For The Record

Denied
By Saints rookie Reggie Bush (above), that he received improper benefits worth about $100,000 while he played at USC. Last week Yahoo.com reported that New Era Sports & Entertainment, a marketing start-up that had hoped to land Bush as its first client, gave the running back's family cash, let them live in a San Diego--area house without paying and paid for hotel accommodations. Bush spurned New Era and signed with Mike Ornstein, another marketer. An attorney for New Era alleged that Ornstein also gave the Bushes cash and covered their travel bills. (Ornstein could not be reached.) The NCAA and the Pac-10 are investigating, and if NCAA violations are found, the Trojans may have to vacate their 2004 national title. "I'm not worried about any of these allegations," said Bush, who could be forced to forfeit his 2005 Heisman Trophy. "Once the smoke clears, everybody's going to see we did nothing wrong."

Admitted
By Frankie Andreu, a former U.S. Postal Service cycling teammate of Lance Armstrong's, that he used EPO before the 1999 Tour de France. Andreu, who is now retired, and another teammate, who remained anonymous, came clean to The New York Times. Andreu said he never saw Armstrong take a banned substance, but in a separate interview with the paper WADA chairman Dick Pound said, "They were on the same team, weren't they? I think you have to draw one conclusion from that." Armstrong called Pound "kind of a blowhard" and labeled the Times story "a pretty nasty attempt ... to link me to doping."

Ended
Tiger Woods's five-tournament winning streak ... sort of. Woods lost to Shaun Micheel, the 77th-ranked player in the world, at the World Match Play Championship in Virginia Water, England, last Thursday, his first defeat since he finished second at the Western Open in July. But Woods's streak, which began with the British Open, is still alive in the eyes of the PGA Tour, since the Match Play is not a PGA event.

Offered
By the Reds, vouchers for two free tickets to any game next season to fans who volunteer to participate in a simulated terrorist attack at Great American Ballpark. The Sept. 30 exercise will be conducted by the Department of Homeland Security and is designed to test how well the Cincinnati region is prepared for a terrorist strike. Volunteers will pretend to be fans who must be evacuated from the stadium.

Retired
After 15 NHL seasons, Flyers captain Keith Primeau (above), because of a concussion he suffered last October. Primeau, 34, endured a series of head injuries--including two during the 2004 playoffs, when he kept playing and led Philadelphia to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. He suffered headaches and dizziness after two days of skating at training camp last week, and the Flyers' medical staff refused to clear him to play. Said Primeau, a two-time All-Star who finished with 266 goals, "This decision will allow me to live a normal life and hopefully with time few reminders of my injuries."

Pleaded
Guilty to charges of aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett. The plea arrangement calls for Clarett to spend at least 3 1/2 years in prison. Clarett entered the plea on Monday, the day jury selection was to begin in a case in which he was charged with holding up two people outside a bar on New Year's Eve. Last month Clarett was pulled over and four loaded guns were found in his car. His plea covered both cases. "I'd like to apologize for my behavior, and I accept the time that was given to me," Clarett told the court.

Banished
To Cuba, Thai boxer Manus Boonjumnong, as punishment for his playboy lifestyle since winning the light welterweight gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. One of Thailand's biggest sports celebrities, Boonjumnong, 26, has squandered most of the $600,000 the Thai government awarded him after the Athens Games on "gambling, drinking and girlfriends," said Thaweep Chantaroj, president of the country's amateur boxing association. Chantaroj sent Boonjumnong (right) to Cuba--without money--to train and "straighten himself out" in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. "He is our best boxer," said Chantaroj, "but he will only be a winner if he stays with the program."

Accused
Of offering a $25,000 bribe to a former business partner, ex-- NBA star Karl Malone. In a breach-of-contract lawsuit, Sidney Ray Davis says that in 1998 he and the Mailman went elk hunting in Idaho without the proper state permits. After Malone was questioned about the trip by officers from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, he allegedly tried to pay Davis to take the blame for the trip. ( Malone was never charged.) Malone's lawyer said he "adamantly denies" the bribe attempt; a ruling on a motion to dismiss the suit is expected later this month.

Died
Of prostate cancer, at age 79, Frank Sleeper, a business reporter for four decades for the Press Herald of Portland, Maine, and a longtime SPORTS ILLUSTRATED correspondent. Despite his business background, Sleeper, who also contributed to TIME, LIFE and FORTUNE, reported on scores of Maine sports stories for SI from the late 1950s until last year--including the 1965 Muhammad Ali-- Sonny Liston title fight in Lewiston. Before the bout Sleeper interviewed Ali during a jog they took along the Maine Turnpike. Sleeper, a Harvard graduate who earned master's degrees from Princeton and American University, also wrote several books on Maine history.