BREAKING: The Madoff Scandal Is Destroying Sports!

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Coy smile = offshore accounts.

What would 2008 be without a mention of Bernie Madoff. The Ponzi schemester put his own special touch on sports this year, with some direct hits and others that were mere inconveniences. First, the Mets owner reportedly lost a fortune nearing $300 million. Now, it's reaching deeper and further into the sports world, tarnishing everything from hockey to horse racing.

Horse Racing: Investment firm Fairfield Greenwich Group lost a reported $7.5 billion to Madoff's investment trap. One of the largest investors in that group was Jeffrey Tucker, whose greatest passion outside of making money was raising thoroughbred horses. In 2004, Tucker bought a farm near the famed Saratoga Racetrack. Tucker invested millions into the farm, installing the state's first privately-owned Polytrack racing surface. Considering his loss, there's a chance he could actually lose the farm, his thoroughbreds and any lingering dream of someday capturing an August win at Saratoga. "This is all just unfolding," shrugged one farm hand to the New York Times.

Sailing: Rene-Thierry Magon de Villehuchet, the French aristocrat who slit his wrists and committed suicide earlier this month after losing $1.4 billion in the scandal, was a competitive sailor. In fact, he was obsessed. He regularly raced two-man boats at the Larchmont Yacht Club and recently won a French regatta racing his sailboat Claudina from St. Malo to Plouersur-Rance along the English Channel. His ashes were thrown in the water because, said his caretaker, he loved to be on the water all the time.

Hockey: HSBC, sponsors of the Buffalo's Sabres HSBC Arena, was one of the biggest victims of the Madoff scandal. HSBC Arena opened in 1996 with some seriously bad luck. That first year, shortly before the Sabres squared off against the Boston Bruins, the Sony JumboTron crashed to the ice. No word on how the swindle will directly affect HSBC (the Arena will probably not close), but the crash of '96 could very well have been a warning of things to come.

Olympics: Madoff fleeced the International Olympic Committee for nearly $5 million. An IOC spokeswoman said last week that the loss had "limited impact" on the IOC's overall financial reserves, which stand at more than $400 million. "That is not something that makes us very happy," another spokesman told the AP, "It's never any fun when you lose money." Then, at a recent meeting, the IOC reported that its money reserves dropped about 14 percent in recent months due to the weakening economy.

Baseball: The Mets just can't catch a break. As if they aren't already their own worst enemy, owner Fred Wilpon gets involved with Madoff and loses roughly $300 million. Wilpon has said the team and $850 million Citifield will remain unaffected ("The Mets are categorically, totally, completely not for sale."). Will this affect the free agent shopping season? "I'm completely confident," GM Omar Minaya told the AP. "I have no doubt, all the confidence that that is a separate, unfortunate situation, of course, but separate from the baseball operations." Wilpon's son, meanwhile, described Madoff as "somebody you trusted." Right.

Football: Former Philadelphia Eagles owner and Miami loudmouth Norman Braman also took one on the chin from Madoff. This is just not his winter. First a Miami-Dade Circuit judge threw out his challenge to fight a $3 billion municipal megaplan for downtown Miami, and then Madoff lifts an undisclosed amount from him. Braman first appeared on the sports scene in 1985 when he bought the Eagles (he later sold the team for an estimated $120 million profit). In 1982, he campaigned against and defeated a city sales tax that would have renovated the Dolphin's Miami Orange Bowl. Most recently, Braman filed a lawsuit against the Florida Marlins to prevent them from using public funds for a new ballpark.

Skiing: While the ski industry hasn't taken a direct hit, mountain town real estate—which largely drives the sport—has taken a serious beat down, especially Aspen, Colorado where Madoff mauled numerous locals. According to reports, as many as 100 wealthy Aspen homeowners may have been affected by the scandal. Media mogul Mortimer Zuckerman lost $30 million and has already put his Aspen home on the market for $9 million. "My feeling is that some folks will have to sell their homes—and at a price you would not normally see," one local banker told the Aspen Daily News. "We are definitely going to see a fallout."

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