Tractor Traylor gets sentenced for aiding a drug kingpin

The Tractor Traylor saga isn't quite the same as the Vick saga, primarily because Traylor isn't as well known as Vick. But it's still interesting nonetheless.

Traylor's name was used, of his own accord, to make it appear that he purchased two Detroit rental properties several years ago. The properties actually were owned by his cousin Quasand Lewis, a convicted drug trafficker and money launderer, according to federal prosecutors.

When Lewis was finally busted by federal authorities in 2004, he had sold an estimated $178 million in marijuana and cocaine in metro Detroit and had associates with suspected links to nearly a dozen murders and four fire-bombed houses, according to federal prosecutors. They declared Lewis as the kingpin of a massive and ruthless organized crime ring and deemed him Michigan's biggest pot dealer, perhaps ever.

It was never really determined why Traylor helped Lewis, aside from the fact that they're family. Traylor wound up helping him launder about $4 million.

Anyway, Traylor pleaded guilty in January to a charge of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. He could have been sentenced to up to 14 months in federal prison.

Instead, Traylor received three years of probation on Friday.

He'll serve the first three months of his probation in a halfway house and the next three months in home confinement. Since he's currently playing pro ball in Puerto Rico - which is a long, long fall from being the 6th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft - his sentence will be served in the offseason.

Although Traylor's specific story is different from Vick's, it still begs the same question, why in the hell do some athletes do stuff like this? It's sort of depressing to watch certain pro athletes continually get pulled down by some of the people they happen to associate themselves with. We've seen this a million times in sports, from Vick to Pacman to Pete Rose.

Whatever, it's not like it's ever going to change anyway. Hope you're enjoying the legal cock fights in Puerto Rico, Tractor. Maybe when Vick gets out of prison he can join you there.

-WCK

Rafer Alston had a productive weekend

If by productive you mean getting drunk and getting arrested. Which is probably what happened to you this weekend as well. Anyway, it's leaked out that Rafer "Skip to my Lou" Alston was arrested early Sunday morning on charges of assault and public intoxication. I guess that's better than a DUI, unless he beat the crap out of someone.

The Rockets, naturally, were ecstatic.

"We are aware of the situation and are attempting to get more details about the incident," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said in a statement. "While we do not have all the facts yet, it is nevertheless very disappointing to have one of our players involved with any police activity. We will continue working with the authorities in order to get to the bottom of the situation."

Next to nothing is known right now about what exactly happened. All I can hope is that this forces the Rockets to actually go out and get a real point guard for T-Mac and Yao's sake. Having a point guard on your team who can dribble the ball off of someone's forehead is great for pickup games, but not so great for the actual season.

-WCK

It's not a good weekend unless you get tasered

Although the NBA has consistently been labeled a thug league - despite the NFL having a clear lock on that title - not many basketball players have gotten in a lot of trouble lately.

Until this weekend of course. DerMarr Johnson of the Nuggets was tasered by police early Saturday morning for allegedly resisting arrest.

According to his lawyer, he was trying to break up a fight between two women who were also arrested. Yes, of course. That sounds right.

I like the names of the girls who were arrested as well - Emerald Thomas and Nephatearia Jenkins - they definitely sound like classy ladies. By the way, I've never heard of a name as confusing to pronounce as Nephatearia.

Obviously this incident isn't even close to a Pacman Jones or a Tank Johnson. But this story appealed to us because about 8 or 9 years ago Johnson was featured in an article in SLAM magazine during the early years of the whole high schoolers leaping to the NBA thing. Anyway, the article said Johnson could have made the jump after his junior year, he was that good.

It's just interesting how these things turn out sometimes. I realize Johnson was in a serious car accident a few years back that seriously impacted his career. But he was a major disappointment almost immediately after being selected by - who else - the Atlanta Hawks with the 6th pick in the 2000 NBA Draft.

One day you're being written up as the next great high school star, the next thing you're getting tasered outside a club. The life span of a pro sports career can be pretty fleeting.

-WCK