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Weighty issue Patriots' Glenn fined for refusing workout order
FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) -- Terry Glenn says he was fined $4,000 by the New England Patriots for refusing to work out on a step exercise machine. The wide receiver already is out nearly $9 million in bonuses and is playing for minimum salary. He plans to contest the fine. Patriots spokesman Stacey James confirmed that the team fined him but would not say how much. Glenn said he was fined by head coach Bill Belichick for refusing to get on the exercise machine Oct. 24 immediately after running. He said he was unable to use the machine because his leg hurt. He missed the last two games because of a hamstring problem.
"I just didn't feel like I could do it," Glenn said in the locker room. Glenn wants to play Sunday against the Falcons in Atlanta but said it would be useless for him to discuss the issue with Belichick. "The only thing I can do is talk through the league because there's really no talking to him, or no one in this organization, because they don't want to hear anything I have to say right now," he said. Belichick refused to comment specifically Monday. "Everybody's responsible to do certain things," he said. "If they do them, there's no problem. If they don't do them, then there's a discipline schedule in place." Glenn is back on the team because an arbitrator overturned his team-imposed, season-long suspension. He said it's important to fight the fine. "I have to," he said. "They're only paying me a couple of thousand [$30,000] a game. But it's not about [Belichick] and it's not about the money. It's the way he went about doing it." Glenn, who has played in only one game this season, complained of some soreness after a victory against the San Diego Chargers in which he caught a touchdown pass. He pulled the right hamstring in practice three days later, and later aggravated it just before the next game with Indianapolis while testing his leg for the coaches. Glenn was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the season for violation of the league's substance abuse policy. He left the team without permission the day it was announced, and on Aug. 15, Belichick suspended him for the season because of his absence. That suspension was overturned by an arbitrator. Still unresolved is whether the team is allowed to withhold his signing bonus because of the league suspension. New England drafted Glenn out of Ohio State with the seventh pick of the 1996 draft. He set an NFL rookie record with 90 receptions in his first year, but he was hampered by injuries that caused him to miss 14 games over his first three seasons.
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