What's going on with Wayne Rooney? Apparently, the Manchester United star accumulated more than 1.2 million dollars in gambling debts and then blamed it all on England national team teammate Michael Owen for getting him involved with gambling in the first place.
Huh? This story is making me laugh. I love that Rooney, who is only 20, was probably taken to the cleaners by a bunch of older teammates. Yeah, it sounds bad when I actually type that out, but it's still funny.
Rooney denies the part about a rift with Owen, though.
A spokesman for Proactive Sports Management, which also represents Andrew Cole and John O’Shea, today blasted newspaper reports that the two forwards had clashed over a reported £700,000 debt amassed by Rooney.
'Any suggestion of a rift or a dispute between Wayne and Michael is completely without foundation as far as Wayne is concerned,' he said.
'Wayne and Michael remain the best of pals.'
Rumours claim Rooney blames Owen for having encouraged him to bet and for having worked up such a large debt, although even this is itself uncertain.
How this affects England as it prepares for the World Cup remains to be seen. Rooney and Owen could be the most explosive tandem up top in the entire tournament, aside from Brazil, of course. Persoanlly, I think teammates who gamble together, play better together. Come on. You know Michael Jordan and the old Bulls were gambling on everything from poker to who could best fake Phil Jackson into believing they had actually read the latest book he was passing around.
