Sports Beat

Those swinging 1970s wife-swappers have nothing on the producers
of Inside Edition. For a segment that aired on the show last
week, Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Brandi Nace, 24, switched roles
for a day with Jenny Isenbarger, a 43year-old homemaker and
mother of three from suburban Zionsville, Ind. On Oct. 27, as
Nace tended to Isenbarger's children, Matt, 15, Jack, 11, and
Katie, 3 (Matt was quick to offer Nace help in preparing
breakfast), Isenbarger, who does some modeling in Indianapolis,
flew to Dallas and practiced a routine with the spangled squad.
"They treated me like one of the girls," says Isenbarger (below
left). "The name of the dance was Shake a Little, but I was
shaking everything my momma gave me!" Five days later Isenbarger
danced the number during the third quarter, then got to see
Emmitt Smith break Walter Payton's alltime rushing record. "He
did it right after I performed," she says. "So I'm taking all the
credit."

The name David Beckham is larger than life in the U.K., but can
it open a movie in the U.S.? Next spring Fox Searchlight Pictures
will release Bend It Like Beckham, which has been a blockbuster
hit in England since it debuted last April. The plot of Beckham
centers on Jess, an 18year-old Anglo-Indian who dreams of bending
a ball around a wall the way her idol, Beckham, England's team
captain, does. Jess's Punjabi-born parents, however, want her to
forget soccer and get married. Last Thursday, Fox Searchlight
held a private screening in Pasadena for 14 members of the U.S.
Women's National Team, including Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and
Mia Hamm. Says Chastain, "This was a great message of how you can
be spiritual and true to your culture and still have athletics as
part of your life."

Don't tell Mickey, but Joshua Jackson, who portrayed hockey
player Charlie Conway in Disney's three Mighty Ducks movies, was
arrested last Saturday and charged with assaulting a security
guard at the Penguins-Hurricanes game in Raleigh. According to
the arrest warrant, Jackson, age 24, who plays Pacey on the WB's
Dawson's Creek, allegedly grabbed a 40year-old security guard
around the neck and struck him. Jackson, tested in jail, showed a
blood-alcohol content of .14. (The legal limit in North Carolina
is .08.) He posted $1,000 bail early on Sunday and is scheduled
to appear in court on the misdemeanor charge on Dec. 4.

Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez married longtime girlfriend
Cynthia Scurtis on Nov. 2 in a private ceremony at Rodriguez's
mansion in Dallas. Among the guests was Rodriguez's baseball
idol, former Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken Jr.... Billy the
Marlin and his team are splitsville. The contract of John Routh,
the only man who's ever worn the Marlins' mascot gear, is not
being renewed in a cost-cutting move.... Never underestimate the
power of the Street. Upon learning that the U.S. Ski Team had no
plans to throw her a retirement party, Picabo Street threatened
to skip the team's annual fund-raising events. Within a short
time the team had scheduled a bon voyage bash for Street in Park
City, Utah, on Nov. 23, and Street was back in the fold for the
fund-raisers.

TWO COLOR PHOTOS: COURTESY OF INSIDE EDITION (2, ISENBARGER, NACE)

COLOR PHOTO: ISSEI KATO/REUTERS (KONISHIKI AND BONDS) PICTURE THIS Barry Bonds has found a way to stop that talk about his looking pumped up: sit next to Konishiki, a 606-pound retired sumo wrestler capable of causing a worldwide flannel shortage. The pair chatted at the Tokyo Dome, where a team of major leaguers played the Japan All-Stars as part of an eight-game tour. In one game Bonds, who was named the National League's MVP on Monday, struck out three times--the first time he's done that in a game since Aug. 8, 2001.

COLOR PHOTO: PRESTON MACK/BRSP (VICK)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
The Akron St. Vincent--St. Mary high school basketball team,
which features projected NBA draft pick LeBron James, will air
some of its games on payperview.

THEY SAID IT
MICHAEL VICK

Falcons quarterback, on the secret of his success: "I have two
weapons--my legs, my arm and my brains."