Larry Brown Sports

Yasiel Puig is proving that Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers aren’t the only members of the organization who can register high speeds on the radar gun.

The Dodgers prospect was arrested at about 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning in Chattanooga after police say he was clocked doing 97 in a 50-mph zone.

According to the LA Daily News, the police report stated that:

“It took blue lights and multiple siren blasts to get the driver to stop. … The driver was clearly driving with wanton disregard for the safety of other citizen drivers as well as himself and his passenger.”

The Associated Press says Puig faces charges of reckless driving, speeding and driving without proof of insurance in Tennessee.

The Daily News notes that Puig was driving a BMW x35i at the time of his arrest.

The best strangest part of the story is that Puig says he was the designated driver in the situation. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it the DD’s job to get inebriated passengers home SAFELY? Kind of hard to do that when you’re challenging Jeff Gordon for speed.

Puig is batting .333/.379/.648 in 14 games for the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Chattanooga. The 22-year-old Cuban prospect drew rave reviews after crushing the ball during spring training.

Former LSU cornerback Tharold Simon was expected to be taken somewhere in the middle rounds of the 2013 NFL Draft, but an unexpected event may have caused his stock to take a nosedive. According to KATC-TV, Simon was arrested on Thursday night in Eunice, Louisiana for allegedly intimidating a police officer.

Police said Simon’s car was blocking a street when an officer asked him to move it. This apparently upset the 22-year-old, who reportedly proceeded to tell the officer that he owns the town.

“I own Eunice,” Simon said. “I’m gonna buy these projects and you are gonna be mine.”

The report said Simon finally moved his vehicle, but that he turned the radio all the way up and spun his tires as he backed up. He also allegedly told the officer that “the mayor is on (his) side” and that he would be fired if he wrote him a ticket. Instead of being given a ticket, Simon was arrested and charged with public intimidation, resisting an officer and an unnecessary noise violation.

To make matters even more interesting, KATC-TV reported that Eunice was scheduled to make Friday “Tharold Simon Day” to honor the Eunice High School graduate. Eunice Mayor Rusty Moody said the ceremony would go on as planned.

“In the United States, our justice system says everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” Moody said.

Maybe the mayor is on his side. The US justice system may insist everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but there is no law stating that NFL teams have to abide by that policy. Having an arrest on his record — whether he deserved it or not — will likely be enough to make several teams rethink using a draft pick on Simon.

Can’t a man solicit a prostitute without the cops getting involved these days? Apparently not.

Cleveland Browns linebacker Quentin Groves was arrested last week as part of a three-day prostitution sting that saw 15 men arrested.

According to Cleveland Scene, Groves responded to an ad for a prostitute and requested full service. The ad turned out to be a police officer posing as a prostitute.

Per Cleveland Scene, Groves agreed to pay $100 and was told it would be an additional $20 for a particular sex act (like the back of a Volkswagen?).

$195.70 and a box of Magnum condoms were seized as evidence when police arrived. Groves had signed a two-year, $2.8 million contract and was in camp with the Browns at the time of the arrest.

Hey, if there is anything positive to come out of this for Groves, at least now the world knows he uses Magnums. That’s not all bad news, is it?

This supposedly was Groves’ arrest photo:

Quentin Groves arrest photo from hotel room. twitter.com/Andy_Fenelon/s…

— Dré (@Andy_Fenelon) April 24, 2013

Photo: Jeffrey Beall

If you asked me to list every prominent sports figure in order of most to least likely to get a DUI, Al Michaels would be at the very bottom. Check that — Michaels wouldn’t even make the list.

Sure, Al keeps a keen eye on the point spread and enjoys playing the stock market, but this guy is as wholesome and American as it gets. Michaels has that great, fatherly figure persona. Perfect dads don’t get DUIs — they’re in bed at 10:00 p.m. watching Johnny Carson reruns after a lovely dinner with the wife. But that wasn’t the case on Friday.

The AP reports that Michaels was arrested around 9:30 p.m. in Santa Monica after making an illegal U-turn nearby a DUI checkpoint. TMZ says officers detected a scent of alcohol when speaking with the prominent announcer.

