Wednesday Notes: Three Lions Players Have Family in Haiti

by Sean Yuille on Jan 13, 2010 8:17 PM EST in Detroit Lions Notes Comment 5 comments

To say the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that happened in Haiti yesterday was devastating is probably an understatement. The amount of damage done appears to be unimaginable, and the amount of lives lost appears to be catastrophic. The effects of this disaster are still only being realized, and for Cliff Avril, Gosder Cherilus, and Louis Delmas, I'm sure this will be at the forefront of their minds for quite some time. Avril has five cousins in Haiti and hasn't heard anything from them yet. Cherilus is actually from Haiti and only recently heard from family there (they thankfully are doing okay). Delmas also has family in Haiti, though there wasn't an update on if he has heard from them yet. My thoughts go out to those three players and everybody affected by this disaster.
The Lions confirmed Stan Kwan's departure earlier this week, saying that he was "relieved of his coaching duties."
Nick Harris thought very highly of Kwan.
Bobby April has already been interviewed by the Steelers and has a few more lined up, but it doesn't appear that the Lions have set anything up yet.
Although Eric King was on injured reserve, he was suspended for the final game of the season as a result of an "alcohol-related violation of law." The suspension obviously didn't affect the Lions since King was on IR, but he lost $58,823, the amount of his game check.
Tom Kowalski brought up the interesting stat that of Jason Hanson's seven missed field goals this past season, only one of them was closer than 45 yards. In fact, Philip Zaroo dove into the numbers and found that on average, a missed kick by Hanson was coming from 48.4 yards away. If you take away his one miss from closer than 45 yards, a 34-yard attempt, his average miss becomes nearly 51 yards.