SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations, Kevin O’Connor, announced last week that the Jazz have made qualifying offers to former Illini guard Dee Brown as well as guard C.J. Miles.

Brown appeared in 49 games as a rookie in 2006-07, averaging 1.9 points, 0.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.45 steals in 9.2 minutes per game. He ranked ninth among all NBA rookies in assists per game and led the Jazz in assists five times, including in three of the final six games.

The winningest player in Illinois basketball history averaged 7.6 points and 4.8 assists in 19.8 minutes in the final five games of this regular season and saw playing time during the Jazz’s playoff run before being injured in game two of the second round against the Golden State Warriors.

Brown was drafted by the Jazz in the second round with 46th overall pick of the 2006 NBA draft. The Jazz selected guard Morris Almond of Rice in the first round of this year’s draft with the 25th overall pick.

Blood test: ‘Tank’ Johnson not drunk at time of June driving arrest

GILBERT, Ariz. – Blood tests show former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson’s blood alcohol level was below the legal limit when he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving June 22, police said Monday.

Johnson’s blood alcohol level was .072, under the presumptive limit in Arizona of .08 percent, Gilbert police Sgt. Andrew Duncan said. No charges have been filed pending results of a completed investigation. Duncan declined further comment.

Johnson, whose legal name is Terry Darnell Johnson, was arrested when officers pulled him over at 3:30 a.m. for driving 40 mph in a 25 mph zone. Duncan said an officer placed him under arrest because he believed Johnson was under the influence of alcohol. He was released without being booked or charged after providing a blood sample, and police said he was very cooperative.

Johnson, 25, was released by the Chicago Bears three days after his arrest. The team said it was “upset and embarrassed” by the defensive tackle’s legal troubles.

Johnson already had been suspended for the first eight games of the 2007 NFL season for violating probation on a gun charge. He spent two months in jail and was released in May.

Blackhawks GM receives contract extension despite dismal season

CHICAGO – The Chicago Blackhawks gave general manager Dale Tallon a two-year contract extension Monday despite missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons.

Chicago was 31-42-9 with 71 points, and its 201 goals were second-fewest in the league last season.

“I’m very excited that the Blackhawks have given me the opportunity to continue to work toward our goal of winning the Stanley Cup,” Tallon said in a statement. “We are continuing to put together the pieces of the puzzle that are going to make the Blackhawks a very competitive team. We are getting closer to where we want to be, and when we get there we are going to stay there for a very long time.”

A former Blackhawks defenseman, Tallon became the franchise’s eighth GM on June 21, 2005, after serving in management and the broadcast booth for 25 years.

Tallon played 10 years with Vancouver, Chicago and Pittsburgh before retiring after the 1979-80 season.Cincinnati names Mackanin manager following firing of Narron on Sunday

Pete Mackanin will get his chance to manage the Cincinnati Reds following the firing of manager Jerry Narron on Sunday night, barely a year after he got a two-year contract extension that suggested stability.

Mackanin will be the team’s fourth manager since it moved into Great American Ball Park in 2003. The franchise also has been through two owners and three general managers during that whirlwind, five-year span.

Mackanin managed the Reds’ Triple-A team from 1990-92, when Lou Piniella was managing in Cincinnati. He has managed in the minors for 13 years, and ran the Pirates for the final 26 games of the 2005 season after Lloyd McClendon was fired.

Narron was the second big league manager fired this season. Baltimore’s Sam Perlozzo lost his job on June 18. Seattle’s Mike Hargrove announced Sunday that he was quitting because he had lost his passion to manage.

Arrington released from hospital after crash

CHEVERLY, Md. – Three-time Pro Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington was released from the hospital Monday, two weeks after breaking his right arm and severely cutting his leg in a motorcycle accident.

Arrington’s attorney Rosalyn Pugh said Arrington had a “little limp” from a gash in his leg as he left Prince George’s Hospital Center and will also need time to recover from the broken bone in his right forearm. She had no timetable for Arrington’s full recovery.

The linebacker crashed on a highway ramp two days before his 29th birthday. He was issued citations for the accident and operating a motorcycle without a proper license.

Pugh said Arrington is focused on promoting his new restaurant in Prince George’s County, not far from the Washington Redskins’ stadium. Arrington’s football career is on hold, at least temporarily, because of his injuries.

Arrington had been hoping to sign with a new team this offseason after being cut by the New York Giants in February. He played one season with the Giants, appearing in only six games because of a torn Achilles tendon. He made the Pro Bowl three times in six seasons with the Redskins before injuries and disagreements with coaches and management led to his departure.

Former olympian confesses to rape

NEW YORK – A former Olympic sprinter from the Caribbean confessed that he raped four women and a teenage girl during a four-year period after stalking them in the city’s parks, authorities said Monday.

Alvin Henry, a member of the 400-meter relay team for Trinidad and Tobago at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was arrested Sunday near Prospect Park in Brooklyn by police who matched him to a composite sketch of the rape suspect.

The 30-year-old runner was arrested on charges of rape, sexual misconduct and sexual abuse, police said. He was being arraigned Monday, and information about his lawyer wasn’t immediately available.

Brian Lewis, secretary general of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, confirmed the man was the same Alvin Henry who had run for Trinidad and Tobago.

Lewis said he didn’t know what Henry was doing in the United States. Henry lives in Queens.

Police said Henry attacked three women in Baisley Park and Roy Wilkins Park in Queens and two others in Prospect Park, including a 15-year-old girl in April. In at least four of the attacks, police said the women had been walking with men. When the men left, Henry pounced, police said.

The latest assault took place June 15 in Prospect Park, where police said Henry brandished a gun and raped a 34-year-old woman. After that attack, investigators were able to link it to others.

By Jason Grodsky and Associated Press reports