Sports Beat

Old heavyweight champs never die, they just end up in
low-budget, direct-to-video movies. Take, for instance, James
(Buster) Douglas, who recently finished filming Pluto's Plight,
a sci-fi comedy about aliens who crash-land on Pluto. Douglas,
who in 1990 handed Mike Tyson his first defeat, plays an FBI
agent in the movie. "I'm like the Will Smith character in Men in
Black," says the retired boxer, who was approached by filmmaker
Artie Knapp in April 2001 about the role. Even though Knapp
admits he went after the boxer for his name value rather than
his acting skills, Douglas believes he has a future as a
thespian. "There's a lot of acting in boxing," says Douglas, who
cites Sidney Poitier as an influence. "You have to go into
character sometimes. When you get caught with a shot, you have
to make it appear that everything is cold steady." Douglas and
Knapp have already started on their next project, Tomorrow
People, in which Douglas will play a college professor. Well,
the man did take Tyson to school....

--Speaking of broadening one's horizons, former Giant Lawrence
Taylor, who was last seen playing a transvestite in the Showtime
series Going to California, will voice a character in Grand
Theft Auto: Vice City, the latest entry in the popular video
game franchise. Mark Lepselter, Taylor's agent, says Taylor will
play "a nasty guy who likes to destroy people." Taylor is also
being considered for a role in a possible Grand Theft Auto
feature. Says Lepselter, "Aligning himself with the Number 1
video game is a positive step in his career. He's showing his
diversity as an entertainment talent."

--Roy Williams knows a little something about hitting it big. In
April, Williams was the Cowboys' top selection in the NFL draft
(the eighth pick overall), and in the next few weeks the
standout safety from Oklahoma is expected to receive a multiyear
deal averaging more than $2 million a year. Striking it rich
runs in the family: Last month Williams's aunt Vecepia Towery
won the $1 million grand prize on CBS's Survivor: Marquesas.
After Towery won, Williams called her and said, "Welcome to the
million-dollar club." Williams says he and Towery have compared
notes about the pressures of fame, though as far as Williams is
concerned, his aunt's stardom outshines his. "I go to work and
do my job," says Williams. "Vecepia is different. She's a real
celebrity. She won Survivor in front of millions of people, and
that takes skill. Compared to that, what I'll be doing is
nothing."

--Who's the hardest-working fan at the World Cup? Try Lamar
Hunt, owner of the NFL's Chiefs and MLS's Kansas City Wizards
and Columbus Crew. Soccer fanatic Hunt, 69, has not only been a
fixture at the U.S. squad's matches, but he is also determined
to watch games in all 20 World Cup stadiums in Japan and South
Korea. "If I don't sleep through any alarm clocks or miss any
flights, I just might make it," Hunt said on Monday from the
Brazil-Belgium game in Kobe, Japan, site number 15 in his
odyssey. If Hunt succeeds, it will be the third straight World
Cup in which he has seen matches in every stadium.

COLOR PHOTO: COURTESY OF ARTIE KNAPP (DOUGLAS) Douglas in "Plight"

COLOR PHOTO: HEINZ KLUETMEIER (CLEMENS) PICTURE THIS Talk about getting behind in the count: Yankees ace Roger Clemens watched a Shawn Estes fastball whiz by his butt in the third inning of Saturday's game against the Mets. Clemens was batting at Shea for the first time since he flung part of a shattered bat at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series. Clemens wasn't plunked, but the Mets hurt him anyway: Piazza and Estes homered off him in an 8-0 win.

COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS (MASCOT)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
The organizers of a golf tournament in Norco, Calif., were
arrested after police said that prostitutes had been stationed
at points on the course and were available to golfers between
holes.

THEY SAID IT
VINCE SWEENEY
The University of Wisconsin's associate athletic director, while
announcing that one of the school's Bucky the Badger mascot
outfits had been stolen: "We are advising people to stay calm."