SIDELINES : Kelly Denies Throwing Beer

Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly denied this morning in court that he threw a beer-filled balloon at a woman who has brought a $200,000 civil suit against the NFL’s highest-paid player.

Kelly said he was tossing what he believed to be water balloons with some children who were at the 1987 picnic where Marlene Edbauer said she was injured when Kelly threw a beer-filled balloon that struck her in the face.

Kelly’s appearance drew a packed house of about 30 people to the city court chambers.

In her suit, Edbauer claims that one of three balloons thrown by Kelly hit her in the face as she was drinking a cocktail from a plastic cup, causing her to need root-canal work.