[ PRO-BOWL ]
All-stars split bill
for teammates
If you're a member of the Kansas City Chiefs organization, you're guaranteed a trip to Hawaii every year if you want one, one way or the other.
The Chiefs have eight players here for the Pro Bowl this year. And they're glad it's that many, because of a tradition running back Priest Holmes started a few years ago.
"When he made the Pro Bowl the first time, he said he'd like to take the whole team," Chiefs guard Will Shields said. "I'm just the travel agent, the guy who sets up the flights. All the Pro Bowlers share the cost, so the more the better so we can split the costs."
Shields said around 50 players and staff took up the offer this year.
"We want to give them an opportunity to come over and celebrate the season," said Shields, who has made nine Pro Bowls in his 11 years in the NFL. "Maybe next year we'll have a couple more, and they can help pay for some more people."
Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez doesn't mind paying for his co-workers' vacations.
"It's cool to have all the Kansas City Chiefs here. We're going to make this Chiefs' Island," he said.
Easy going: Everyone knows that Pro Bowl practices are low-key. The atmosphere is all camaraderie and no contact.
But even in this relaxed setting the practice schedule of kicking specialists Mike Vanderjagt of the Colts and Craig Hentrich of the Titans stood out.
Hentrich's helmet sat on top of a water bucket a few feet away. Vanderjagt's hat was nowhere to be found (even at the end of practice when they joined the rest of the team). The two kickers spent most of yesterday's inaugural AFC workout standing around and talking.
This in itself isn't that unusual for kickers. But they also had a kicking coach, the Colts' Russ Purnell, who supervised their standing around and talking.
"I try to create an environment that they can be successful in," Purnell said.
Purnell, who kidded that his guys didn't do much yesterday, noted that his specialists did do some work at the start of practice.
"For the specialists, they got 'X' amount of work that they want to get in -- Craig hasn't punted the ball for three weeks and Mike hadn't (kicked) one for two weeks and so they gotta loosen their legs up and we don't want them to pull any muscles, obviously." But taking it easy isn't a big deal. "They're here because they're really good at what they do."
Purnell's laid-back approach isn't as much mechanical as it is keeping his guys in the right frame of mind to do their jobs. It's worked in his travels around the NFL with Pro Bowlers Matt Stover, Rick Tuten and now Vanderjagt. Purnell also coached Hentrich to his first Pro Bowl when the two were together at Tennessee.
Charge it to Room No. ... : A friend of Adewale Ongunleye's spotted the Miami defensive end during a break in practice action and called out. Ongunleye responded, saying they should get together.
"What's your room number?" the man shouted. "We'll come up to your room!"
Ongunleye's eyes bugged out from 30 yards away. The sideline was crowded with people. "Are you crazy?"
Short yardage: Baltimore cornerback Chris McAlister, one of Dick Tomey's best players at Arizona, declined to tell stories about his old coach. "He's a genuine guy," McAlister said. "One story wouldn't justify how he feels about his players." ... Honorary AFC and NFC coaches (and Pro Football Hall of Famers) Marv Levy and Don Shula looked in on their respective teams yesterday. ... High school quarterback Alex Mortensen threw some passes to his father, ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, at Aloha Stadium yesterday after the NFC practice. The younger Mortensen considered going to the University of Hawaii and visited Manoa last spring, but was set to sign a letter of intent with Arkansas today. ... More than 2,000 tickets are still available for Sunday's game. ... Three new members of the 2004 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- Carl Eller, John Elway and Barry Sanders -- join 10 other members of that group in Friday's Pro Bowl NFL Charities Golf Classic at Waialae Country Club. Entry fee is $750 for Hawaii residents and $1,000 for non-residents. Information is available at (808) 943-9865.
The Star-Bulletin's Dave Reardon and Kalani Simpson contributed to this report.