Coleman to Sign an Offer Sheet With Chargers
Miami Dolphin defensive end Marco Coleman will sign an offer sheet with the San Diego Chargers, his agent said Wednesday.
The three-year deal reportedly is worth $9.5 million, including a $4-million signing bonus.
Once Coleman signs, the Dolphins will have seven days to match the offer or lose him.
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Detroit Lion offensive lineman Lomas Brown, a Pro Bowl selection six consecutive years and an all-pro last season, has agreed to a three-year, $9-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals. . . . The $18-million offer extended to linebacker Quentin Coryatt by the Jacksonville Jaguars was matched by the Indianapolis Colts. . . . The Tampa Bay Buccaneers retained free-agent kicker Michael Husted while losing another special teams standout, Curtis Buckley, to San Francisco. Tampa Bay matched the 49ers’ four-year, $2.4-million offer to Husted, who had three game-winning field goals and was three for three on kicks of 50 or more yards last season. Buckley, also a restricted free agent, received an offer sheet worth $1.4 million over four years from the 49ers.
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In a vote that bodes well for stadium supporters, the Maryland House of Delegates rejected a move to force Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns, to pay interest on a $24-million repayment to the state.
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The Tennessee state senate voted to sell $55 million in bonds to help build a stadium in Nashville for the Houston Oilers, but delayed action on a bill to make sure the state is repaid. A portion of sales taxes from tickets, concessions, team paraphernalia and seat leases will be used to pay off the 30-year bonds.
Tennis
Second-seeded Jim Courier routed Jeff Tarango, 6-1, 6-1, in the first round of the U.S. Indoor championship at Philadelphia. The match lasted 58 minutes with Courier winning 16 of the final 17 points.
Weakened by flu and appearing distracted, Boris Becker lost in the first round of the Italian Indoors at Milan to Czech Bohdan Ulihrach, 6-4, 6-2. Becker repeatedly complained of ringing mobile phones and fans flocking into the arena during play.
Top-seeded Magdalena Maleeva withdrew before the second-round of the WTA tournament at Linz, Austria, because of a pulled back muscle.
Jurisprudence
Former Charter Oak and Muir High running back Michael Graham was arrested on Feb. 17 after a drive-by shooting in Pasadena. Graham pleaded innocent to charges of attempted murder and shooting into an inhabited dwelling. He was arraigned Feb. 21, and a preliminary hearing has been set for March 5.
Jurors in Lumberton, N.C., began deliberating in the first-degree murder trial of 21-year-old Daniel Andre Green, accused of killing Michael Jordan’s father during a roadside robbery. Green faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted in the 1993 slaying of James R. Jordan, who was shot in the chest while napping in his parked car.
The wife of Seattle Seahawk defensive lineman Cortez Kennedy filed for divorce three days after he was arrested for domestic violence, court records show.
Track and Field
Kenyan Charles Gitonga edged Carlos Silva of Portugal in the 400 meters, and Kenyan Lagat Kipkembol beat Luis Javier Gonzalez of Spain at 800 meters in the Valencia Indoor meet at Valencia, Spain.
Names in the News
Former Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, who led the Cornhuskers to a national championship, is in a Lincoln, Neb., hospital, but hospital officials would not disclose any further details. . . . Prep basketball star Ronnie Fields, who underwent spinal surgery, could be playing again in five months, doctors in Chicago said. . . . Sarah Danzig, a tennis champion in the 1930s and ‘40s, died in New York Hospital of lung cancer at 83.