For The Record

Fined
A quarter million dollars, by the Knicks, forward Latrell Sprewell, for failing to tell the team that he had broken a bone in his right (shooting) hand two weeks before training camp. Sprewell denied reports that he had injured the hand during a fight on his yacht and said that he had in fact slipped on the boat. The Knicks also told Sprewell, who is out for at least six weeks, to stay away from the team until he can make a "positive contribution."

Fired
By the Sandusky Group, which owns Phoenix radio station KUPD-FM, disc jockey Beau Duran, for his prank call to the widow of Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile at her Phoenix hotel room last Thursday. The deejay told Flynn Kile, on the air, that she "looked hot" and asked if she had a date for the Cardinals- Diamondbacks playoff game that night. Kile hung up. "If we could get our hands on [the people involved], we would deal with them physically," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. The Diamondbacks and the radio station apologized, and a few days before Monday's firing the station said that the prank "was not intended to be hurtful or malicious in any way."

Cooled
The bodies of Stanford football players by the Rapid Thermal Exchange (below), a machine developed by two biologists at the school. During games, overheated players place their hands on a cool, stainless steel plate in an airtight compartment, increasing blood flow to the palms, which causes body temperature to quickly drop by several degrees. "I thought it was hocus-pocus," says Stanford quarterback Kyle Matter, "but I tried it when my legs were cramping, and it brought my legs back." A modified model of the machine, which is also being used by the San Francisco 49ers, is expected to begin selling commercially in January for about $3,000.

Renamed
As N.C. 3, route 136 in North Carolina's Iredell and Cabarrus counties to honor NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, who lived and worked in the area. Earnhardt, who died in a wreck at Daytona International Speedway last year, drove a number 3 Chevrolet.

Defended
Augusta National's exclusionary practices, by LPGA Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez, who said the club's policy prohibiting female members was "not a man-woman issue" but a matter of "tradition." Lopez also said, however, that she would accept a membership invitation from the club if it were extended.

Discovered
After three seasons of football games at Vigilante Stadium, in Helena, Mont., inaccurate first down markers. The chains spanned 10 yards, 6 inches and were used at home games for the city's two high schools, as well as Carroll College of the NAIA, which played home games at the stadium through 1999. The error was discovered last month during a game between Helena Capital High and Missoula's Hellgate High when Hellgate advanced the ball from the 20-to the 30-yard line, but a measurement showed it was short of a first down.

Won
At Gallagher's Steak House in Manhattan, a Babe Ruth Look-Alike Contest, by truck mechanic Willis Gardner, 65, of Oberlin, Ohio. Gardner, who took home a camcorder and $1,000 worth of clothes, says, "When I got there the other guys threw up their arms—they knew they had no chance." Gardner realized he resembled Ruth during a 1992 visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame, where, he says, "it got all over town that the Babe was back." He has since appeared at numerous charity events.