THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2007
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13,2007
SPORTS
9B
>> NFL
Chris Gardner/Associated Press
Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, right, reacts to the crowd as he and his sons Garrett, left, and Britt, center, walk off the field after the Eagles beat the New York Giants 24-21, Dec. 30, 2001 in Philadelphia. Reid will take a temporary leave of absence through the middle of March to deal with family issues, team officials announced Monday. Reid's decision comes less than two weeks after two of his sons, Garrett and Britt, got into separate legal trouble on the same day.
Eagles coach takes break
BY ROB MAADDI ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles coach Andy Reid will leave the team for a month to deal with family issues, a decision that comes less than two weeks after two sons got into sepa- rate legal trouble on the same day.
The team said the leave of absence will last until mid-March ___
"He's not going to come into the office, but he will be available for calls and to collaborate and he will be
Andy Reid has led the Eagles to the playoffs six times, including four trips to the NFC championship game and one Super Bowl.
here if we have free agents in for a visit." Eagles president Joe Banner said Monday. "He will retain final say over whatever we do."
The Eagles have 11 unrestricted free agents, notably wide receiver Donte' Stallworth and backup quarterback Jeff Garcia.
Reid, who is also the team's head of football operations, will miss the NFL scouting combine and the start of free agency. Teams may begin voluntary offseason workouts March 19. Reid plans to attend the NFL owners' meetings in Arizona in late March, and will be back for the NFL draft April 28-29.
"Before any of this happened, we had finalized our own plans on our free agents and we had put together our preliminary plans on players we would be interested in," Banner said.
General manager Tom Heckert and the team's assistant coaches will handle the interviewing of players at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, though Reid might be able to meet with
some players at another time.
Garrett Reid. 23, tested positive for heroin after he caused a traffic accident Jan. 30, police said. No charges have been filed, but prosecutors are looking at the case. Police have said he could be charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.
Britt Reid, 21, was arraigned on drug and weapons charges. He is accused of pointing a handgun at another driver following a dispute and faces a felony charge of carrying
a firearm without a license as well as misdemeanor charges of lying to authorities, simple assault, making terroristic threats and possession of a controlled substance.
Andy Reid has led the Eagles to the playoffs six times, including four trips to the NFC championship game and one Super Bowl, in eight seasons as head coach. He'd dealt with several challenges the past two seasons from the Terrell Owens' soap opera and a series of key injuries in 2005 to losing five-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb in Week 11 this past season.
Despite McNabb's injury, the Eagles won their final five games behind Garcia, finished 10-6 to capture their fifth NFC East title in six years and reached the second round of the playoffs. Many considered it Reid's best coaching job in Philadelphia. Players credited his steady approach for helping them overcome a difficult midseason stretch and the injuries to McNabb and star defensive end levon Kearse.
NFL
"People deal with circumstances in life of all different kinds and still carry on their careers and professions, and that's the kind of guy Andy is." Banner said.
Chiefs sign former Jayhawk, 13 others
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs agreed to terms with 13 reserve and future free agents including three cornerbacks and a fifth-round draft pick at quarterback, the team announced Monday.
Players who signed two-year contracts include safety Robb Butler; fullback Greg Hanoian; defensive tackle Brian Howard; guard Rob Hunt; quarterback Omar Jacobs; tight ends Adam Johnson and Keith Willis; defensive end Monte Murphy; cornerbacks Zach Norton,
Dimitri Patterson and Justin Phinisse; and linebackers Nick Reid, a former KU linebacker, and Timi Wusu.
Norton was on the Chiefs practice squad for their AFC wild card game at Indianapolis last season. He was drafted out of Cincinnati as a rookie free agent with Baltimore in 2004.
The Chiefs are hoping that Norton, Dimitri or Patterson could step up and help strengthen the Chiefs' struggling secondary.
Patterson entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Washington in 2005 after playing at Southeast
Jacobs will get a chance to prove himself at quarterback, studying under the aging Trent Green. The Bowling Green standout began his NFL career as a fifth-round draft pick with Pittsburgh in 2006, but he was released before the start of the regular season.
Phinisee spent 2006 on the Chiefs practice squad and originally entered the NFL as a Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft pick out of Oregon.
Missouri State and the Tuskegee Institute. He played in three games for the Redskins and had one interception.
