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2B
♦ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2005
Outside
the
‘Home’
Falcons sign safety Coady
FLOWERY BRANCH - The
Atlanta Falcons signed safety
Rich Coady on Monday, another
low-key acquisition for the team
that reached the NFC champion
ship game last season.
The 29-year-old Coady has
spent all but one of his six NFL
seasons with St. . Louis, starting
five games for the Rams last sea
son. He played in all 16 games
and finished with 44 tackles.
Atlanta has signed most of
its key players to long-term con
tracts, including the richest deal
in NFL history for quarterback
Michael Vick. But that strategy
came with a downside - little
money to spend under the sal
ary cap.
The Falcons have actually sub
tracted more than they've added
since the beginning of free agen
cy, cutting two defensive start
ers, tackle Ed Jasper and safety
Cory Hall, along with backup end
Travis Hall.
Atlanta did re-sign Pro Bowl
return specialist Allen Rossum
and picked up kicker Todd
Peterson, moves that were for
mally announced on Monday.
Peterson, who connected on
nearly 82 percent of his field goal
attempts with the San Francisco
49ers last season, is making a
homecoming of sorts. The 11-
year veteran played at Georgia
and went to training camp with
the Falcons in 1994, but failed to
beat out Norm Johnson.
Peterson replaces Jay Feely,
the Falcons' kicker the past four
seasons. He signed with the New
York Giants on Monday.
Association accepts invite
NEW YORK (AP) - The NHL
Players' Association accepted an
invitation from the league to return
to the bargaining table later this
week. NHL commissioner Gary
Bettman contacted union execu
tive director Bob Goodenow late
last week to request the resump
tion of talks, and the players'
association agreed to get togeth
er, NHL chief legal officer Bill
Daly said in an e-mail to The
Associated Press.
A meeting was scheduled for
this week, but the date, time and
location was not announced.
Neuheisel gets settlement
KENT, Wash. (AP) - Fired
Washington football coach Rick
Neuheisel left a courtroom with
a $4.5 million settlement in his
lawsuit against the NCAA and
university, claiming victory in his
21 -month legal battle.
The settlement was announced
by Superior Court Judge Michael
Spearman after five weeks of
testimony, just as jurors were
set to hear closing statements.
It capped a lengthy fight that
started with Neuheisel's firing in
June 2003.
Neuheisel will receive cash
payments of $2.5 million from the
NCAA and $500,000 from the uni
versity. Additionally, the university
agreed not to seek repayment of
a $1.5 million loan.
Neuheisel, now the quarter
backs coach for the Baltimore
Ravens, had accused the univer
sity of wrongfully terminating his
contract and the NCAA of encour
aging Washington administrators
to fire him.
Colorado's Hoffman resigns
DENVER (AP) - University
of Colorado President Elizabeth
Hoffman resigned amid a football
recruiting scandal and a national
controversy over an activist pro
fessor who compared victims of
the Sept. 11 attacks to a notori
ous Nazi.
Hoffman, who has been presi
dent for five years, told the Board
of Regents in a letter that her
resignation is effective June 30
or whenever the board names a
successor.
An independent commission
reported last year that Colorado
players used sex, alcohol and
marijuana as recruiting tools. In
February, administrators took
the first steps toward a possi
ble dismissal of professor Ward
Churchill, who likened World
Trade Center victims to Nazi Adolf
Eichmann.
Arizona signs Okeafor
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Arizona
signed defensive end Chike
Okeafor to a five-year, $25 million
contract, the Cardinals' third big
free agent addition in five days.
Okeafor follows offensive tackle
Oliver Ross and quarterback Kurt
Warner, who both agreed to deals
last week.
Reyna returns from injury
MANCHESTER, England (AP)
- U.S. national team captain
Claudio Reyna returned from a
leg injury that sidelined him for
most of the season and played all
90 minutes in Manchester City's
loss to Bolton in the English
Premier League.
Reyna had played just once
since Sept. 18.
He injured a leg in practice,
returned Nov. 13 and played the
final 25 minutes against Blackburn
but injured the leg again in that
game.
Cameraman suffers broken neck
By PHIL MILLER
Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY - Allen
Reid wasn’t even watch
ing Matt Harpring sprint
toward him last Sunday. His
lens was trained on Tracy
McGrady, recording the
Houston Rocket star’s reac
tion to his 16-foot basket
seconds earlier. When he got
the shot he wanted, Reid
finally turned back toward
the hoop, just in time to
focus on Harpring as the
Utah Jazz forward tumbled
toward him, full-speed and
airborne, out of control,
after being bumped in the
back.
