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Quinn: Gamble was worth it despite being lost for season

From Call wire services

November 27, 2008

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn doesn't regret playing with a broken right finger that will sideline him for the rest of this season and may require surgery.

Quinn did more damage to his finger when he started Sunday against the Houston Texans.

''I knew that was a consequence if I went in and played,'' Quinn said Wednesday. ''That was something that I was willing to risk. If I had a chance to do it over, I would do it again.''

Quinn is now trying to decide whether to have an operation on the finger or just have it immobilized in a splint. Whatever he decides, the second-year QB, who waited 25 games to make his first NFL start, will miss the Browns' final five games in what has been a disastrous season for a team that entered the season with playoff expectations.

Place-kicker Lawrence Tynes of the Super Bowl champion New York Giants has asked the Bush administration to commute a lengthy sentence given to his brother for distributing marijuana.

Tynes, who kicked the winning field goal in the NFC title game in January, maintains that the 27-year sentence that his brother Mark is serving in a federal facility in Arkansas was excessive for the crime.

''My brother is not asking for a pardon, he is asking for a commutation, which would reduce his sentence,'' Tynes said Wednesday after the Giants finished practice for Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins.

''By no means is he asking to be freed tomorrow,'' Tynes said. ''He deserves to be spending time -- the 27 years is something that we think is a little steep.''

Mark Tynes was convicted in 2004 of two counts of marijuana distribution for his part in a plan to move 18 tons of marijuana between Texas and Florida.

Tynes, 31, refused to cooperate after his arrest. Four childhood friends testified against him and received sentences ranging from 21 months to five years. Tynes has run out of appeals to reduce his sentence.

Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter apologized Wednesday for not leaving the field during Sunday's game against New England, but said the incident was blown out of proportion.

The NFL sack leader would not leave the game as Dolphins first-year coach Tony Sparano had instructed during Miami's 48-28 loss to the Patriots. Porter, who is as well-known for his opinions as his sacks, did not take questions after making his 39-second statement Wednesday.

Matt Light of New England and Channing Crowder of Miami were fined $15,000 apiece by the NFL on Wednesday for what the league called ''a verbal and physical altercation'' last Sunday.

Neither will be suspended, the league said.

Light punched Crowder several times after the Miami linebacker shoved him on a Patriots field goal late in a 48-28 win over the Dolphins.

The Atlanta Falcons put starting tight end Ben Hartsock on injured reserve Wednesday and brought back Jason Rader for the second time this season.

The 264-pound Hartsock, who had only three catches, injured a toe in last weekend's 45-28 victory over Carolina.

TENNIS

Tennis great Jimmy Connors has been charged with a misdemeanor for an altercation last week before a basketball game between UC Santa Barbara and top-ranked North Carolina.

Connors, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, was charged Wednesday in Santa Barbara Superior Court with disrupting campus activities and refusing to leave a university facility.

His business manager, Karen Scott, says a man tried to pick a fight with Connors and his son before Friday night's game and police asked him to leave. Scott says Connors was arrested after he said he wanted to wait for his son to finish watching the game.

Scott said Connors was ''extremely disappointed and embarrassed'' about the incident.

OBITUARY

Armand ''Bep'' Guidolin, who at 16 became the youngest player to skate in an NHL game and later coached Hall of Famer Bobby Orr, has died. He was 82.

He died Monday at a Barrie hospital, his family said.

Guidolin was 16 years, 11 months when he made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins on Nov. 12, 1942. The Bruins needed help because of players serving in World War II.

He went on to play nine seasons in the NHL with Boston, Detroit and Chicago.

After his playing career ended in 1961, Guidolin turned to coaching and was behind the Oshawa Generals' bench when Orr starred for the junior club. He then had NHL coaching stops in Boston, where he coached Orr again, and Colorado.