Sports Briefs
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Originally published 02:16 p.m., June 13, 2008
Updated 02:16 p.m., June 13, 2008
Chiefs sign 1-year deal with defensive end
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs president Carl Peterson says the team has agreed to terms with defensive end Trevor Johnson on a one-year contract.
No other terms of the deal were released Thursday.
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Johnson has 49 tackles and one sack in 38 games with the St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.
Johnson, a native of Lincoln, Neb., entered the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick — 224th overall — of the Jets in 2004. He played in two playoff games with the Jets during his draft year and had three tackles.
Johnson played at the University of Nebraska and earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors in 2003 as a senior.
Stern insists refs don’t manipulate games
LOS ANGELES — David Stern came to the defense of his beleaguered referees again, saying they don’t manipulate games or engage in other criminal activity. And just to make sure, the NBA will go back and re-interview every single referee about Tim Donaghy’s latest allegations of rigged playoff series in 2002 and 2005.
Speaking to the media at an NBA finals that has been increasingly overshadowed by the Donaghy scandal, the commissioner said Game Six of the 2002 Western Conference finals might have been officiated poorly, but honestly and not illegally.
Georgia State names ESPN commentator
as football coach
ATLANTA — Georgia State has its first football coach and, at 65, Bill Curry has a new job.
Curry, the former coach at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky who spent the last decade as a football commentator for ESPN, said he’s ready for a new challenge after receiving a 5-year contract.
Curry was introduced as the first coach for Georgia State’s new football program, which begins play in 2010. The Panthers will compete in the Colonial Athletic Association and will play their home games at the Georgia Dome.