American Legends Blotter [J. Mark English]

• The charges in the Duke lacrosse rape case will be dropped today. Its about frickin' time. Hopefully those boys can get their life back in order after all this.

• Michael David Smith of the New York Sun offers up the latest about Pacman Jones and the NFL's new 'getting tough' policy:

  The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, sent a powerful message yesterday that he intends to clean up the league's image by suspending Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones for the entire 2007 season as punishment for a long record of off-field offenses.

  But Gene Upshaw, the head of the NFL players union, sent an even more powerful message when he released a statement in support of the commissioner's right to make such suspensions. Goodell also unveiled a new personal conduct policy for all NFL players, and Upshaw endorsed the policy.

  "The NFL Players Association and the Player Advisory Council have been discussing this issue for several months," Upshaw said. "We believe that these are steps that the commissioner needs to take and we support the policy. It is important that players in violation of the policy will have the opportunity and the support to change their conduct and earn their way back."

• Warren Moon is in the headlines...remember him?...for driving while impaired: Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was arrested for investigation of drunken driving after a trooper stopped him for allegedly speeding.

• Former NHL goalie Ed Belfour was arrested: Former Leaf goaltender Ed Belfour and Florida Panthers teammate Ville Peltonen were arrested at a popular South Beach bar yesterday after a scuffle with a police officer.

  Belfour and Peltonen were at the bar when security guards from the club asked police to make the former Leafs goalie leave, police said.

  The 41-year-old native of Carman, Man., refused and walked toward the officer "in a fighting stance" and pushed him, a Miami Beach police report said.

  Belfour pulled away from the officer trying to arrest him and grabbed his shirt.

  Belfour then fell forward on the ground, kicking and refusing to place his hands behind his back, the report said.

  Belfour had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol, police said.

  He was charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer without violence.

• Our final 'perp' in this blotter is NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip: Michael Waltrip has been charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident after hitting at telephone pole and rolling his car about a mile from his home over the weekend.

  Waltrip, who suffered scratches to his arms, hands and face and cuts on his finger, said he fell asleep at the wheel right before he wrecked his Toyota Land Cruiser early Saturday morning. He left the scene of the accident and walked the rest of the way home.

  Police found him at his house about six hours after finding the car at the accident scene.

  "I am really embarrassed about the accident, but I feel fortunate that I wasn't hurt," the two-time Daytona 500 winner said Tuesday.