Bobby Knight instilled hustle in his Indiana players by chair or slap. Look at former IU basketball radio analyst Todd Leary hustle for that ball. He didn’t want to feel the wrath of Knight. He’s one of those players that took lessons learned on the hardwood and applied them to life.

Knight probably didn’t think Leary would apply his teachings to criminal activities. His former player was arrested and charged with burglary and theft for stealing appliances from foreclosed homes and selling them to an appliance store.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Leary paid two other men to move refrigerators and other appliances out of foreclosed homes and then sold them to an Indianapolis appliance store. When investigators questioned Leary, he allegedly told them that he worked for a company that bought, repaired and then resold foreclosed homes. Leary told police that he picked the homes off an auction listing on the Hamilton County sheriff’s website. But the sheriff’s department denied ever selling any homes to any such company or to Leary, and the homes that were burglarized were tracked to other owners.

Did we mention that he was arrested in February of this year for “misappropriating” almost $1,000,000 from a mortgage company where he was employed? He’s facing up to three years in jail per a plea agreement. The best thing about the February arrest was that it happened at Assembly Hall right before he was supposed to go on air to cover the Purdue-Indiana game.

Leary didn’t waste any time getting back into the groove. That’s the type of hustlin’ that would make Rick Ross proud. Well maybe the annoying homeless guy who tried to sell us an old Playstation and an ankle bracelet on Ludlow St. the other night. Really, homey? I rock Colecovision but I’ll definitely take the bracelet for my friend…yeah my friend.

If Leary hears “Hoosier Daddy” in the prison shower, he better hustle out of there or he’s in big trouble.

I loved living in Madison besides the winters. I had a great time and met people who I still consider good friends to this day. There were also a random cast of characters who were familiar to anyone who spent time living or hanging out in downtown Madison. One of them was nicknamed “Boot”.

Boot is the former owner of Jocko’s Rocket Ship Bar who’s currently serving time in federal prison for allowing his bar to be used as a coke den. However, few know that he used to be Bucky the Badger during his college days. His employment as Bucky came to an abrupt end when he got shitfaced before a Wisconsin game. He ended up puking and passing out. Did we mention he was wearing the Bucky costume at the time? Some good samaritans picked him up and threw him in the back of a pickup. They dumped his limp, drunken body on the chancellor’s lawn instead of taking him to the hospital or waiting until he woke up. Needless to say, he missed the game and was promptly fired.

That brings us to today and Penn State where the legend of Boot lives on in the Nittany Lion.

Current Nittany Lion mascot Clint Gyory was charged with one count each of misdemeanor public drunkenness and criminal mischief Aug. 24 in connection with an incident that occurred Aug. 1, the State College Police Department said.

Police said Gyory (junior-business management) had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and registered a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .187 at the time he was cited.

Gyory, 20, was intoxicated and crawled into the bed of a pickup truck on the 200 block of E. Fairmount Ave. where he passed out, police said.

Gyory also broke a rearview mirror off of a vehicle and took it, police said.

Gyory will not lion up for the month of September. There’s no confirmation on who will wear the Nittany Lion costume this weekend when Penn State plays Youngstown State. Whoever dons the outfit better be able to pick up where Gyory left off. Two years and running. Tradition has to start somewhere. We are Penn State! Well you are. I’m not.

Wrestlers at Orland High School would have been better off looking into the Ark of the Covenant than spending time with Laura Gallegos. The off-brand Karen Allen has one submission hold that no wrestler can resist.

Gallegos was arrested after sexting and servicing several members of the Shasta High wrestling team.

The Glenn County Sheriff’s Office says the investigation started when they received a call from an Orland area mother who believed her 15-year-old son was receiving explicit text messages from an older woman. The mother told deputies her son was on the Orland High School wrestling team, and while they were at a tournament in Reno, she noticed her son’s cell phone with a saved contact listed as ‘GF’ with a phone number.

By chance, the mother of another wrestler had received a text message from the same number, which belonged to a third mother, Laura Gallegos, who at the time was a teacher’s aid at Shasta High School. The mother told officials when she confronted her son about the text messages, he admitted they had been ‘sexting’ each other.

During this time, a second possible victim, age 17, from Orland and a member of the wrestling team was also identified.

That teen admitted meeting Gallegos for the first time in Red Bluff during his lunch period at school in March, and having sexual contact with her inside a vehicle. The victim also told investigators the suspect had performed a sex act on him while seated in the stands at the wrestling finals in Bakersfield, and that they had met for sex in Corning on a separate occasion.

Gallegos was charged with “two counts of exhibiting lewd material to a minor, three counts of contacting a minor to commit lewd acts, two counts of arranging meetings with a minor to commit lewd acts, one count of oral copulation, and two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor with a three year, or more, age difference”. Take that, Gary Glitter.

Blowing a kid in the stands during a wrestling tournament is a way to show the team how to perform at any time and any place like Janet Jackson. If a simple teachers aide can perform under pressure, no one on the mat has an excuse. Not only are we going to Red Bluff, off-Brand Karen Allen. We’re going to Orchard and Reno and Redding and then we’re going to Bakersfield to take back the wrestling championship. BYAHHHHHHH!

What is it with athletes and stupid car tricks? First, Manchester United’s Anderson barely escapes an exploding car after driving into the wall of a barn. Now video of a police chase involving Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings has been released.

Evans was racing his purple Mercedes at speeds close to 130 MPH down a Sacramento highway over Memorial Day weekend. He was allegedly racing a friend. A police helicopter managed to track him until he could be pulled over.

This video screams for some Sheriff John Bunnell narration. “Evans may be a king on the basketball court but the California Highway Patrol is still king of the road.”

Evans and his friend both plead no contest to reckless driving charges. There’s no word on whether he was also charged for driving a purple car. Purple only belongs on Amigos and Prince.

Want more about famous people and cars? How about Captain Jean-Luc Picard talking about heavy petting in the back of a Jaguar and racing a crappy Suzuki?

If Ice-T thinks the cop that arrested him yesterday is a punk bitch, who knows what he would call Tank Johnson. Even judges are calling him out for being one in addition to a coward.

Willie Bernard Posey, Johnson’s bodyguard and best friend, was shot and killed by Michael Selvie, in Chicago last year. The South Side gang member was sentenced to 55 years in prison last week.

Circuit Court Joseph Claps admonished Posey but unloaded on Johnson who apparently fled the scene when the police showed up and left his friend to die on the floor.

“Mr. Johnson has to live with his behavior that night, his failure to render aid to a person he described as his best friend…his cowardice and his attempts at self-preservation,” Claps said.

Johnson told the police he wasn’t at the club at the time of the shooting. He later testified that he didn’t want the Bears to can him and he was on thin ice with them due to previous legal troubles.

Is Marvin Lewis going to stand up for Tank like he is for Cedric Benson? Who would have thought Jerry Springer would be the classiest person to come out of Cincinnati?