Dustin Keller is making a deal with Dustin Keller.
The New York Jets tight end has been in the process of launching his personal website and recently researched URL names he could use.
“Obviously, the ideal thing would be www.DustinKeller.com,” Keller said.
Of course. But there’s only one problem: Another Dustin Keller is already using it. That one is the director of the Council on Children’s Mental Health for the State of Tennessee.
“It was weird to see that there’s another Dustin Keller out there,” the Jets player said. “The guy’s a fan and we share the same name. It’s pretty cool.”
Keller’s publicists reached out to the other Keller, and wanted to see if they could buy the URL from him. The counselor said he’d like to go to a Jets game and see the team’s facility in exchange.
“I said, ‘Cool, I’m definitely down for that,”’ the player said. “It’ll also probably be a little cheaper in the long run.”
Keller and the Jets were scheduled to host the Keller from Tennessee and his family on Friday at the team’s facility, and provide them with tickets to the game against Houston on Sunday.
“I’ve never been to New York, and I’m very excited about going and meeting a professional athlete who has similar interests as me,” Keller the counselor said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Keller the counselor specializes in traumatic stress therapy in children and young adults, and is a mental health service provider for children in Tennessee. Meanwhile, Keller the Jet works with a group called the Manitou Experience, which is a summer camp designed exclusively for kids who have had a parent pass away.
“From everything I’ve heard and read about Dustin, he’s an outstanding young man and we both want to help children get a good start in life,” the Keller from Tennessee said. “We both work to better the lives of children, and the fact that we have the same name is a real connection.”
The Jet is planning to launch his new website during the next few weeks – as long as the deal is completed.
“He better not back out,” the tight end said with a smile. “Dustin Keller is usually a pretty honest guy, so hopefully he’s like the rest of us.”
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TUNA ON TUNA: Bill Parcells insists he won’t return to coaching. Minutes later, he wistfully talks about the thrill of the job.
“Bill Parcells: Reflections on a Life in Football,” a new documentary on NFL Network, chronicles the Tuna’s many retirements and unretirements. The 90-minute film notes how Parcells gives somewhat contradictory answers to whether he’ll coach again in the same interview.
Narrated by actor Donald Sutherland, the movie features extensive new interviews with Parcells, who has spoken little publicly since joining the Miami Dolphins in December 2007 as executive vice president of football operations. He passed on control of the football operation to general manager Jeff Ireland shortly before this season and has since cleared out his office and stopped working at the team complex.
The 69-year-old Parcells won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants and also coached the New England Patriots, New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys.
The documentary includes many rare clips of Parcells haranguing his players during his various coaching stops – with plenty of the words needing to be bleeped out.
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HOBBLING HALEY: The Chiefs’ practice field is starting to look like a set out of M.A.S.H., and not because of injured players. Physical woes are piling up among coaches.
Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has been hobbled all year with a bum knee that requires him to use a cane and a motorized cart to get around. He plans surgery as soon as the season is over.
Now head coach Todd Haley, who’s had a really bad few days, has come down with some sort of misery of the leg himself.
Everyone noticed Wednesday that Haley was limping noticeably. He appeared to have a brace on his right leg, although it was hard to tell because he was not wearing shorts.
Haley, in keeping with the secrecy-obsessed Chiefs, will not say what ails him – only that he was able to go “full” speed at practice. Reporters were asked not to query him about the leg, but one did and he brushed it off, saying he did not talk about injuries.
Unlike Weis, he’s been able to get around without a cart or cane.
It’s been a rough patch for the KC coach. On Sunday, his Chiefs fell behind a team-record 35-0 in the first half in Denver and got routed, falling out of sole possession of first place in the AFC West. On Monday, he had to publicly apologize for not shaking Denver coach Josh McDaniels’ hand. Then on Wednesday he shows up dragging his leg behind him.
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HANSON’S HAUNTING MARK: Detroit Lions placekicker Jason Hanson has been one of the league’s best for nearly two decades and yet he’s been doomed by getting drafted by a franchise mired in misery for the second half of his career.
Hanson has lost 190 games in which he played, surpassing the previous NFL record set by placekicker Morten Andersen with 188 losses from 1982-2007.
“That’s a feel-good stat of the day,” Hanson said with a sigh Wednesday when informed of the unwanted feat. “It’s a sad thing.”
The top-five list no player wants to be a part of includes: punter Jeff Feagles, who lost 178 games from 1988 to 2009; punter Lee Johnson, who lost 158 from 1985 to 2002; and placekicker John Kasay, who has been on the wrong end of 154 games since 1991.
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THE BEST IN THE BIZ: A Google search of Dr. James Andrews produces about 6,340,000 results in a little more than one-tenth of a second.
His list of clients is just as impressive.
When stars such as Brett Favre, Albert Pujols and Dwyane Wade want a medical opinion or procedure done, they talk to Andrews.
The Birmingham, Ala.-based orthopedist has built a reputation so powerful that when a vast majority of athletes need to have their multimillion-dollar limbs evaluated they flock to him.
Lions QB Matthew Stafford had an appointment with him Monday, a week after his separated shoulder was aggravated in a game against the New York Jets. Andrews agreed with the team’s rehabilitation plan, which doesn’t include surgery at this time.
Stafford came away from his latest visit saying it’s obvious the famed doctor is good at what he does for elite athletes.
“That’s why he’s built the empire he has and that’s why guys seek out his opinion,” Stafford said.
Empire?
“Yeah, the guy’s got his own hospital.”
Stafford said Andrews’ “pretty basic-looking hospital” includes a “ton” of pictures of his football, baseball and basketball clients.
“I’m trying to stay off that wall,” Stafford said.
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BLACK QBS EVOLVE: As far as the black quarterback has evolved in the NFL, 49ers coach Mike Singletary no longer even spends time considering it. That’s even with two African-American QBs set to face off Sunday when San Francisco and Troy Smith host Tampa Bay and Josh Freeman.
“I hadn’t thought about it,” said Singletary, a Hall of Fame linebacker who is black. “Maybe so. You know for me, I just look at Troy and I’m happy for him and the steps that he’s been able to take so far. And Josh Freeman, he’s been able to do some good things as well. It’s a good thing to see.”
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AP Sports Writers Janie McCauley in San Francisco, Rachel Cohen in New York, Dennis Waszak in Florham Park, N.J., Larry Lage in Detroit and Doug Tucker in Kansas City contributed to this story.
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