Replacements work HOF game

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — A crew of officials with college experience worked the Hall of Fame game Sunday night, filling in for regulars who are locked out in a labor dispute with the NFL.

It was a glimpse of what’s to come if the NFL and the officials’ union fail to reach an agreement before the season openers. And it didn’t take long to have a gaffe.

Craig Ochoa, who has worked Big Ten games, was the referee for the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Arizona Cardinals. Ochoa has eight years of experience in BCS conferences and 16 years officiating Division III games.

He flipped a commemorative coin at midfield to start the game, then incorrectly announced the result to the crowd, saying that New Orleans had won the toss and deferred. Then, starting to walk away, he caught his mistake.

“Correction, Arizona won the coin toss,” he said.

Reid’s son found dead at 29

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Garrett Reid, the troubled 29-year-old son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, was found dead Sunday in a dorm room at the club’s Lehigh University training camp, where he spends most of his summers with his father.

Police said the death was not suspicious, and the cause was under investigation. The coach’s oldest son had a long history of drug problems, once admitting “I liked being a drug dealer” and went to prison for a heroin-fueled car crash.

Reid’s death stunned the Eagles.

“This is a very difficult situation for us all,” quarterback Michael Vick said following practice — their first without their head coach in five years.

Owner Jeffery Lurie met with the team Sunday and told reporters afterward he expected Reid back this week.

“There’s choices to be made when tragedy happens,” Lurie said, pausing to hold back tears. “You can become stronger and even more focused and learn from it and treat life as a challenge, or you can bow down. And Andy is somebody — he said to me, ‘I’m going to hit that curveball and hit it out of the park.’”

— and on the field and off the field. And that’s the message he wanted me to have.”

The police chief at Lehigh, Edward Shupp, said a 911 call was made at 7:20 a.m. about Reid, and that the 29-year-old was dead when a policeman arrived at the campus dormitory. The police and Northampton County coroner were investigating.

Tags: sports, nfl, football