SOURCE: National Post

Gambling and sports were married soon after their first meeting, a union that pre-dates the relationship sports has with drinking and swearing. Like all marriages, it can be sweet and fruitful, like when you win the office pool. But it can also be sour and painful, like when you lose the office pool. Where it gets in trouble is when the people who play the games begin to gamble, threatening not only the sanctity of competition, but also the outcome of your office pool.

1 Pete Rose, baseball At once the most famous and pathetic case in modern sport, Rose admitted to betting on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds in 1987. He has been banned from the game and could soon appear at a mall near you, signing cards or, you know, offering to shine your shoes for a dollar.

2 1919 World Series Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life after it was ruled they had conspired to fix the 1919 championship series with the Cincinnati Reds. D.B. Sweeney played "Shoeless" Joe Jackson in the movie, 69 years later.

3 Rick Tocchet, hockey In a story that is still developing, Tocchet has pleaded guilty to running a gambling ring after being charged in a police investigation dubbed "Operation Slapshot."

4 Hansie Cronje, cricket Cronje, a cricket star from South Africa, admitted to fixing games seven years ago and was banned for life. He died in a plane crash on June 1, 2002.

5 Robert Hoyzer, soccer The German soccer referee was sentenced to more than two years in jail in 2005 after admitting he had been paid by a Croatian gambling ring to affect the outcome of seven games in Germany's lower leagues.