Sports Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
FOOTBALL
SEAN TAYLOR MAKES PRO BOWL POSTHUMOUSLY
Pro Bowl voters honored the memory of Sean Taylor.
They also used a lot of votes on Dallas Cowboys and none on the NFC South, which didn’t get a player into the league’s all-star game.
Taylor, who died November 27 after being shot during a burglary at his home in Florida, was voted the starting free safety on the NFC team. He was having an outstanding season and was one of the leading vote-getters among fans at the time of his death.
“It is well-deserved,” Redskins center Casey Rabach said. “If he would have been able to finish the season, he would have been in there. It just shows the respect everybody around the league had for him and what a great player he was.”
Taylor is the only player known to have made an all-star team posthumously in any sport other than goaltender Pelle Lindbergh was voted to the NHL All-Star game in February 1986. He had been killed in an auto accident in November 1985 after playing eight games for the Philadelphia Flyers, for whom he had won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie the previous season.
FIVE FALCONS FINED FOR DISPLAYING VICK MESSAGES
Roddy White and four other Atlanta Falcons were fined by the NFL for violating uniform regulations with tributes to Michael Vick during last week’s Monday night game.
After scoring a touchdown, White displayed a “Free Mike Vick” T-shirt under his jersey.
He, along with tight end Alge Crumpler and cornerbacks DeAngelo Hall and Chris Houston, were fined $10,000 each. Crumpler, Hall and Houston all wore black eye strips with written tributes to Vick, which the league called “displaying an unauthorized personal message.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
CHEATING SCANDAL COULD LEAVE FSU WITHOUT TOP PLAYERS
An academic cheating scandal could leave Florida State without as many as 25 players for its Music City Bowl game against Kentucky on New Year’s Eve, coach Bobby Bowden said yesterday.
It was the latest off-field blow to a once-proud program trying to regain its footing as a national power.
“We have some players not traveling for one reason and some for another, including those who are ineligible for the bowl because of academic issues,” Bowden said in a statement released by the university.
BASEBALL
ALEX RODRIGUEZ ADDS NEW MANAGER WITH HOLLYWOOD TIES
A-Rod is adding some Hollywood glitz to his management team. Alex Rodriguez hired Guy Oseary, who has worked with Madonna and Lenny Kravitz, to be his manager. Oseary is not a registered baseball agent, and Scott Boras remains A-Rod’s representative on baseball matters. Rodriguez said last week he had spoken just once with Boras since the agent notified the New York Yankees that A-Rod was opting out of his contract. The slugger then negotiated a new $275 million, 10-year deal with the team without Boras.
METS SIGN RHP MATT WISE TO $1.2 MILLION, 1-YEAR DEAL
The Mets bolstered their bullpen yesterday, agreeing with right-hander Matt Wise on a $1.2 million, one-year contract. Wise was 3–2 with a 4.19 ERA and one save in a career-high 56 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers this season. He struck out 43 and walked 17 in 53.2 innings.
“Matt has had success in a variety of roles,” New York general manager Omar Minaya said. “He adds a versatile arm to the bullpen.”