Kansas City MisChief

IT SEEMS the Kansas City Chiefs can't win on or off the field.

The Chiefs (1-6) announced yesterday they are cutting Larry Johnson's suspension for gay slurs in half. Not because they want to, but because they are afraid the running back will beat them in arbitration.

Johnson used gay slurs twice last week, once on Twitter and once in front of reporters.

The Chiefs promptly suspended him for 2 weeks for conduct detrimental to the team.

According to the Associated Press, the team, the NFL Management Council and the NFL Players Association came to an agreement that will allow Johnson to play after Nov. 9, which means he will miss Sunday's game at Jacksonville.

The settlement will save Johnson about $315,000 in salary. The Chiefs had feared an arbitrator would have ruled that 2 weeks pay - roughly $630,000 - was an excessive penalty.

Apparently, the Chiefs considered even more serious action.

The Kansas City Star, citing an "industry source" reported that the Chiefs considered releasing Johnson but didn't do it because they didn't want other players to get the idea that misbehaving could earn them a ticket out of Kansas City.

Johnson's agent, Peter Schaffer, told the AP that his client has learned his lesson.

"Larry apologized," Schaffer said. "My hope is that people learn that something positive can come out of this and that there are words that should not be used because they demean people."

Our hope is that Johnson sticks to running the football instead of running his mouth.

'Lousy game leads to fewer arrests'

"That's about half than what it's been running," Orchard Park (N.Y.) Police Chief Andrew Benz told the newspaper. "I don't know what to tell you."

- Tom Mahon

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