Javon Walker was robbed and beaten for $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry. Phillip Buchanon was pistol-whipped, stripped naked and robbed in his own home. Intruders stole everything from the TV to the SUV. Dunta Robinson was bound with duct tape and robbed at gunpoint in his home, too. And eight days after Sean Taylor's home was burglarized, his house was again broken into and he was fatally shot by intruders.
The list is much longer and the trend no doubt alarming. A source of envy and a target for crime, football players are at serious risk.
The NFL's new crop of muscles and invincibility is probably hearing the horror stories. The rookies - including the Ravens' 10 picks in the April draft - gathered this week for the league's annual Rookie Symposium.
The stream of headlines might lessen the shock. But here's what they're really learning this week: It's not just strangers breaking into your home. It's not limited to violence inflicted with a weapon. And it's not only that size 6 temptress in a size 2 dress sitting across the bar who poses risk.
In the NFL, the biggest threats rarely sneak up from behind.
"As a player, you're always getting offered opportunities. Even after you retire," says former Raven Michael McCrary. "Anytime people know you have money, they'll present opportunities."
While he was an active player, McCrary befriended a Baltimore businessman. Their friendship continued, and after McCrary left the game, he became an investor for the developer, Edward Giannasca, who had a great project ready to go in New Orleans.
"The mistake I made, I believed in him instead of believing in the deal," McCrary says.
Hurricane Katrina hit, and the deal went south. McCrary was kept in the dark when insurance money was paid out. Last week, a Baltimore circuit judge ordered Giannasca and his group to pay McCrary $33 million in damages.
If only McCrary's cautionary tale were an isolated incident. The truth is, the violent attacks hit the ESPN scroll, but the pocketbook crimes rarely pop up on our news radar. You hear about California-based Atherton-Newport Investments? Probably not. On the surface, it's just another newly bankrupt real estate company. But its investors included more than 20 athletes, Erik Bedard, Vladimir Guerrero and Roy Halladay among them.
