For the Record

Offered
By the Nationals, a one-year, nonguaranteed $500,000 contract to Sammy Sosa.Signing with Washington would mean a steep pay cut for Sosa (above), who made$17 million with the Orioles last year; he was still mulling the Nationals'offer on Monday--and reportedly considering retirement. If he decides to play,rejecting the Nationals would leave Sosa in limbo two weeks before the start ofspring training. The market has been slow for a 37-year-old who in 2005 hit.221 with 14 home runs and played just 102 games because of a foot injury.Sosa, who needs 12 home runs to become the fifth player in history to reach600, has received no other offers this off-season.

Indicted
On charges of robbery and carrying a concealed weapon, former Ohio Staterunning back Maurice Clarett, 22, who as a freshman helped the Buckeyes win thenational championship in 2002. Clarett is accused of flashing a gun and robbinga man and a woman of a cellphone outside a club in Columbus, Ohio, early onJan. 1 (SI, Jan. 9). According to police, Clarett fled with two men in asport-utility vehicle; he turned himself in two days later. Clarett, whounsuccessfully sued the NFL to enter the 2004 draft, was drafted by the Broncoslast year but released during training camp. He denied the charges and faces upto 26 years in prison.

Strengthened
By Duke, the university's drug-testing program to discourage steroid use byathletes. Blue Devils who test positive for steroids will be suspended for ayear; second offenses will result in lost eligibility. The changes come 10months after two former Duke baseball players told a school newspaper that theyused steroids on the team and that their coach, Bill Hillier, encouraged themto do so. Hillier, who denied the allegations, resigned last May. The school'spolicy now also allows for unannounced testing of athletes in all of its 26varsity programs.

Cited
On suspicion of driving under the influence, Oklahoma State basketball coachEddie Sutton, 69. The coach was on his way to meet his team at the Stillwater(Okla.) Regional Airport last Friday when his sport-utility vehicle rear-endedanother moving car. Police say they're waiting on results of blood tests todetermine if Sutton (above) was under the influence. (The results may takeeight weeks.) On Monday the university announced that Sutton, whose team is13-11, had requested a leave of absence for the rest of the season and that hisson Sean, 37, an assistant coach, would replace him. "It has been anextremely difficult season," said the elder Sutton, who in recent years hasbeen battling back and hip problems. "With my deteriorating physicalcondition and other issues, I have been under a tremendous amount ofstress."

Hired
As a guest instructor with the Mets, former All-Star outfielder RickeyHenderson. Baseball's career-steals leader will spend 10 days after the WorldBaseball Classic in March offering baserunning instruction to Mets players. At47 Henderson hasn't appeared in the majors since 2003 but spent the past twoyears playing with the independent Newark Bears of the Atlantic League and theSan Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League. Henderson, who played forthe Mets in 1999 and 2000, says he's still eyeing a comeback. "I waslooking, of course, to get the opportunity to play in the major leagues,"the '90 American League MVP said. "I think that's what my goal in my heart[is], the desire to go out and play baseball."

Released
From his ABC contract so NBC could hire him for its Sunday-night NFL broadcastsbeginning next season, Al Michaels. The broadcaster said he'd stay with MondayNight Football when it was announced last year that the show would move toESPN, which like ABC is owned by Disney. But Michaels later decided he wantedto be reunited with MNF partner John Madden, whom NBC hired last June; lastmonth NBC and ABC/ESPN began negotiations. In exchange for letting Michaels go,ESPN acquired rights to broadcast portions of the Ryder Cup, increased usage ofOlympic footage--and the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (below), an animatedcharacter created by Disney in 1927. (NBC's sister company Universal acquiredOswald years ago.) "This is pretty cool," Michaels said. "I'll be atrivia answer as to how Oswald the Rabbit was able to [return home]."

Shot
By Vice President Dick Cheney, a fellow hunter during a quail hunt at a ranchnear Corpus Christi. Harry Whittington, 78, an Austin lawyer who was inCheney's hunting group, was in stable condition after he was accidentally hitin the face and chest with bird shot from Cheney's 28-gauge shotgun. "TheVice President picked out a bird and was following it and shot," saidKatharine Armstrong, owner of the ranch, "and by god, Harry was in the lineof fire and got peppered pretty good."

Planned By IlRomanista, a fan newspaper of the Italian Serie A soccer club Roma, a giveawayof the movie Life Is Beautiful at an upcoming match. The publication, which hasa daily circulation of 10,000, announced it would distribute copies of thebittersweet 1997 comedy, which is set in a concentration camp during World WarII, after Roma fans displayed neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic banners during a matchagainst Livorno in Rome on Jan. 29. Said the paper's editor, Riccardo Luna,"At least this way one might grasp what happened in the deathcamps."

Failed
By Canadiens goalie Jose Théodore, a pre-Olympic test for performance-enhancingdrugs. The failure resulted from an attempt by Théodore to enhance theperformance of his hair: He tested positive for Propecia, a hair-growth drugthat is often used as a steroid masking agent. Théodore, 29, isn't bald butsaid he has been taking the drug, for which he has a prescription, for"eight or nine years" because the men in his family have a history ofbaldness. (Théodore wasn't chosen for Canada's Olympic team, and the test won'taffect his NHL standing.) "I always like my hair real long," he said."I don't feel I have anything to hide."

Go Figure

133
Consecutive free throws made by NAIA Northwestern College sophomore guard DebRemmerde, the longest streak at any level of organized basketball.

126
The previous mark for consecutive free throws, set by Daryl Moreau of De LaSalle High in New Orleans in 1979.

110
Seasons the Bucknell men's basketball team went without cracking the Top 25;the Bison made its first appearance in the poll on Monday.

2
Times last week that a Bucks' team charter landed because of mechanicalproblems; on Feb. 6 it was forced down in Grand Rapids, on a trip home fromCleveland, and on Sunday another plane returned to Newark after taking off forMilwaukee.

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DAMIAN STROHMEYER (SOSA)

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JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES (THÉODORE)

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THE WALT DISNEY CO./AP (OSWALD)

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DOUGLAS JONES/ICON SMI (SUTTON)