CHICAGO — Mike Martz, the headstrong coach who orchestrated “The Greatest Show on Turf” while molding Kurt Warner into a Pro Bowl quarterback with the St. Louis Rams, will look to do something similar with Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears.
Martz’s hiring as the Bears’ offensive coordinator Monday ended a nearly month-long search to replace the fired Ron Turner. Martz’s job is to turn around a struggling offense and get the most out of Cutler, who threw a league-leading 26 interceptions after a trade from the Broncos.
Martz said a visit with Cutler over the weekend in Nashville, Tenn., went “even better than anticipated.”
“There was an instant connection,” Martz said.
• Emmitt Thomas, a Hall of Fame cornerback for Kansas City’s Super Bowl teams in the late 1960s, is returning to the Chiefs as defensive backs coach.
McCarron stands his ground
SAN DIEGO — Ping chairman John Solheim reminded the PGA Tour that it can’t make a separate rule to ban the Ping Eye2 clubs, specifically wedges that led to accusations of cheating.
Hours after Scott McCarron said he wasn’t backing down from his comment that “it’s cheating” when Phil Mickelson and other players use Ping wedges with square grooves, golf’s situation became even more muddled with Solheim’s gentle reminder.
Solheim said the PGA Tour is bound by a 1993 settlement that prohibits the tour from creating a special rule that differs from the USGA. The Ping chairman, however, said he’s willing to discuss a solution. McCarron and Mickelson, meanwhile, struck no conciliatory tones.
Reds ship Taveras to A’s
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds sent center fielder Willy Taveras to the Oakland Athletics as part of a four-player deal, then agreed to a $3.02 million, one-year deal with Orlando Cabrera to become their starting shortstop.
Along with Taveras, the Reds sent infielder Adam Rosales to the A’s for infielder Aaron Miles and a player to be named.
• The San Francisco Giants agreed to terms on a minor-league contract with right-hander Byung-Hyun Kim, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since spending 2007 with Colorado, Arizona and Florida.
Footnotes.
Seventeen years after their first fight, Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) and Roy Jones Jr. (54-6, 40) will meet in a rematch April 3 in Las Vegas.
• New Jersey Devils defenseman Paul Martin will not play for the U.S. hockey team in the Vancouver Olympics because of a slow-healing broken left forearm.
• Boston Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart will miss about four weeks after surgery on a finger injured during a fight on the ice.
• Utah freshman Marshall Henderson was suspended one game for hitting a BYU player Saturday. He will sit out Wednesday against CSU.
• Walter Fondren, all-Southwest Conference halfback at Texas before playing quarterback for coach Darrell Royal‘s first Longhorns team, died of congestive heart disease Jan. 28 in Houston. He was 73.
The Associated Press
