Sports Beat

Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler seems to be starting a career in
sports, not as an athlete but as a belter of national anthems.
Last Saturday at Yankee Stadium--where she appeared with fellow
cast members James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Steven Van Zandt,
Tony Sirico, John Ventimiglia and Steven Schirripa--Sigler did her
Oh-say-can-you-see thing before the Yanks' 8-1 loss to the White
Sox. For the 21-year-old actress, who got engaged last week to
her manager, A.J. Discala, 31, this was just the latest stop in a
tour that has included Hambletonian Day at the Meadowlands
Racetrack on Aug. 3; the first-ever national anthem at the new
CMGI Field before the New England Revolution-Dallas Burn MLS game
on May 11; Long Island's Nassau Coliseum, where Sigler sang both
O Canada and The Star-Spangled Banner before the New York
Islanders-Toronto Maple Leafs first round playoff game on April
28; and the Fleet Center for the Celtics-Lakers game on April 5.

--Magic Johnson notched 374 career blocks as a player for the L.A.
Lakers. Last Sunday he had the opportunity to collect a few more
at a taping of Hollywood Squares. The former Laker, working
center square for shows that will air the week of Oct. 15, found
himself boxed out by Daisy Fuentes, Phyllis Diller and Arsenio
Hall, who teased him about the bright yellow shirt he wore. The
day before, Evander Holyfield had taped shows that will air the
week of Oct. 8. The former heavyweight champ had to endure
Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett calling to him, "Hey,
how's that ear? Can you hear me?"

--If the Miss America competition included the vault or balance
beam, Sarah-Elizabeth Langford would be a shoo-in. The
23-year-old Langford, a member of Michigan's gymnastics team from
1997 to 2000, was chosen Miss District of Columbia and will vie
for the Miss America crown in Atlantic City on Sept. 21. The
limber Langford, currently a third-year student at Howard
University School of Law, performed a tumbling routine to win the
Miss D.C. title last June over 20 other hopefuls. At Michigan,
she earned second-team All-America honors with a score of 9.875
on the vault at the 2000 NCAA championship.

--Would-be actress Serena Williams has no trouble casting herself.
Says the world's No. 1 female tennis player, "Do you remember the
film Clash of the Titans? I think they should do a remake, and I
would like to play the princess." (The original Clash, which was
released in 1981, starred Harry Hamlin as Perseus and Judi Bowker
as Princess Andromeda.) For now, Williams is taking private
lessons with an acting coach and had cameos in the Martin
Lawrence film Black Knight and in rapper Memphis Bleek's Do My
video, featuring Jay-Z. "I've always liked acting," says
Williams. "Whether I get something big or small, it doesn't
matter." So, can she cry on cue? "I'm not bad," Williams says.
"You'd be surprised."

COLOR PHOTO: TODD KOROL (GOLDFEVER III) PICTURE THIS For a million Canadian dollars you might leap this high yourself. That was the prize money offered at the CN International Spruce Meadows Masters show-jumping tournament in Calgary, Alberta, where top honors went to the 11-year-old Hanoverian stallion Goldfever III, for his fine impersonation of Pegasus. At the controls: Germany's Ludger Beerbaum, one of the world's leading equestrians.

COLOR PHOTO: CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES (SIGLER) A star-spangled Sigler

COLOR PHOTO: EUGENE HOSHIKO/AP (KOURNIKOVA)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

In Australia sheep-counting is now a competitive sport with a
national championship. Last Saturday, Peter Desailey of Wyvern
Station counted 277 sheep to win the title.

THEY SAID IT
ANNA KOURNIKOVA

The tennis star, 0 for 117 tournaments, after falling in the
finals of the WTA's Shanghai Open last Sunday: "Not only did the
fans here wish me to win, but so did the fans all over the
world."