Saturday, August 21, 1999
Mack suspended for first 4 games
Bengals: Player should be able to use Spinney
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PONTIAC, Mich. — The Bengals hope the NFL allows safety Tremain Mack to use their Spinney Field facility during a suspension that takes him out of the team's first four games.
“We're going to talk with the league about that,” Bengals President Mike Brown said Friday as he worried about how Mack will be affected by lack of structure. “We think that would be better for him.”
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue handed down his decision Friday for violation of the league's substance abuse policy and benched Mack, one of the NFL's top kick returners.
Tagliabue, who met with Mack last month, gave him an eight-game suspension. But he took into account the four games Mack missed at the end of last season when he went to jail for 1997 and 1998 DUIs in Hamilton and Clermont counties.
The suspension runs from Sept.5, a week before the regular-season opener, to Oct.3, the day of the Bengals' fourth game. Mack is not allowed at the club's facility for the month and he cannot attend any meetings.
“It was the second best-case scenario, and one that I had been telling him to expect,” said David Levine, Mack's agent. “We know it could have been for all 16 games, but I think the commissioner saw the Tremain that I know and not what everybody thinks he is.”
Mack also owes the NFL about $46,000, his salary for four games at last season's $198,000 pay. And his deal for 2001 is voided.
The suspension caps Mack's series of alcohol problems that got him arrested in three states. He could face two weeks in jail in Texas after the season.
Mack's suspension means the Bengals must find a kick returner to replace one who set team season records for most kickoff yards and biggest average per return. Wide receivers Willie Jackson, Stepfret Williams and Craig Yeast are the prime candidates. On Friday, special teams coach Al Roberts ruled out running back Ki-Jana Carter.
“We want to keep him focused on offense and keep him healthy,” Roberts said.
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