Reid didn’t have time to
brace for impact, and he
still doesn’t know if it was
Harpring’s knee, or his
shoulder, or his foot that
smacked into his TV camera
and drove it into his skull,
as Harpring’s 225-pound
body crashed into him like
an NFL linebacker leveling
a quarterback.
Remarkably, Illinois taking
flak over its only defeat
By NANCYARMOUR
AP National Writer
CHICAGO - So much for
the 29 straight wins the
Fighting Illini piled up over
the last four months, their
double-digit victory margins
and their dazzling shooting
stats.
One loss - and on a last
second shot, at that - and
top-ranked Illinois isn’t quite
so impressive anymore.
“The radio talk shows in
Chicago this morning make
me sick,” Purdue coach
Gene Keady said Monday.
“They’re upset Illinois didn’t
go (unbeaten). That’s ridicu
lous. Twenty-nine and one is
unbelievable.”
It’s not just callers in
Chicago who are dogging the
Illini, though, after Sunday’s
65-64 loss at Ohio State
spoiled their bid for a perfect
season. Illinois kept its No.
1 ranking in this week’s poll
with 48 first-place votes and
1,725 points, but 22 voters
went for North Carolina, a
team with three losses.
Some are wondering wheth
er Illinois could lose out on a
No. 1 seed in the NCAA tour
nament if it doesn’t go deep
in the Big Ten tournament,
which begins Thursday at
the United Center.
The Illini were trying to
become the first team to go
through an entire season
undefeated since Indiana in
1975-76, and their start was
the best since UNLV opened
34-0 before losing in the 1991
Final Four. They hadn’t lost
since falling to Duke in the
NCAA regional semifinals
TURNER
From page 1B
miles from there, so this
gives her a chance to get
closer to her home.”
Good for him, but not so
good for Warner Robins.
“We’ve been extremely
blessed to have had him,”
Way said. “We feel like we’ve
made great strides since he’s
been here. He built up a real
good relationship with the
players ... had them working
real hard.
“He’s an outstanding role
model to all the kids. We’re
going to miss him for sure.”
As far as a replacement,
Way said he had a handful
of names in mind but that
he had been too busy with
spring workouts (Feb. 22
until Friday) to put a whole
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All Reid knows is, in that
instant, his neck was bro
ken.
“It was pretty terrifying,”
Reid said.
Such is life along the base
line of every NBA arena,
where million-dollar talents
routinely hurtle themselves
toward nearly as exorbitant
- and frighteningly solid
- electronic components, not
to mention the people who
carry them. It’s not exactly
night patrol in Baghdad, but
the danger is real, the stress
intense and the wounds
plenty painful.
“They have to have rub
ber covers over their lenses,
and they have to stay in
the photo boxes” outlined on
each floor, said Tim Frank,
the NBA’s vice president of
communications. But that’s
about it.
Trouble is, it’s just a few
feet from the sometimes
brutally physical play of the
sport at its highest level.
“I think it’s a terrible
last March, and had a mar
gin of victory of almost 19
points.
But the Illini never really
got a powerhouse’s respect,
with plenty of skeptics won
dering when - not if - they
were going to lose.
“Everybody’s waiting for
us to lose, saying they think
we’re not the best team in
the country,” Dee Brown said
last month after the Illini
beat Wisconsin for a second
time. “Watch TV they’ll show
you, they’ll tell you. The No.
1 team? It’s not us.”
Part of it is Illinois’ make
up. The Ilhni don’t have a
big inside presence, making
them seem vulnerable to
teams that do.
They don’t even have a cool
nickname like Michigan’s
Fab Five or the Flyin’ Illini,
the school’s last Final Four
team.
The Big Ten doesn’t help
much, either. The conference
isn’t as strong as it was a few
years ago. Only Illinois, No.
13 Michigan State and No.
23 Wisconsin are ranked, and
• the conference will be fortu
nate to get five teams in the
NCAA tournament.
Compare that with the
ACC, which has three of the
top five teams in the country.
Or the Big East, which has
five teams in the top 25.
“Illinois was doing some
thing that so few have done,”
Michigan State coach Tom
Izzo said. “I still love that
team. I still think they’ve got
a chance to make a big-time
run in every tournament
they play in.”
lot of thought into it.
As far as Turner, who
served under Robby Pruitt
for three years - here and in
Fitzgerald - and spent the
three years prior at Screven
County, he inherits a pro
gram that finished 6-5 over
all and fourth in the region
in 2004.
