Sports briefs
Cards exercise option
on Pujols for 2011
The St. Louis Cardinals exercised a $16 million club option for 2011 with three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols.
The 30-year-old Pujols led the National League with 42 home runs and won his first league RBI title with 118, and tied Matt Holliday for the team lead with a .312 batting average.
Pujols topped 400 homers last season and set a franchise record with his 39th career multihomer game.
The Cardinals were expected to pick up the option and said there's no timetable to begin negotiations on a long-term deal with Pujols, who can become a free agent after next season.
Clarett enjoying
time in UFL
Former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett said it feels good to be cheered for what he does on a football field after years away from the game he loves.
Clarett, a month into a stint with the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL, said it's taken him time to get back into shape after not playing competitively since he led Ohio State to the 2002 national championship. He was suspended by the NCAA for taking improper inducements, failed to make it in the NFL, then spent 31/2 years in prison for carrying a concealed weapon and holding up two people outside a Columbus bar in 2006.
In the Nighthawks' two games - both wins - Clarett has seen limited action while playing behind former NFL star Ahman Green.
Venus is done
for the season
Venus Williams is done for the season because of a left knee injury that has sidelined her for most of the second half of 2010.
In a statement released to The AP, the seven-time Grand Slam champion said she is "very disappointed to announce that I will be unable to play" in the WTA Tour Championships at the end of October, and the Fed Cup final between the United States and Italy at San Diego in November.
She is No. 3 in this week's WTA rankings and went 38-7 with two titles in singles, and 18-1 with three titles in doubles this season, earning more than $2.5 million in prize money.
Williams hasn't played since losing to Kim Clijsters in the U.S. Open semis on Sept. 10.
