Sports Beat

Actress Jordana Brewster, Derek Jeter's latest flame, is both
beautiful and well-bred. The 22-year-old is the daughter of
former Brazilian model Maria Joao, who appeared on the Jan. 16,
1978, cover of SI's swimsuit issue, and the granddaughter of
Kingman Brewster, who was the president of Yale (at which
Brewster is a student) from 1963 to 1977. Last week Brewster,
who spent three years on As the World Turns and starred in The
Fast and the Furious, helped Jeter celebrate his 28th birthday
at Flow, a club in SoHo; the bash landed her in the New York
tabloids. "It definitely looks like the game is on," an
unidentified source breathlessly told the Daily News after Jeter
and Brewster danced the night away.

Is Heather Mitts, a defender for the WUSA's Philadelphia Charge,
"the Anna Kournikova of soccer"? Well, Mitts has never won a
tennis tournament, but that's probably not what Philadelphia
Magazine had in mind when it christened her that and put her on
the cover of its Philly's sexiest singles issue dressed in a
$3,000 low-cut, see-through black Versace dress. Mitts, a
24-year-old Cincinnati native, has also climbed to the top of
Playboy.com's "WUSA's Sexiest Soccer Player" poll, taking 46% of
the 42,521 votes. "It was a shocker," says Mitts, who insists
that she would rather be a model soccer player than a model,
period. "My main goal right now is to make the World Cup and
Olympic teams," she says. "All the other stuff is just extra."

Hicham El Guerrouj may hold the world record in the mile
(3:43.13), but can the speedy Moroccan keep up with the Joneses?
Or, more to the point, can he keep up with Marion Jones for one
lap of the track? On June 27, while both superstars were in Oslo
for the Bislett Games, El G challenged MJ at a press conference
to a 400-meter match race. Jones, the reigning Olympic 100- and
200-meter champion, has a best 400-meter time of 49.59 seconds.
El Guerrouj says his best 400 is 49.0. The challenge, which
Jones has yet to accept, has track's Internet chatrooms buzzing.

Has the humbling defeat he suffered at the hands of Lennox Lewis
produced a softer, gentler Mike Tyson? Maybe. When Miami Heat
guard Jimmy Jackson married entertainment manager Shawnee Simms
last week before 500 guests at the Wieuca Road Baptist Church in
Buckhead, Ga., it was Iron Mike who gave the bride away. While
Boyz II Men performed at the ceremony, we can only hope that
they didn't sing their hit End of the Road within earshot of
Tyson.

If you think Oscar gift bags spoil the Academy Award presenters
rotten (more than $20,000 worth of items), check out some of the
booty that ESPN showered on its presenters and nominees at the
July 10 ESPY Awards in Hollywood: A certificate to Amadeus Spa, a
suite for a weekend at an Ian Schrager hotel of their choice, a
one-year bicoastal gym membership, a Sony PlayStation 2 and
exclusive releases of 989 sports games, and a year's supply of
Jamba Juice were among the $10,000 worth of gratis goodies.

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
Michael Jackson was named an honorary director of the Exeter City
soccer club, a third-division English team whose cochairman is
spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller.

COLOR PHOTO: BARRY TALESNICK/IPOL INC. (JETER AND BREWSTER) Jeter and Jordana

COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR. (JOAO) Mom wowed 'em in SI

COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK

COLOR PHOTO: LAURENT REBOURS/AP (ARMSTRONG) PICTURE THIS One of the biggest hearts in sports got a checkup on July 4 as Lance Armstrong, winner of the last three Tours de France, took a prerace medical exam in Luxembourg. Two days later Armstrong won the individual time trial that opened this year's race. If the 30-year-old Armstrong leads the pack come July 28 in Paris, he'll become the first American to win cycling's premier race four times.

THEY SAID IT
DREW GOODEN
First-round draft pick of the Memphis Grizzlies, when asked about
visiting Graceland: "I didn't even know Elvis was from Memphis. I
thought he was from Tennessee."