Knucklehead of the Week: Keith Appling

This week’s prestigious Knucklehead of the Week award, which I hand out weekly to a sports figure who needs a slap upside the head, goes to Keith Appling.

Appling, a former basketball star at Michigan State who is kicking around the depressing NBA D-League, was arrested Sunday after he allegedly was spotted with a gun outside a Detroit strip club.

According to authorities, police were called to the scene after a security guard spotted a man taking a gun out of the trunk of his car in the club’s parking lot.

Appling was driving a royal blue Dodge Challenger but said police told him they were looking for a black Charger. So his lawyers are challenging the search because, well, someone didn’t know the difference between a Challenger and a Charger. I love cars and I still mix them up.

Anyway, the former Spartan is facing a slew of charges included carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle and, just for fun, possession of marijuana.

Honorable mention:

Josh Ravin — The former Dayton Dragons pitcher, now with the Dodgers organization, was suspended 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. He had a pitching record of 7-22 in parts of three seasons with Dayton (2008-2010), so I can see why he might have been tempted to take PEDs. Ravin started this season on the disabled list after breaking his forearm in a car accident in February.

Jaleel Cousins — The brother of NBA star DeMarcus Cousins was Tasered and arrested this week in the aftermath of a fight at a Tampa, Fla., club. A melee at The Drynk SoHo got ugly and security got involved. Jaleel is a former basketball player at the University of South Florida.

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Nominations? Know any deserving knuckleheads? Drop me a line at brian.kollars@coxinc.com or on my Facebook page — Brian Kollars DDN.

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