the season, and the NFL players union filed a grievence, saying the suspension was against the collectively bargained player rules. Meanwhile, despite the possibility of a lengthy jail term hanging over his head, and the fact the defending Superbowl champs missed the playoffs due in no small part to the absence of their star wide receiver, New York management still hasn't ruled out bringing Plax back in 2009.

Adam "Pacman" Jones, most recently of the Dallas Cowboys, is another NFL star who likes his clubs (specifically, strip clubs) and guns. His wrap sheet is too long to mention, but an entertaining read, nonetheless.

Phil Mushnick, a gruff, grumpy and perpetually outraged sports/media columnist for the New York post writes about this sort of stuff all the time. What he's most outraged about is that no-one really seems to mind, so long as teams keep winning.

It all leads me to the inescapable conclusion that Ben Cousins is awfully unlucky to be an elite athlete in Australia.