Seahawks, Ravens Lose Key Players to Injuries

The injuries just keep coming for NFL teams.

The Seattle Seahawks lost three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Chad Brown on Monday when he broke his left leg during practice. And the Baltimore Ravens lost center Mike Flynn, who had started all but one game since becoming a starter in 2000.

Seahawk Coach Mike Holmgren said he expected Brown to sit out at least four regular-season games after he and tight end Itula Mili tangled their feet during a drill.

“Every day you pick up a newspaper there is someone on some team and something that happened,” Holmgren said of injuries. “You worry about it, but it can’t paralyze you. You just keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t happen too much to you.”

Flynn broke his right collarbone early in the Ravens’ practice session. He was part of the unit that helped Jamal Lewis rush for 2,066 yards last season, the second-highest total in NFL history.

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San Francisco 49er quarterback Tim Rattay returned to full practice after three weeks of limited action because of an inflamed right forearm.... Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick sat out practice Monday because of tightness in his right hamstring. Coach Jim Mora indicated that Vick might return to practice today.... Jacksonville Jaguar running back Fred Taylor, who has had injury problems throughout his career, will sit out Friday’s game with the Green Bay Packers because of a strained foot, Coach Jack Del Rio said.

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Trent Green completed 10 of 12 passes for 94 yards, and Priest Holmes averaged 5.2 yards on six carries as the Kansas City Chiefs’ first-team offense scored on two of its three possessions in a 24-7 exhibition victory over St. Louis in Kansas City, Mo.

Holmes rushed for 31 yards and opened the scoring with a two-yard run. Derrick Blaylock had a one-yard scoring run.

The Rams lost starting cornerback Travis Fisher, who broke his right arm.

Hockey

Calgary Flame goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was awarded $2.95 million in arbitration for the upcoming season.

That’s a raise of nearly 270% over last season, when Kiprusoff earned $800,000 while leading the Flames to the Stanley Cup finals.

Pro Basketball

The Milwaukee Bucks re-signed forward Toni Kukoc after two productive seasons with the team. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kukoc, acquired from the Atlanta Hawks after the 2002 season for forward Glenn Robinson, averaged 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in two seasons for Milwaukee.

College Basketball

John Giannini was introduced as La Salle’s new men’s basketball coach, taking over for a coach who had resigned after two former players were charged with rape. Giannini was 125-111 in eight seasons as Maine’s coach.

Jurisprudence

Spencer Stolpen, former president of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for scheming to defraud banks to pay off his mounting debts. Stolpen pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a fraudulent bank loan application.

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Former Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson will appeal the dismissal of a discrimination lawsuit he filed against the university after it fired him in March 2002. The appeal of the U.S. District Court’s dismissal of the case in Little Rock, Ark., will be filed before the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

Passings

Cleveland Cavalier assistant coach Mark Osowski died Sunday from pancreatitis. He was 41.