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Annoyed Chiefs coach gives fan earful

Edwards barks back at spectator who encourages fighting at practice

Herm Edwards
Chiefs coach Herm Edwards directs practice at Riverfalls, Wis.
Orlin Wagner / AP
updated 6:35 p.m. ET Aug. 1, 2007

RIVER FALLS, Wis. - A fan who yelled encouragement at a Kansas City Chiefs player for fighting got an earful from coach Herm Edwards.

The Chiefs were nearing the end of a rough and physical morning practice Wednesday that had already caused tempers to boil when Will Svitek, a backup offensive tackle known to have a short fuse, briefly scuffled with another player.

As Svitek backed away, a man sitting with a couple of hundred other spectators on risers at the edge of the field hollered, “Way to go, Will.”

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Edwards, with an annoyed look, immediately turned his head toward the crowd and hollered back.

“Way to go? That’s no way to go,” he said in a voice that could be heard across the field. “He just got kicked out of the game! Do you think that’s the way to go?”

Afterward, Edwards said he was trying to send a message to his team, not the fan.

“I don’t want players to think that all of a sudden it’s good to fight, cause it’s never good to fight,” he said. “Bad things always happen.”

The former Jets coach said he yelled at fans like that many times in New York.

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“It’s never smart to say something like that, because if you think that’s right, then you’re watching the wrong sport,” Edwards said. “You’ve got to be able to walk away and keep your composure. Because you fight doesn’t make you a tough guy. A tough guy is a smart guy. In football, you get another play to hit the guy legally.”

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