Refunds coming for HOF game
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will issue refunds to ticket buyers who went home from the NFL’s annual preseason kickoff without having watched any football.
The competitors for roster spots with the Colts and the Packers won’t get the game back, though.
After Brett Favre stole the show with a humorous, insightful and moving speech during the induction ceremony for his class on Saturday, the talk of league turned the next night to the field. That’s because part of it was congealed, rendering the Indianapolis-Green Bay game unplayable.
The traditional exhibition in Canton, Ohio, an extra preseason contest for each team and source of local pride, was canceled when NFL and team officials deemed the turf unsafe due to hardened paint and loosened rubber pellets.
The Hall of Fame announced Monday the refund procedure for fans who had tickets, though no extras were offered for the inconvenience. In other NFL news: • Former NFL player and offensive line coach George Yarno died at age 58 after a lengthy battle with stomach cancer. Yarno, who last worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars, played 10 years in the NFL, finishing his playing career with the Oilers in 1989. He worked as a coach in the college and pros for 24 years, including a stop at the University of Houston from 1998-99.
• Veteran wide receiver Lance Moore retired, telling the Atlanta Falcons his heart wasn’t in it only three days after signing with the team as a free agent. Moore, 32, had 389 career receptions for 4,816 yards and 44 touchdowns in eight years with New Orleans. He had a combined 43 catches the last two years with Pittsburgh and Detroit.
• Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson officially named Robert Griffin III as the team’s starting quarterback.
• The New York Jets activated running back Khiry Robinson from the active/ physicallyunable-to-perform list Monday after he sat out the start of training camp while rehabilitating from a broken right leg.
• The Minnesota Vikings agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension with long snapper Kevin McDermott.
• New Orleans released veteran receiver Hakeem Nicks, and starting left tackle Terron Armstead is coming off the team’s physically-unable-to-perform list.