The Associated Press

BEREA - Cleveland Browns rookie tight end Darnell Sanders has been getting double-teamed all week - by a pair of Michigan Wolverines.

Sanders, who left Ohio State a year early for the NFL, has been involved in some serious trash-talking with Browns teammates Aaron Shea and Mark Campbell, who both played at Michigan. The trio's lockers are only a few feet apart, but this week there is an imaginary line drawn on the locker room floor.

Sanders challenged Shea and Campbell to a bet in which the loser of today's OSU-Michigan game would have to shave his head and get the victorious team's logo etched onto his scalp.

Shea preferred a dye job.

"I wear a hat most of the time," he said. "I'll wear red. He's got to wear blue. Turn him (Sanders) into Dennis Rodman around here. Let me paint it up, put a little yellow up there."

The two former Michigan players aren't the only ones ribbing Sanders, who caught his first career TD last Sunday against the Bengals.

"There are Miami players hoping Ohio State loses, too," Sanders said. "I've got the whole world against me."

Shea's prediction? UM, 27-20.

Sanders: The Buckeyes, 21-10.

49ERS: Pro Bowl running back Garrison Hearst made an emotional apology for using a slur and saying he wouldn't want a gay player as a teammate.

Appearing visibly shaken by the controversy caused by his remarks to the Fresno Bee three weeks earlier, Hearst made a short statement at the team's training complex in Santa Clara, Calif.

"Being an African American, I know that discrimination is wrong," Hearst said. "I was wrong for saying what I said about anybody, any race or any religion. I want to apologize to the San Francisco 49ers organization, (to) the city of San Francisco for the comments that I made, and also to my teammates for bringing this distraction upon us."

Hearst's remarks on the NFL's latest hot-button issue stirred widespread condemnation - particularly in the San Francisco Bay area's large and vocal gay community.

"If the team was someplace from the deep South, you might not be quite as surprised. But in San Francisco, this guy ought to know better," said Lorri L.Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "He wasn't the first in line when they handed out sensitivity and, clearly, he wasn't the first in line when they handed out smarts."

CARDINALS: Four-game losing streaks aren't unusual for Arizona, a team that's had one winning season since 1988. Still, coach Dave McGinnis has vowed to fix the franchise, and the current freefall has tested his resolve.

"You don't point fingers," McGinnis said. "What you do is you say, 'We all have to do better.' And the basic thing you have to say is, 'I have to do my job better.'"

The situation is compounded by injuries. Three of the Cardinals' top four receivers are gone for the season, and starting linebacker Rob Fredrickson is out for two weeks with a neck injury.

PANTHERS: Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith was jailed and charged with misdemeanor assault after attacking a teammate earlier this week.

Anthony Bright, a practice-squad player, had a broken nose and was hospitalized for two nights following the fight, which occurred during a film session Monday. Bright filed a report with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police following his release from the hospital.

The Panthers have been plagued by off-the-field problems in recent years. Most notably, former receiver Rae Carruth is in jail for hiring hit-men to kill his pregnant girlfriend, and Fred Lane's wife is charged in the running back's death.

RAMS: St.Louis' offense is clicking again and its defense has allowed only one touchdown per game during the Rams' five-game winning streak.

Now, if the Rams can just improve on special teams.

"We've gone backwards in that category, and we've got to do something about that," St.Louis coach Mike Martz said. "We're not pleased in any phase, and we need to get better."

The Rams' special teams struggled in their 21-16 victory over the Chicago Bears on Monday night. Bears punter Brad Maynard pulled off a fake and gained 20 yards on a fourth-down play. Chicago also averaged 15.5 yards on punt returns and 27 yards on kickoff returns.

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