George Steinbrenner must be thanking Satan that he’s dead and gone from New York. Imagine what Carmelo Anthony would do to him upon learning that the former Yankees owner was a snitch.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir reports that Steinbrenner worked with the FBI on several cases in the 1970s and 80s. He “cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on national security cases and was willing to let it stage an organized-crime raid at Yankee Stadium”. President Reagan granted him a pardon in 1989 for his convictions for illegal contributions to Richard Nixon’s 1972 presidential campaign as well as obstruction of justice.

Find the FBI documents here.

Steinbrenner began helping with “a matter of vital interest” in the late 1970s. He quickly moved up to involving himself in thwarting terrorist plots that put him and his family in danger. I assume, without further details, that the situation was similar to Munich where he played the Ehud Barak role.

It gets better. World collide. Sandomir also notes that Steinbrenner attempted to get a pardon using the vaunted “Was That Wrong” excuse.

“Applicant stated that he would not have allowed the $25,000 corporate contribution if he had known it was illegal,” the memo said. It said that he had contributed $75,000 personally to Nixon’s campaign and would have made it $100,000 if he knew he could not make the corporate contribution.

Eat that, Costanza. Steinbrenner finally got his pardon but at what cost? American hero or rat-faced snitch? What would Billy Martin have said? Wait a minute. What do we really know about the night he died? He kept coming around. Maybe he heard too much. Watergate, terrorists, Billy Martin arresting people who try to piss during the 7th inning stretch. The next time you talk about conspiracies involving the Yankees, you can tell everyone it’s not jealousy. It’s the truth.

It only took a couple weeks for NFL players to start acting crazy. Rey Maualuga just got one upped by Deon Anderson who has a warrant out for his arrest.

Anderson went crazy and pulled a gun on a parking valet after accusing him of tampering with his car. The arrest warrant states

On 02/02/10 at approximately 2:16 AM off duty officers working Black Finn (4440 Belt Line) were alerted by staff members of a man with a gun in the parking lot. Officers were pointed to an area where four males and two vehicles were. Complainant Mekonnen Gigi advised Deon Anderson was mad because of problems with his vehicle, and accused him of tampering with the vehicle. Gigi stated Anderson retrieved a handgun from the car and asked him why he was laughing. Gigi stated he was in fear of imminent bodily injury or death when Anderson displayed the firearm. The firearm was recovered from the shrubs nearby, and was
found to be loaded with a round chambered.

The parking lot confrontation isn’t the first time Anderson has made the papers for bringing the ruckus. He and Flozell Adams fought on a team flight after a loss to the Eagles in 2008 when the Cowboys season fell apart. Marcus.

We’d like to credit Marcus Vick for inspiring Anderson but a hat tip to the late Sean Taylor is more appropriate given the circumstances. We’re talking ATVs not home invasion and murder. We’ll leave that to Wilbon. Sean Taylor whipped out some guns on Ryan Hill, a Miami resident who he thought stole his property. At least he thought he was wronged? Marcus Vick just went crazy on some kids in a Burger King parking lot because he’s a Vick and that’s just how they was raised.

There was a guy we knew in Washington DC who was infamous for going to bars with expired credit cards, running up tabs and breaking out on them. It got to the point where no one wanted to be around him because you never knew when he was going to get thrown out, punched for saying something incredibly offensive or just act like a jackass. We knew it was going to happen. It was just a matter of when and how. He’s now a schoolteacher in a different state or so we heard. The less we know, the better. No one’s thinking about the children.

Dennis Rodman pulled the old drink and dash but it didn’t work out so well for him. He was arrested by German police after bailing on a $5100 hotel bill after playing an exhibition game. Game organizers agreed to pick up the bill for his hotel stay but didn’t agree to pay for the party he threw after the game which resulted in the outstanding bill.

The hotel manager called the police who tracked Rodman down in his limo and arrested him. He was detained until he paid the bill and an additional $2500 to prevent further legal proceedings. You mean I can break the law in Germany and just pay the cops off? Who knew the Germans were so lenient towards lawbreakers? I always thought The Netherlands was the place to commit crime. We had a plan to lure Maroon 5 and Nickelback to Amsterdam then bury them in a dike. Better amend the plan and have a go at it in Dusseldorf. Don’t worry. We have plenty of Deutsche Marks for all the coppers and prosecutors. Straight cash, homey.

Jets fans get no respect when it comes to the Giants. The Deuce attended last night’s Muse/U2 show at Giants Stadium. Excellent by the way. Bono gave a farewell to the stadium and a shout out to the Giants but not the Jets. Needless to say, Jets fans in the crowd were not pleased. It could be worse. Any of them could be a Giants player on Rikers Island.

Plaxico Burress didn’t quite get a welcoming reception upon his arrival on Rikers Island. Being asked to spread your buttcheeks and give two big coughs is bad enough. He was also subjected to heckling and boos by his fellow inmates.

Plaxico Burress got a zero’s welcome behind bars at Rikers Island, including taunts of “a - - hole!” and “The Giants suck!” according to jail guards.

“He was depressed,” said one guard from Rikers, where the former Giants superstar spent his first-ever night behind bars. “He was trying to keep to himself, but everyone was yelling at him.”

It’s gonna be a long 20 months.

** Get your Plaxico Means Peace shirts here. The Deuce gets mad love when we rock this around the city. While you’re at it, feel free to also purchase and rock some Deuce gear.

What is it with amputees and domestic abuse these days? Some of these cats are overdoing it with the rageahol. It seems like only yesterday that Def Leppard’s Rick Allen was nailed for spousal abuse at LAX. That made no sense. Why didn’t his wife just run in clockwise circles around him to avoid the beatdown? I’m not saying she was asking for it but it seems easy enough to get away from a one-armed beatdown. You and me, girl. Hey hey!

One can see the difficulty in getting away from sprinter Oscar Pistorius. He may have no legs but he does have both arms. He was charged with assault for an incident that allegedly took place during a party he was hosting at his Pretoria house.

Pistorius, 22, said in a statement that he asked the woman to leave the party. Unhappy with this, she began kicking the door which broke, injuring her.

“I categorically deny that I in any way assaulted,” the woman, Pistorius said.

Ah the old door attack defense. If they get the jump on you, they can do some real damage just like a wall running into your face multiple times. We kid, we kid. Presumed innocent until guilty. It’s not like we’re talkin’ bout France. Ragin’ amputees and hermaphrodites. It’s just another week in South African track and field.