Stewart, Bears Agree to Contract

Kordell Stewart needed a team and the Chicago Bears needed a quarterback. On Thursday, they agreed to terms on a two-year, $5-million contract.

“We wanted a shorter-term deal that gives him the opportunity to establish himself and come back and negotiate a long-term deal,” said Stewart’s agent, Leigh Steinberg.

Stewart, who spent eight years with the Pittsburgh Steelers before being released last month, lost his starting job to Tommy Maddox last season.

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Quarterback Todd Bouman was traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the New Orleans Saints for a sixth-round draft pick.... The Miami Dolphins signed free-agent cornerback Terrell Buckley, who played with New England the last two seasons, to a one-year contract.... Former Washington Redskin running back Stephen Davis has agreed to a five-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. His agent, David Canter, said the deal is worth $15.5 million and includes a $2.5-million bonus.... The New York Jets matched the Redskins’ five-year, $8-million offer to kick returner Chad Morton.

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Emmitt Smith ended his two-day meeting with the Arizona Cardinals by praising the direction the long-suffering franchise is taking. “It’s been a wonderful visit,” Smith said. “It feels like I’m being recruited all over again.” The NFL’s all-time leading rusher was released Feb. 27 by the Dallas Cowboys. Smith said he plans to visit other teams but would not identify any of them.

Jurisprudence

The parents of a 13-year-old girl who died after being hit in the head with a puck at a Columbus Blue Jacket NHL game nearly a year ago sued the hospital where she was treated.

The suit contends doctors failed to see the extent of Brittanie Cecil’s brain damage in time to save her.

The lawsuit by Robert Cecil and Jody Lynn Sergent was filed Feb. 28. It names Children’s Hospital, Drs. Scott W. Elton and Leslie Jean-Regis Acakpo-Satchivi and medical staff members who worked on Brittanie. The suit did not specify a maximum amount in damages.

A state appeals court in Florida threw out the 15-year sentence of former Miami Dolphin running back Cecil Collins, ruling that the judge in his burglary trial didn’t give his relatives a chance to testify on his behalf.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld Collins’ burglary conviction for sneaking into his neighbors’ apartment while they slept early on the morning of Dec. 16, 1999.

Miscellany

Rain washed out qualifying for the Busch Grand National and the Craftsman Truck series on another wet day at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Stanton Barrett will start up front for the Busch DarlingtonRaceway.com 200 on Saturday as the series set its lineup based on owner’s points.

The Craftsman 200, the series’ second race of the season to be run today, was also set by owners’ points, with Travis Kvapil getting the pole.

Former NHL goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck plans to sell his share of a junior hockey team after his resignation as coach and general manager for using a racial slur. Vanbiesbrouck owns 25% of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

The drug ban of Italian cyclist Marco Pantani has been reduced from eight to six months. He also faces a fine of $2,239 for possessing a syringe containing traces of insulin, which aids the circulation of growth hormones and can help build muscle mass and increase endurance.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation that would create a federal agency to oversee professional boxing. The bill would establish a U.S. Boxing Administration within the Labor Department. It would license professional boxers, promoters, managers and sanctioning organizations and establish medical and safety standards.

Passings

Wayne Wright, a jockey in the 1930s and ‘40s who won all three legs of the Triple Crown, died at 86 at Yerington, Nev.