Lawrence Taylor, or “LT,” as he was known, was the most feared NFL linebacker in the 1980's. He once sacked a quarterback so hard that he snapped the guy’s leg in two–ending his career. His addiction to winning, to that victorious feeling on the field, was a euphoric high. But after a while, football didn’t get LT high enough. He partied just as hard as he played, a celeb rubbing elbows with megastars in NYC, the only city that could keep up with him. Pretty soon, he was spending $75,000 a month on his two off-field addictions: sex and cocaine. Nothing could stop him – not even failed drug tests or undercover grandmas busting his drug deals - until the day he had the barrel of a loaded gun pressed against his head. Then... everything changed.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bruno Fernandes de Souza was a soccer star in his home country of Brazil. He played for the country’s largest professional team. He was on the verge of moving on to the biggest international arenas. The sport raised him from a harsh childhood of poverty and crime to a life of celebrity where fans’ adoration came easy and rampant sex even easier. But life in the world of Brazilian soccer wasn’t always so simple; you had to fight for your own survival. When Bruno found himself named as the father in a controversial paternity lawsuit, murder seemed like the only way to keep his dream alive.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including graphic depictions of violence.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1980's and 1990's, soccer in Colombia had never been better – thanks to cocaine. Drug cartels laundered their dirty money through soccer clubs. High salaries kept players in their home country, as did the improved facilities, and the money pouring into impoverished neighborhoods. However, Colombian soccer players were caught up in controversy when they attended parties thrown by notorious drug kingpins. One such player, Andrés Escobar, even participated in a wild soccer match held behind prison walls, featuring an audience of armed guards and the country’s most feared man. Soccer was serious business in Colombia – life or death business. Andrés Escobar would find out just how serious when he scored a dreaded own goal during the 1994 World Cup.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hillsborough Disaster ruined lives and communities. As a result of the April 15th, 1989 soccer match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, 97 men, women, and children lost their lives. But Hillsborough wasn’t just a disaster, it was a fight for justice. It was a war between the establishment and the people, and a cover-up on the largest scale – one that exploited hooligan culture in order to assassinate the character of the victims. Once the dust settled on the very public and very contentious collision of fandom and greedy capitalism, soccer – and, for that matter, all sports – would never be the same again.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fans loved everything that English soccer player Paul Gascoigne did, whether it was kissing the hand of Princess Diana or crying on the field as the national team lost the World Cup. He was the “unstoppable force.” He was Gazza. He was all over the papers, too, thanks to all of his arrests for drinking and drugs. So many arrests that British tabloid reporters began a dead pool and took bets on how much longer he had left to live. Everyone knew Gazza was bonkers - that was part of his appeal - but they had no idea just how bonkers until he showed up to rescue a cold-blooded killer from a tense police standoff, loaded on cocaine and armed with some bottles of lager, two fishing rods, and a rotisserie chicken.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Rozier’s tenure in the NFL and Canadian Football League didn’t last very long, but he may well have one of the most insane stories in professional sports. After being rejected by the big leagues, Rozier was drafted by a murder cult in Florida. He became one of the cult’s many “death angels,” disciples who carried out their so-called messiah’s instructions to kill – a messiah with a habit of ordering the beheadings of those who dared speak out against him. In 1986, as Devil’s Night gave way to Halloween, Robert Rozier found himself on the run – not down a football field, but into haunted woods - with authorities hot on his tail.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including graphic depictions of violence.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Namath was the Elvis and the Beatles of the gridiron at a time when the NFL was full of players with flat personalities. He was the catalyst that turned athletes into leaders, steering the cultural zeitgeist. Blonde bombshells drove onto the field in Cadillacs to pick him up. He intercepted women from Mick Jagger in New York nightclubs. He wore mink coats and sunglasses on the sidelines during preseason games he didn’t play in. He drank, he gambled, he smoked, and he grew his hair long - and people noticed. The mafia. The feds. The media. Even crazed fans…who wanted him dead.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Armed with superstardom and a $100 million NFL contract, Michael Vick made it to the hallowed national stage, a place where many of his peers could only dream about. Unfortunately his increasingly bad decisions led to his self-destruction. It took just one search warrant for Michael Vick to go from one of the NFL’s most iconic players to its most vilified. There's no turning back from what police found buried on his 15-acre estate in rural Virginia.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including graphic depictions of violence involving animals.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ray Lewis wasn’t just a Super Bowl MVP, or a 2-time defensive player of the year, or a 13-time Pro Bowl player - he was the scariest player in the league. From an early age, Ray Lewis used football as a tool to survive a his terrifying reality: abusive and neglectful father figures, drugs and violence, and a beloved mentor shot dead. Four years into a professional career as the Baltimore Ravens' take-no-prisoners linebacker, Ray Lewis' reality caught up with him. That was the night that Ray Lewis was arrested and charged with a shocking double murder.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including child abuse, domestic violence, and graphic depictions of violence.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long before he raised the People’s Eyebrow, dropped the People’s Elbow, and laid the smackdown on the candyass world of Hollywood, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson ran a jewelry theft ring in Waikiki. He and his peers worked the posh shopping district, snatching and grabbing whatever they could get their hands on and then pawning their haul for cold, hard cash. As a result, he was arrested nearly ten times before he turned 17 years old. But perhaps the only thing more insane than that story is the tale of how Dwayne Johnson transcended a life of petty street crime to become one of the biggest cultural icons of the 21st century.

To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at www.disgracelandpod.com/badlands.

This episode was originally published on October 5 2022.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices