A SIDEWAYS GLANCE : POLITICOS MAKE PITCH TO INDIANS' MARTINEZ.

Forty-one years old and on the disabled list with an elbow injury, Cleveland Indians pitcher Dennis Martinez may be nearing the end of his 19-year major-league career.

If so, his next career may be in politics.

Both front-runners in the presidential race in Nicaragua, where Martinez is a national hero, are trying to boost their election chances by offering to make him national sports minister.

Though both conservative Arnoldo Aleman and leftist Daniel Ortega have said they are certain of winning the Oct. 20 presidential election in the baseball-mad Central American nation and already have picked several Cabinet ministers, both are also waving the job under Martinez's nose.

Aleman, the former mayor of Managua, offered Martinez the job last month, calling him the man ``who would truly realize the national sport.''

Ortega, head of the Sandinista National Liberation Front that governed Nicaragua during the 1980s, said Tuesday he would ``feel proud and satisfied if Dennis were sports minister'' during his administration.

So far, Martinez has not commented on the offers.

There will be a lot of Bear there

The 83rd birthday of the late coaching legend Paul W. ``Bear'' Bryant passed Wednesday.

And it's day people in football-crazy Alabama still notice.

To celebrate this year's anniversary, more than 100 people who were named after the legendary University of Alabama coach will gather Saturday in Tuscaloosa before the Tide's game with Vanderbilt.

Participants at the Bear-fest will range in age from 1 month to 35 years.

``I think the number of responses we got obviously shows the respect the man gets in this state,'' said Ken Gaddy, who heads the Paul W. Bryant Museum, located a few blocks from Bryant-Denny Stadium on Bryant Drive.

``When you name your kid after someone, it says a lot about what you want that child to be like. I think these people liked the attitude, the work ethic, the respect for others that coach Bryant had.''