Second Thoughts

Kicker, jersey reunited and feels so good

Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri (4) got his high school jersey back after his high school coach admitted he thought about selling it.
Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri (4) got his high school jersey back after his high school coach admitted he thought about selling it.

Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri was recently reunited with his jersey from his high school playing days in South Dakota, thanks to a high school coach in Texas and a bit of luck.

High school football coach Steve Svendson first came across Vinatieri's Rapid City Central jersey many years ago, the Rapid City Journal reported. Svendson coached the Cobblers from 1999 to 2007. He now coaches at Caney Creek High School in Conroe, Texas, about 40 miles north of Houston.

Svendson recalled "throwback nights" from his time in Rapid City, in which Central students would wear old jerseys for big games. One year, Svendson's daughters asked to borrow old jerseys from the pile collected after students graduate. Another coach pointed out that one of Svendson's daughters was wearing Vinatieri's old jersey.

"I held on to it for a few years and thought I could maybe sell it, but I thought, 'Well, that's probably not the right thing to do,' " said Svendson. "So I decided one day I was going to give it back to him."

Svendson decided to seize the opportunity to return the jersey to the Rapid City native when the Colts played the Houston Texans on Nov. 5,

"When I first gave it to him, he was laughing right away and he goes, 'Are you sure you want to give that back to me?' " said Svendson.

Vinatieri said the gesture meant a lot to him.

"It brought me back my roots, where I came from. I mean, we're talking 25 or 30 years ago that I had a Central Cobbler jersey on, so that was a special moment, and it was really cool that he did that and thought of me like that," said Vinatieri. "That was a special time for me."

Cereal eater

Five days after rushing for 127 yards and a touchdown, Dallas Cowboys running back Alfred Morris tweeted a video of himself dancing at a local grocery store because his favorite cereal had returned to the shelves.

"I was just genuinely happy," Morris said of Banana Nut Cheerios making a comeback.

The Cheerios official Twitter account responded by asking if they could direct message Morris to help him stock his cereal cabinet.

"I wasn't trying to get free Cheerios, but I'm glad they're going to give me free Cheerios," he said. "Those are my favorite Cheerios. ... I'm excited about that."

Wax on

Russia has been banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics for systemic state-sanctioned doping.

Wrote Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: "Officials suspected something was amiss when the women's skis tested positive for mustache wax."

Sports quiz

Adam Vinatieri holds the NFL record for the most points scored (234) in the postseason. Who is second on that list?

Sports answer

David Akers with 175.

photo

AP Photo

This is a 2016 photo of Alfred Morris of the Dallas Cowboys NFL team. This image reflects the Dallas Cowboys active roster as of June 13, 2016 when this image was taken.

Sports on 12/10/2017

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