Michaels reportedly blew a .08 and .09 on the breathalyzer tests — just around the legal limit. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI and taken to the station where he was released after five hours.

Michaels supposedly “could not have been nicer” throughout the ordeal. Who would expect anything less? And how badly do you think that made the arresting cops feel?

So what was Michaels drunk off of? My money’s on some expensive red wine. Michaels don’t do cheap beer, and no way he’s going hard on something like whiskey. The only thing that could turn this story into a positive would be if we could somehow get a dashboard camera video of the whole arrest and have Michaels do the play-by-play for it. How sick would that be?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Rolando McClain was arrested in his hometown of Decatur, Ala, and was giving police a hard time.

According to AL.com, McClain was arrested Sunday and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest — both misdemeanors. He was released from jail after posting $1,000 bond.

This is the third time in two years we have reported on McClain getting arrested in his hometown. I’m beginning to think Decatur is not a good place for him.

You know how some athletes complain when they get in trouble that they are unfairly targeted by police? That’s kind of what McClain said after being arrested in January. Yeah, well, after three arrests, I’m starting to think that McClain’s whole, “It’s not me, it’s them” excuse doesn’t add up too well.

It’s not them, Rolando, it is you.

It’s crazy how steady McClain’s off-field production is becoming. Think about it: this dude has more arrests this offseason than he had sacks last season.

MMA referee Josh Rosenthal is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in January to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute — all felonies, according to reports.

Rosenthal is one of the most well-known referees in MMA and has been noticeably absent from major UFC events recently. This likely explains why.

According to MMA Junkie, which obtained a copy of Rosenthal’s plea agreement and first reported the news, federal agents raided an Oakland warehouse owned by Rosenthal and an associate last year and found 1,356 marijuana plants. MMA Junkie says the estimated street value of the weed was greater than $6 million.

MMA Fighting also obtained the legal documents and says the bust was one of the biggest pot-seizures ever in the city.

According to MMA Fighting, documents describe the warehouse in this way:

The warehouse was heavily fortified with reinforced steel doors and surveillance cameras, and four handguns, two assault rifles, two sets of body armor and masks and helmets were also recovered at the scene.

Because of the scale of the operation, the case was referred to the DEA.

MMA Fighting reports that Rosenthal did not renew his refereeing licenses in California or Nevada — two of the most popular states for hosting large-scale MMA fights — after 2012, likely because of his legal problems.

Rosenthal was facing 10 years to life in prison, a $10 million fine, and five years of probation prior to his plea deal. He is due in US District Court on May 17. The government reportedly is recommending 37 months in jail and five years of probation. The sentencing will be determined by the judge hearing the case.

Rosenthal served as the referee for the notable Dan Henderson-Shogun Rua fight at UFC 139, Anderson Silva’s comeback win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 in 2010, and Brock Lesnar’s win over Shane Carwin at UFC 116.

And you thought Sam Hurd was the biggest drug kingpin in sports? Looks like Rosenthal had him beat.

David A. Chatman, a 38-year-old cheerleading coach from Corvallis, Oregon, has been accused of raping a 17-year-old high school cheerleader while she was unconscious under the influence of prescription medication. According to KVAL.com, Chatman faces charges of first degree rape and second degree sex abuse by a coach.

The incident reportedly occurred in September of 2012 but was brought to the attention of authorities when the girl’s mother contacted the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office last month. The alleged victim claims she went to Corvallis to visit Chatman, who had coached her at cheerleading school, when she was raped.

Investigators say the girl claimed she took a prescription medication that knocks her out before going to bed and awoke to find Chatman on top of her.

“He was raping me,” she said according to court documents.

The girl has given the underwear she was wearing at the time to police and a crime lab analysis is underway. Chatman was arrested after being interviewed, but has pleaded not guilty to charges against him. He claims he thought the girl was 19 and that the sex was consensual.

But that’s not all. Chatman was apparently a registered sex offender to begin with, stemming from an incident in 2007 involving a 16-year-old cheerleader. He was convicted in federal court of touching the girl on an airplane while she was sleeping. It’s probably going to be difficult for him to build a case in this instance with a prior incident like that hanging over his head.