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Two Penn State football players pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge in connection with an on-campus fight last year, resolving the last of the major legal problems for current team members.Linebacker Navorro Bowman and defensive tackle Phil Taylor pleaded guilty Friday to a disorderly conduct charge in exchange for prosecutors? dropping more serious assault charges. If you are looking for Sugar Bowl Tickets or Rose Bowl Tickets you’ll find on gotickets site
?You?re never pleased to have to plead to anything,? said Taylor?s defense attorney Ron McGlaughlin. ?But from the standpoint that the matter is finally over with, I think it worked out appropriately.?
The players were sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service by Centre County Judge Bradley P. Lunsford, who gave the players a stern lecture about being role models.
Taylor, who will be a junior in the fall, and Bowman, who will be a redshirt sophomore, had been kicked off the team while their cases were pending.
Sports information director Jeff Nelson said he has not received any update that would indicate either players? status with the team had changed.
Bowman and Taylor are among a number of Penn State football players who have been charged over the last year in connection to assaults.
?A lot of kids look up to them,? McGlaughlin said, recounting Lunsford?s talk. ?When they act or engage in problems they obviously cause more problems than they realize.?
Bowman?s attorney, Stacy Parks Miller, said her client is eager to move on.
?My client?s pleased to put this behind him, get on with his life, play football again and get back to school,? Miller said.
Although authorities said more than a dozen players were seen on video surveillance near the altercation, police ultimately charged three players with beating a Philadelphia man who was attending a party at the campus student center Oct. 7.
The former Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys player who was the most accurate in NFL history and was once called an ?idiot kicker? by Peyton Manning for comments he made on Canadian TV took part in the first Toronto Argonauts practice of the season Sunday.
The day before, he signed with the team that helped propel him to stardom in 1996. More than a decade after leaving the Argos for the fame and fortune of the NFL, Vanderjagt was thrilled to be back.
?Toronto was the front-runner, regardless of what NFL team called,? said Vanderjagt, who won back-to-back Grey Cup championships in his only two full CFL seasons. ?I really wanted to come to Toronto, more than anything else.?
Vanderjagt wasn?t ready to leave the sport despite an ignominious departure from the NFL in November 2006. He was cut from the Dallas Cowboys after missing a pair of field goals against the Colts.
?When you fish and golf enough and you?re only 38 years old and you feel you can still do it,? Vanderjagt said. ?I miss the area and I miss my family and friends. It became a good opportunity, assuming Toronto wanted me, to be able to kick for a few more years.?
Vanderjagt led the NFL in scoring in 1999 and kicked 42 consecutive field goals in 2003-04, the longest streak in league history. Vanderjagt made 86.5 per cent of his field goals?tops in the NFL among kickers with at least 100 attempts?and made the Pro Bowl in 2004.
Vanderjagt also lashed out at head coach Tony Dungy and quarterback Peyton Manning following a 41-0 playoff loss to the New York Jets in 2002.
Rafael Nadal won his fourth straight Barcelona Open title with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory over second-seeded David Ferrer in the final Sunday.
Nadal?s 21st straight win at the tournament improved his record to 20-1 in clay court finals, including 4-0 at Barcelona. The second-ranked Spaniard, who has won 103 of his last 104 matches on clay, improved to 25-8 in finals overall.
Nadal moved to 6-3 against the fifth-ranked Ferrer, whom he beat on his way to a fourth straight trophy at Monte Carlo last week. The three-time French Open champion will go for a fourth straight Masters Series title in Rome, starting Monday. French Open Tickets and US Open Tickets available on Go Tickets.
Nadal took the lead from the first game with a break of Ferrer?s serve thanks to a backhand passing shot.
Ferrer fired a crosscourt forehand out to give Nadal a second break point and a 3-0 advantage. Ferrer finally held in the fifth to trail 4-1.
