Aikman Wants to Continue His Career

Troy Aikman wants to continue playing for the Dallas Cowboys, even though he missed five starts because of two concussions this past season, his agent told a Dallas television station Friday.

Cowboy officials declined to comment on the report.

In an interview with WFFA from Tampa, Fla., Aikman’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, said the six-time Pro Bowl player has a desire to play next season despite the injuries.

Steinberg couldn’t be reached to comment.

Aikman, 34, has led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles in 12 seasons with the team. He passed for a career-low 1,632 yards with seven touchdowns and 14 interceptions this past season and had a 64.3 quarterback rating, third-worst in the NFL.

Aikman missed five starts, including the team’s final two regular-season games, because of the concussions and a back injury. He has suffered at least eight concussions in his career, prompting speculation he would consider retiring during the off-season.

He signed a six-year contract extension in 1999 that could keep him with the Cowboys through 2007.

Although terms of the contract weren’t disclosed, The Dallas Morning News reported Aikman is scheduled to receive a $7 million bonus on March 8. At that time, the Cowboys could buy him out or extend his contract through 2007, the newspaper said.

*

Former NFL defensive back Raphel Cherry has been convicted a second time in the 1998 strangulation of his estranged wife.

Circuit Judge Chris Piazza sentenced Cherry to 30 years in prison.

Moments after the conviction on a first-degree murder charge Thursday, Cherry, 39, told his wife’s family he was sorry about her death but said he did not kill her.

“I never touched Jerri and that’s the truth,” he said.

Jerri Harris Cherry was found dead on a couch at her Jacksonville home Dec. 22, 1998. Prosecutors maintained that Cherry killed his wife in anger because she was pursuing a divorce.

Cherry, who played quarterback for the University of Hawaii, was a fifth-round draft choice by Washington in 1985. He appeared in 42 games for the Redskins and Detroit Lions between 1985-88, and made five interceptions.

He previously was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, but a circuit judge overturned that conviction after jurors admitted they had violated his orders by talking about the case before deliberations.

*

Former NFL receiver Mark Ingram was set free after posting a $75,000 bond on a counterfeit-cash charge, but will not be allowed to travel to the Bahamas for his T-shirt business.

In Miami, U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Palermo said Ingram, who won a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants in 1991, could go to New York on business “by the most direct method” but cannot travel out of the country and must surrender his passport.

Defense attorney Abe Bailey said Ingram would plead innocent to a charge that he was carrying $3,290 in fake money when he was arrested on an auto theft charge Tuesday.

*

Three years after signing a lease to play in the RCA Dome, the Indianapolis Colts are looking for a new stadium.

Colt owner Jim Irsay intends to commission two studies by spring or summer to examine prospects for a new stadium in Indianapolis.

“We’re gathering information,” Irsay told The Indianapolis Star. “We’re going to look at it and share and go from there. We’re defining the picture.”

Discussion of a new stadium has been a topic for about a year, including whether the Colts might choose the new field turf that they played on at Seattle’s Husky Stadium.

*

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers promoted quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen to offensive coordinator, replacing the fired Les Steckel, the team said.

Christensen, who will turn 43 Sunday, has been on the Buccaneer staff since 1996 and is Tampa Bay’s third offensive coordinator in three years.