NASCAR
Cheating stumps officials Crew chiefs usually punished, but drivers could be next
BY JENNA FRYER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Suspending a crew chief for the Daytona 500 hasn't seemed to deter teams from cheating. Maybe its time to throw out the driver, too.
Three teams failed inspection Sunday during qualifying for the biggest race of the season. If it's determined they deliberately skirted the rules, it will prove teams didn't get the message when NASCAR sent crew chief Chad Knaus home after cheating while preparing Jimmie Johnson's car a year ago.
But what lessons could they have learned? With Knaus banned from the track for four weeks, Johnson still won the Daytona 500 — the Super Bowl of racing — and a second event two weeks later.
Then he capped the season by winning the Nextel Cup title.
So don't blame the crew champions for Kasey Kahne, 2003 cup champion Matt Kenseth and new Toyota team owner Michael Waltrip — the three drivers who failed to make it past NASCAR's inspectors Sunday.
Blame NASCAR instead.
Crew chief's get suspended, drivers get fined points and cash, but the infractions continue to pile up. Sure, series officials scowl in the inspection bay, and president Mike Helton looms like a gun-toting sheriff in a bad western movie.
Spokesman Jim Hunter insists NASCAR is fed up with the rule breakers. Still, cheating also is celebrated as a quant piece of NASCAR culture. If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin', right?
IF NASCAR is serious about end-ing cheating, suspending the driver — the team's most high-profile member — just might do it.
Outrageous? Maybe. But suspending a driver for a crew's cheating would force the sport's biggest stars to keep a closer eye on those who put their race cars together.
It's one thing to suspend a crew chief. It's quite another to send home a star who keeps fans in the stands and glued to the TV.
NASCAR argues suspending drivers would punish fans. But if fans got mad about a driver's suspension, it would create more pressure on teams not to cheat.
Because today's NASCAR has progressed so far from the days when a driver built his own car and changed his own engine, officials say the crew chief, not the driver, should pay the price when things aren't right.
is in control of the mechanical part of the race car, and that's the crew chief," competition director Robin Pemberton said. "For now, we are content going down the avenue of holding that person responsible"
In more cases than not, it's plausible the driver doesn't have a clue what his crew is doing. Maybe that's the problem.
"We have someone who we know
Another problem: Where's the line between flagent cheating, working the margins of the rule book and a simple mistake?
NASCAR isn't even sure the three teams questioned Sunday we're cheating.
Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, had a suspicious substance in the intake manifold of his new Toyota Camry that NASCAR officials didn't recognize. So they seized the part and shipped it back to North Carolina, where a team of inspectors spent Monday examining it.
Waltrip's car also was impounded, and NASCAR hasn't decided when — or even if — it will give the Camry back. Once officials figure out what the substance was, NASCAR will have a hard time figuring out why the substance was there and whether it was put there on purpose.
Same goes for Kahne and Kenseth, who had holes in their cars' wheel wells. Was it cheating or a careless mistake?
Ray Evernham, who owns Kahne's car, said Monday the holes were a minor infraction that doesn't qualify as cheating.
Still, Evernam expects crew chief Kenny Francis to get hit with a suspension when NASCAR hands out its penalties.
"NASCAR saw the holes in inspection and told my guys to tape them up. They were taped, but the tape came off," Everham said. "I don't know why they made such a big deal about it. It was not an aerodynamic device or something that was built to fool them."
Pemberton said NASCAR still was discussing Monday how to properly punish cheaters this season but indicated the penalties would be tough. After Knaus and Slugger Labbe, then Dale Jarrett's crew chief, were suspended early last season, Pemberton said teams were on their best behavior.
Now it's time to get the garage back in order. Again.
"It looks like we've got to get their attention," he said.
Sending drivers home certainly would do it.
Paul Kizzle/Associated Press
NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth waits to qualify for the Daytona 500 auto race Sunday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Kenseth finished 11th.
BLOW HER MIND
- Pucker Up
* Bee My Valentine
* Roses are Red
* & MORE choices
FREE
CHOCOLATE W/ ANY SIGNATURE ARRANGEMENT
balloonarts
865-2004 WE DELIVER
811 E 23 $^{\textcircled{1}}$ Suite G
www.balloonarts.biz
1