Sports Beat

Here's a sign that Derek Jeter and Mariah Carey are still on
pretty good terms five years after their public breakup: The diva
donated a pair of her cutoff denim shorts to an auction
benefiting the shortstop's charity. On June 16, some 600 guests
at The Regent Wall Street hotel raised more than $800,000 for
Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation, which provides guidance to kids. In
keeping with the evening's theme, "Never stop short of your
dreams," several former major league shortstops, including Ozzie
Smith and Phil Rizzuto, donated memorabilia to the auction. But
Carey's well-broken-in short shorts, which came in a frame, were
the evening's conversation piece. Even Jeter's mom got a laugh
out of the racy donation. "It was really neat," said Dot Jeter,
the foundation's executive director.

--Monica Ambrose, 29, wife of Saints cornerback Ashley Ambrose,
and Sheree Buchanan, 31, wife of Falcons cornerback Ray Buchanan,
are going all out to supplement their husbands' incomes. The best
friends are competing for the $1 million prize on CBS's The
Amazing Race. That means they do things such as rappeling off
cliffs and bungee jumping off a 460-foot-high tower. "I thought
she'd lost her mind," Ray says. "I've always talked about doing
those types of things. I was like, 'Whoa! You beat me to it!'"
For the wives, the toughest part has been keeping mum on how they
did in the competition. The show was shot over six weeks last
winter, and the participants were sworn to secrecy. Says Ray,
"I'm watching the show, and she's just sitting there with a
little smile on her face not telling me nothing! The adrenaline
is pumping, my heart is pounding. I just really want to see them
do well: Getting thrown off is like losing a playoff game."

--Four-time world surfing champ Lisa Andersen, 34, is no longer a
regular on tour, but she still pays the bills with her board. The
blonde Floridian was Cameron Diaz's stunt double for surfing
scenes in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.... Don't make Warren
Sapp angry. You won't like him when he's angry. Last Thursday the
Bucs behemoth entertained 150 kids at Universal Studios in
Orlando by allowing himself to be painted green as part of a
campaign for the release of The Hulk.... Magic Johnson and Fab
Five Freddy were among the partyers at the grand opening of
Jay-Z's Manhattan club, 40/40 (named for baseball's
40-homer/40-steals fraternity), on June 18. Guests didn't go home
blingless--gift bags included $3,000 Grimaldi watches and bottles
of Remy Martin. Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey also won a trip
to Barbados.... Forbes's latest Celebrity 100, a ranking of
worldwide celebrity power, includes 25 athletes, with Tiger Woods
checking in at No. 3 behind No. 1 Jennifer Aniston, and Eminem
and Dr. Dre, at No. 2. The list reflects more than just earnings
or professional success--which explains Anna Kournikova's spot at
No. 70. Soccer god David Beckham (No. 56) made the list for the
first time.... To honor U.S. troops, President George W. Bush
hosted a T-ball game between kids who live at the Norfolk Naval
Base and those from Fort Belvoir, Va., on the White House's South
Lawn. No score was kept, but the young prospects were seen by an
influential big league contact: Cal Ripken Jr. was on hand.

COLOR PHOTO: EVAN AGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES (CAREY) Mariah: selling shorts

THREE COLOR PHOTOS: THE GLADSTONE COLLECTION OF BASEBALL ART (DRUM, CARDS, PAINTING OF BOY) PICTURE THIS "The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball," a collection of about 100 works describing the length and depth of the nation's love for the sport, has opened at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. Clockwise from top left: Brooklyn Dodgers Sym-Phony Band Drum (1950); early trading cards (1888); a wood-carved women's softball game (1945); a watercolor of a game in New Jersey (1870); a wood sculpture of Hank Aaron (1974); an oil painting of a boy with a ball and bat (1844); nine ink-decorated baseballs (1960-92); an oil painting of a night game at Yankee Stadium (1981).

FOUR COLOR PHOTOS: COURTESY AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM (GAME, PAINTING, SCULPTURE, BASEBALLS) [See caption above]

COLOR PHOTO: COURTESY FENIMORE ART MUSEUM--N.Y. STATE HISTORICAL ASSOC., COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (OIL PAINTING) [See caption above]

COLOR PHOTO: AL BELLO/GETTY IMAGES (BAGWELL)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
Women in Japan have been styling their pubic hair after David
Beckham's Mohawk.

THEY SAID IT
JEFF BAGWELL
Astros first baseman on a power slump in which he has gone
without a home run in 35 games: "I'm Ichiro without speed and
without the batting average."