SIMMONS: Human pain for Andy Reid and his family, this close to Super Bowl

Article content continued

Overcoming something like that as a family is a challenge at any time. And up until a few days ago, Garrett’s younger brother, Britt, was going to be coaching the linebacker position for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Father and son together.

But a three-vehicle accident the other night left two children badly injured, and involved Britt Reid, apparently having had too much to drink.

Now, the father and son will be separated, as they should be, on the largest day of the football calendar. And more is on everyone’s mind than just a football game.

You want to cheer for Andy Reid because he’s the kind of guy worth cheering for, but more than that, you hope that everybody is going to be OK with him and his family and all those involved, Super Bowl or not.

THIS AND THAT

If I’m Masai Ujiri or Bobby Webster, I’m furious with the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA for the Kevin Durant, he’s-in, he’s-out medical dance of Friday night. Either Durant was well enough to play or he wasn’t well enough to play. In these COVID-19 times, you can’t be both. The health of the Raptors players, especially those who covered him closely, could be compromised because of contact with Durant. And that was irresponsible on the part of those making the decisions here … As of Friday, 40 players and some coaches were on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list: And not a word from Auston Matthews or anybody else about their privacy being violated … Rasmus Sandin is 20 years old and hasn’t played a hockey game in 334 days. In other words, he’s not developing. If the Leafs aren’t going to play Sandin, wouldn’t they be better off placing him in Europe and letting him play a ton rather than have him practice with the also-rans every day on the Toronto roster? … The great thing about John Tavares: He has 11 points in the Leafs’ first 11 games and, really, he hasn’t played particularly well. He doesn’t look like a dominant player, but has 159 points in 156 games as a Leaf. So there is that … In the same time, Mark Scheifele has amassed 171 points in 164 games for Winnipeg. And he’s considered elite … Canada had Martin Brodeur, Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour as goalies on the 2002 gold-medal-winning team in Salt Lake City. It’s likely Team Canada will have a diminished Carey Price, Jordan Binnington and Carter Hart as the goaltenders in 2022. That’s a large dropoff in goaltending depth over a 20-year period … As of Saturday afternoon, Toronto, Boston and Tampa Bay led divisions in the NHL. All of them played in the same division last season.