Happy Tax Day to the Athletes Who Don't Feel the Need To Pay

Happy tax day to those of you that who be late to their own funeral.  While the rest of us took care of our duties already, you are still fumbling trying to find all your W-2's, receipts or your Uncle Herb who said he'd do your taxes for you because he saw a show about it on MSNBC.  God bless ya!

So, in honor of you tax procrastinators who plan on paying your share, here is the top 10 tax evaders in the world of sport....compiled by the great people over at The Wade Blogs:

                        

1. Pete Rose (1990 & 2004): Poor Pete is a repeat offender... the all-time hit king was hit with a $1 million tax lien in 04, 15 years after he had to spend 5 months in federal prison on tax evasion charges. One item it appears Rose will never be able to itemize or expense is that special summer trip to Cooperstown (at least during his lifetime).

2. Steffi Graff (1997): Not only does she have to dodge her husband's racket but thanks to her Dad Steffi barley dodged German prison. Read more on her $6.55 million ordeal here.

3. Darryl Strawberry (1994): Maybe when the Straw listed his dependents on his tax form in 94... he mistakenly listed cocaine, percosett, mary-j, etc. Strawberry's foul play included failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars he earned at various baseball card signing events. Darryl was called out and ordered to repay $350,000 in back taxes.

3. (tie) OJ Simpson (1997): The Juice got squeezed by the IRS for more than 700K according to reports a decade ago. 

4. Boris Becker (2004): Becker was slammed with a $500,000 fine but avoided jail time when he was convicted of tax evasion when he admitted he lived in Germany after first claiming to reside in Monte Carlo. Becker now lives a life of limbo... sure he now resides in tax haven Switzerland but he has to endure everyday hearing about Swiss wunderkind Roger Federer.

5. Don King (1985): Given his haircut who would have thought when Don listed $3.5 million worth of hair products as a business expense that it would have raised eyebrows with the IRS? All kidding aside King faced 29 counts of tax evasion when it was alledged he diverted over $1 million in corporate receipts to his personal use. Sure he got off on most charges but King still dons a rap sheet longer than Kid Dynamite including charges of manslaughter and murder.

6. Lawrence Taylor (1996): In 1996 no. 56 got 86'd for faling to file his 1040. LT was sacked for 3 months house arrest and 5 years probation and flagged for 500 hundred hours of community service.

7. Diego Maradona: Sure Maradona has been reportedly suffering from hepatitis of late but given Diego's penchant to take a dive we can't help but notice the the convienent timing of his April ailment during tax season. The Argentinian soccer star was charged with tax evasion while he lived in Italy. Thewadeblogs can't help but wonder if Diego argued that he thought his missing tax forms were filled out by "The Hand of God." Speaking of which check out this funny clip we did recreating Maradina's famous goal.

8. Barry Bonds (2006): While the jury is still out on the Bonds Balco case, it is no secret that the Feds were pulling at all the strings in order to nab Barry. In a move reminiscent of how they caught "The Godfather" Al Capone, the Feds were hoping to put the hurt on Barry before Bonds put a hit on Hammerin' Hank's mark.

9. Wille McCovey: It is interesting to note that Barry Bond's godfather's teammate was also charged with tax evasion. Hopefully Wille has finally dug himself out of McCovey's Cove and the HOFer is still not taking a bath.

10. Andre Agassi (1999): Hey Steffi.... before you have dinner with Andre you better make sure he doesn't get lead to the back and ordered to do the dishes. According to The Scotsmen, Andre skipped out on a 27,500 pound tax tab in the UK.