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THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SPORTS
>> NFL
Green to explore trade options Quarterback could leave K.C. after team re-signs Huard
BY DAVE SKRETTA
BY DAVE SKRETTA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Speculation that quarterback Trent Green might not be back in Kansas City next season increased Tuesday, when the Chiefs and Green's agent said the former Pro Bowler would begin exploring trade options.
Agent Jim Steiner said the team is seeking to restructure Greens contract, which will pay him $7.2 million next season. The Chiefs are also entertaining offers for Green, who missed eight games last season with a severe concussion.
"We're going to look and see what his options are." Steiner said. "We're going to do that."
Steiner said several teams have shown interest in Green, who will be 37 by the start of training camp. But Steiner declined to name the teams.
"We'll take care of that in the next few days," Steiner said.
A statement issued by the Chiefs on Tuesday said conversations with Green continue to be "amicable and productive."
General manager Carl Peterson met with Green on Monday, but the sides declined to discuss what changes to his contract the Chiefs sought.
Green, who is signed through 2009, is scheduled to make $7.7 million and $9.2 million in the final two years of his contract.
"Before any decisions are finalized, the Chiefs have agreed to Trent's request to allow him to explore other potential opportunities," the statement said. "We will continue to work in unison toward a resolution that will be acceptable to all parties."
Green, who played in two Pro Bowls and made 80 straight starts before getting knocked unconscious in the 2006 season-owner, became one of most popular Chiefs among fans while directing a high-flying offense under former coach Dick Vermeil.
When Herm Edwards took over last season, he never wavered in his support of Green, even as journeyman backup Damon Huard led Kansas City into playoff contention.
Once Green was cleared to play.
Edwards benched Huard and the
Chiefs struggled down the stretch. Green never looked comfortable in the pocket, throwing seven touchdowns and nine interceptions, and Kansas City went 2-3 over its final five games.
His 74.1 passer rating was his lowest since 2001, his first year with the Chiefs.
A series of improbable upsets on the final day of the regular season allowed Kansas City to slip into the playoffs, where Green threw for 107 yards and was picked off twice in a 23-8 first-round loss at Indianapolis.
Huard, who would have been an unrestricted free agent this offseason, signed a three-year deal with Kansas City last month that will pay him $7.5 million, a strong indication the team has chosen Huard to compete with third-round draft pick Brodie Croyle for the starting spot.
Huard went 5-3 as a starter, throwing for 1,878 yards with 11 touchdowns and one interception. He appeared more comfortable than Green in Edwards' ground-based offense, earning high praise from veteran teammates.
>> PGATOUR
Golfers loosely define 'choke'
BY DOUG FERGUSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — One player missed a 4 foot putt to win and it was a shocker. Another player missed a 3 foot putt to win and it was considered a choke. The perception of the two misses is as different as the names Tiger Woods and Boo Weekley.
A year later, Johnny Miller was in the broadcast tower for NBC Sports, watching Peter Jacobsen stand over a 225-yard approach from a downhill lie over water to the 18th green at the Bob Hope Classic.
There's no telling how long the word "choke" has been part of the goll vernacular, or when it first came into vogue. Perhaps the most famous use came at the 1989 Masters, and then only because Scott Hoch's last name rhymes with "spoke," or something like that.
"This is absolutely the easiest
shot to choke I've ever seen in my life,' Miller said that day.
Jacobsen pulled off the shot and won the tournament, and Miller was vilified for daring to mention what everyone thinks.
"Youd think I'd exposed warts on Miss America," he wrote in his book.
It happens.
And maybe Miller himself has become sensitive about the "C" word, because he didn't utter it Sunday at the Honda Classic when Weekley three-putted from 30 feet on the 18th hole, missing a 3-footer that would have brought him his first PGA Tour title.
Nor did he use it a week earlier at the Accenture Match Play Championship when Woods missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole that would have won his third round match against Nick O'Hern.
And that leads to a question that is hard to answer.
When does a miss become a
choke?
Paul Goydos was asked Tuesday to define "choke" and his response showed how touchy this subject is around golfers.
"Food lodged in the throat," he said.
Miller defines it as stress manifesting itself mentally and physically. It that's the case, it happens every week.
"If you're out there and you don't feel pressure, you're not into what you're doing," Curtis Strange said.
The two time U.S. Open champion has felt both sides of emotion. He saved par from a bunker on the final hole of the 1988 U.S. Open to force a playoff with Nick Faldo, beating him the next day. Seven years later, Strange missed a 6-foot pard putt on the last hole to lose a crucial match to Faldo in the Ryder Cup.
"Anybody who has played this game has done both," Strange said. "It can beat you up if you let it."
The University of Kansas School of Law presents its second annual
Diplomat's Forum
"The United Nations and America: A Japanese Perspective"
by
Takao Shibata
Chancellor's Lecturer and former Consul General of Japan
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
12:00-13:00 p.m. - Room 104 Green Hall
This event is sponsored in cooperation with the Center for East Asian Studies
ROCK CHALK REVUE
PROUDLY PRESENTS
HAWK WILD
LIED CENTER OF KANSAS
MARCH $ 8^{th} $ $ 9^{th} $ $ 10^{th} $
TICKETS: 785.864.2787
STUDENT DISCOUNT AVAILABLE!!!
PROCEEDS BENEFIT DOUGLAS COUNTY UNITED WAY
Chiefs sign linebacker Harris
>> NFL
Former Viking expected to replace free agent Mitchell
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs signed linebacker Napoleon Harris to a six-year contract Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.
An unrestricted free agent, Harris started 14 games for Minnesota last season. He finished third on the team with 96 tackles.
had three interceptions and 2.5 sacks.
Harris was acquired by the Vikings in the trade that sent Randy Moss to Oakland in 2005. In two seasons in Minnesota, Harris played in 29 games and recorded 116 tackles.
The Chiefs considered him as a first-round draft choice in 2002, general manager Carl Peterson said
Instead, the Raiders chose Harris with the 23rd overall pick. He started 55 games for Oakland, including three playoff games and at middle linebacker in Super Bowl XXXVII against Tampa Bay.
in a written statement.
The Chiefs expect Harris to replace unrestricted free agent Kawika Mitchell at middle linebacker.
Keith Srakocir/ASSOCIATED PRES'
Former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Napoleon Harris signed a six-year contract Tuesday with the Kansas City Chiefs. Harris went from Oakland to Minnesota in the Randy Moss trade.
RICHMOND, Va. — George Mason was right on schedule after three victories in three nights and hoping to make another run for glory in the NCAA tournament.
》 NCAA BASKETBALL
BY HANK KURZ JR.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
George Mason misses tournament
For 38 minutes, the Patriots seemed on their way in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship Monday night, too, playing their stout defense and running an efficient offense. Then Eric Maynor and Virginia
Commonwealth took the title away from them.
Maynor made two big steals in a row and scored nine straight points in the final 2 minutes as the top-seeded Rams erased a five-point deficit and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament with a 65-59 victory against last year's favorite underdogs.
So it's the Rams (27 6) who will carry the banner for the CAA this year, careful not to measure themselves against what the Patriots did when they went from at-large
entry to the Final Four, beating traditional powers Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut before losing to eventual national champion Florida in the semifinals.
"What Mason did last year was special," said first year Rams coach Anthony Grant, a member of Billy Donovan's staff at Florida last season. "I don't think anybody on our team right now is trying to duplicate or be what George Mason was."
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