The team nickname is the
“Bulldogs” - if the team
substituted a “G” instead
of an “E” on their helmets,
their uniforms would look
exactly like Georgia's - and
they were eliminated in the
first round of the playoffs by
Clinch County (the team that
eventually ended up co-cham
pions with Hawkinsville).
In 2003 they were 8-3, 5-5
in 2002 and 3-6 in 2001.
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place to put people,” said
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. “It’s
not a very good landing
area. What if you screw your
career up? That’s the thing I
always worry about.”
Case in point: Reid.
He went to his doctor, who
took X-rays and an MRI,
and returned with startling
news. “He said, ‘Your neck is
broken.... I want to put you
in the hospital right now,”’
Reid said. The next day, he
underwent surgery to fuse
a bone graft over the frac
tured neck vertebra, with a
metal brace attached to hold
it in place.
Without the operation, he
could have developed paraly
sis, could have gone through
life unable to pick up his 16-
month-old son and 5-week
old daughter.
But he isn’t giving up the
danger zone. “After sur
gery, my doctor asked how I
felt,” Reid said. “I told him,
‘You’ve got to get me back
for the playoffs.’”
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Rewards of up to S I,OOO - Remain Anonymous!
Clifford Lee Almond
Wanted for violation of prohat uni (for driv
ing with suspended license)
LKA: I.KA: Central Avenue.
WR
Ronny Askew
Wanted for possession of cocaine, obstruction of an
officer, failure to appear, forgery, deposit account fraud
I.KA: 1(H) block of Sandcfur Road,
Kathleen
Timothy Bantu
Wanted for violation of probation (for
theft by taking)
I.KA: 4(H) block of South Third Street.
WR
Franklin Leon Boggs
Wanted for violation of probation (for deposit
account f raud)
LKA: 3(H) block of Johns Road, WR
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H ASKETBALL
Final results of the GaSports.com girts
basketball coaches poll:
Class AAA
1 Hephzibah
2 Kendrick
3 Johnson-Gainesville
4 Westminster
5 Avondale
6 Gainesville
7 Carrollton
8 Worth County
9 Columbus
10 Northeast Macon
Class AAAA
1 Etowah
2 Westside-Macon
3 Stone Mountain
4 Jones County
5 St Pius X
6 Jonesboro
7 Mays
8 Salem
9 Haralson County
10 Greenbrier
Class AAAAA
1 Collins Hill
2 Redan
3 Stephenson
4 McEachern
5 Marietta
6 Beach
7 Riverdale
8 Campbell
9 South Gwinnett
Cleats
Nvesha Ashley
Wanted for violation of probation (for
criminal trespass)
LKA: 100 block of Lincoln Street,
WR
Tara Denise Austin
Wank'd for forgery, failure la appear, viola
tion of probation (for theft by takintt)
LKA: I<K) block of Porkie Drive,
WR
l rtK',l Butlk Jr.
Wanted for violation of probation I for batten
cruelty In children i
LKA: 300 block of Wavcrly I -anc
Darrell Kugenc Borum
Wanted for criminal trespass
LKA: 1300 block of Alma Drive.
WR
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
10 Sequoyah
10 South Cobb
Final results of the GaSports.com boys
basketball coaches poll:
Class AAA
1 Dunwoody
2 Troup
3 M.l. King
4 Dougherty
5 Westlake
6 Peach County
7 Spencer
8 Westover
9 Butler
10 Banneker
Class A AAA
1 Mays
2 Tucker
3 Griffin
4 Sandy Creek
5 Douglas County
* 6 Baldwin
7 Lithia Springs
8 Columbia
9 Etowah
10 Chapel Hill
Class AAAAA
1 Wheeler
2 Norcross
3 South Gwinnett
4 Stephenson
5 Kennesaw Mountain
6 Newton
7 South Cobb
8 North Gwinnett
9 Campbell
10 Tift County
Komi .Jiisi'|>h AnMi'Vl
Wanted far failure la appear! contempt of court, driving
w ith su spended or revoked license, loitering on school
propel ty! premises, criminal trespass!entry
I.KA: 200 block of Tennessee Avenue.
WR
Emmanuel Elisha Bannister
Warned for possession of marijuana
w ith intent to distribute, terroristic
threats or acts
I.KA: 1100 block of South Davis Drive, WR
Eisa Eavette Hell
Wanted for failure to appear
I.KA: SO block of Shannon Ridge Dr.,
WR
•JhHmhhei
Steve Branch
Wanted for violation of probation (for
driving with a suspended license)
I.KA: 100 block of Sandy Run.
Bonaire
15596
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