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Sports Beat
Red Wings center Sergei Fedorov's disclosure that he and Anna
Kournikova were briefly married a couple of years ago--confirming
long-swirling rumors--was a revelation to at least one person.
Alla Kournikova, the winless wonder's mom, told SI, "It's a
surprise to me. I don't know anything about it." Alla, who splits
her time between Miami and Moscow, says she still has a place in
her heart for the Russian Rocket. "I love them both very much,"
she says. "I would love to see him and her happy together, but
what can I do?" That's not to say she disapproved of Anna's next
beau, Enrique Iglesias, who met the tennis pinup when she acted
in his Escape video late in 2001. Says Alla, "Enrique's a real
nice guy. Gentle, among many, many other things."
People who showed up at Manhattan's Ed Sullivan Theater for the
Feb. 27 taping of The Late Show must have all had the same
thought: You have got to be kidding me! Instead of David
Letterman, who was out with an eye infection, they got John
McEnroe. The 44-year-old tennis bad boy delivered a monologue,
noting that Letterman's eye problem "qualifies him to be an
umpire on the tennis tour." While there were periods of dead air,
McEnroe acquitted himself well, even showing a Lettermanesque
side when he turned to oft-married guest Tom Arnold and said,
"Aren't you the male Liz Taylor?"
After a successful off-Broadway run last fall, playwright Richard
Greenberg's Take Me Out has opened on the Great White Way to
glowing reviews. The play, which was partly inspired by then
Braves pitcher John Rocker's inflammatory remarks to SI, tells
the story of a racially mixed ballplayer who reveals he's gay.
The baseball environment feels authentic, partly because director
Joe Mantello brought in ex--major leaguer Keith Hernandez to
coach the cast during rehearsals last year.
Robert Wuhl, the titular ten-percent man on HBO's Arli$$, has
signed to cowrite and direct an HBO movie about last October's
Pick Six scam, in which three former frat brothers tried to
fleece the betting community for $3 million. "To me it's about
growing up," says Wuhl, who hopes the film will be ready by
year's end. "This is about three 29-year-old buddies who thought
they could get away with it. They didn't know how the world
works." ... Speaking of ponies, sneaker-maker Pony is using
adult-film stars such as Jenna Jameson in its ads. "When I grew
up in the '80s in Paris, models were the ultimate feminine
ideal," said Come Chantrel, a Pony rep. "For the 20-year-old kid,
porn stars have kind of replaced what models used to represent."
... Meanwhile Nike is paying 24-year-old Grace Park, who was
sixth on the LPGA money list last year, $1.8 million over four
years to become the first LPGA tour player signed to use Nike
clubs.... An unforgettable part of filming How to Lose a Guy in
10 Days? Costar Matthew McConaughey picks the scene in which he
and Kate Hudson are at an NBA Finals game at Madison Square
Garden. After filming the pair shot hoops on the Garden court.
"You just kept thinking about all the people who've been on that
floor," says McConaughey.... NASCAR Busch series driver Stanton
Barrett doesn't get to relax at his day job. As a stuntman in the
box office hit Cradle 2 the Grave (starring DMX and Jet Li), last
summer Barrett, 30, broke several bones in his feet doing
motorcycle work, then drove in a 300-mile race a week and a half
later. Barrett--who drives for Roush Racing--is also a stuntman
in Gods and Generals with Robert Duvall. "In that one I was
mainly just blowing up," he says.
COLOR PHOTO: DANIEL FORSTER-DPPI/ICON SMI PICTURE THIS Never mind that it has no coastline, Switzerland rules the waves. An hour into the fourth race of the America's Cup, the 110-foot, $900,000 carbon-fiber mast on Team New Zealand's NZL82 snapped in half in rough waters off the coast of Auckland, giving challenger Alinghi another easy win. The Swiss team completed its 5--0 sweep two days later.
COLOR PHOTO: JOHN IACONO They no longer hang
COLOR PHOTO: ZBP/ZUMA PRESS INC.
THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
The Northern League's Schaumburg (Ill.) Flyers have signed Ted
Williams's 34-year-old son, John Henry.
THEY SAID IT
MO VAUGHN
Mets first baseman, on changes in the game: "Baseball's been
played the same way for 200 years."
