Sports Beat

You may not remember what song she sang to Michael Jordan, but
connoisseurs of skintight, sports-related clothing the world over
no doubt recall the dress Mariah Carey wore while crooning to His
Airness at the NBA All-Star Game in February. The intriguing
variation on Jordan's Wizards jersey, which hugged curves better
than some NASCAR drivers, didn't excite men only. The NBA Store
on Fifth Avenue in New York City says it has been inundated with
requests for the getup from girls who want to wear it to their
prom. Alas, the dress was designed by Carey's personal stylist
and is a one of a kind item.

For Freddie Prinze Jr. the best part of starring in This Is My
Youth at London's Garrick Theatre isn't treading the boards
nightly for a West End audience. It's being near his beloved
Arsenal, the London soccer team that at week's end led the
Premier League. And when he's back home in L.A., what does he
watch if a big soccer game comes on opposite Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, which stars his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar? "A big
soccer game," Prinze told FourFourTwo magazine with a laugh. "If
I said Buffy, my wife would call you up herself and say I was a
liar."

How do you get to the U.S. Golf Association's new museum?
Practice. If that sounds like a bad old joke about Carnegie Hall,
no problem: The golf shrine, set to open in 2005, will be located
just down 57th Street from the hallowed music mecca, at the site
of the former Russian Tea Room. The USGA purchased the building
for $16 million last fall, after the fancy borscht house went
bankrupt. The six-story, midtown Manhattan location should draw
more visitors than does the current site in Far Hills, N.J.,
which attracts 25,000 a year. "We didn't set out to buy a
landmark," says Rand Jerris, the USGA museum director. "That
location filled all of our requirements." For the purchase price,
the golf group got the Tea Room's famously ornate fixtures,
including a 15-foot acrylic bear.

We might wish we could run or throw like an NFL player, but
should we aspire to smell like one? The personal-product
development company Boom! apparently thinks so. It bought the
rights to use the NFL logo on a new grooming line; in August
leather kits bearing team insignias and containing NFL-label
cologne, antiperspirant and football-shaped soap will hit the
shelves of sporting-goods stores. "As with, say, a perfume that
is advertised by model Naomi Campbell, there is an aspirational
aspect to it," says Art DeGaetano, president of Boom!, which is
also developing colognes inspired by eight NASCAR drivers.
"Athletes today have beautiful cars, beautiful clothes. They are
icons."

The Czech National Theater has commissioned an opera to
commemorate the country's 1998 Olympic hockey gold medal. Titled
Nagano, the Birth of a Legend and billed as "an opera in three
periods and one overtime," the work is scheduled to premiere in
April 2004.... A's pitcher Barry Zito will appear in an episode
of Showtime's The Chris Isaak Show this summer. Zito got his
first on-screen kiss during filming, from actress Kristin
Datillo. When asked how it compared to his steady job, the lefty
with the nasty curveball said, "As a kisser and a pitcher, I try
to mix it up, depending on the opposition."

COLOR PHOTO: RAY AMATI/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (PICTURE THIS) PICTURE THIS For one bizarre moment at the March 24 Knicks-Raptors game at Madison Square Garden, nothing came between Latrell Sprewell and Calvin. Perhaps frustrated by the Knicks' lack of a grand design, Klein approached Sprewell as the forward was inbounding the ball and jabbered for almost a minute. Security guards led Klein back to his seat.

COLOR PHOTO: JESSE D. GARRABRANT/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (PICTURE THIS INSET) [See caption above]

COLOR PHOTO: SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES Carey: Jersey girl

COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS (LORBEK)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

The fifth annual World Ice Golf Championship in Uummannaq,
Greenland, was canceled because the weather was too nice.

THEY SAID IT
ERAZEM LORBEK

The 6'10" forward from Slovenia, after dunking on a Michigan
State teammate during practice: "I took you to the school."