Sports Beat

To the list of Cosmo girls--Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington,
et al.--now add the name of Adair Howell. The middle hitter on
the Centre College (Ky.) volleyball team beat out over 5,000
contestants to win the magazine's nationwide cover model search.
"I saw the contest on Entertainment Tonight and thought, Gosh,
that's cool," says the 18-year-old freshman from Atlanta, who
modeled extensively while helping the Westminster School to a
state championship last year. "My agency insisted I enter. On the
last day of entering, I came in with a disposable camera. An
intern took pictures, and we took them to CVS and said, 'Please
process the pictures first because we have to get them in the
mail.'" Howell--who graces the October issue alongside the usual
headlines about finding your G-spot and bonding with a
boyfriend--won a car, clothes and a year's supply of hair care
products and makeup. (Since she was modeling before entering
college, she didn't run afoul of the NCAA.) "Right now I'm just
going through school and volleyball and waiting to see what comes
up on the modeling side," says Howell.

As George Costanza, Jason Alexander perfected the role of the
short, slow-witted bald man. Now Alexander is showing his range,
tackling the role of a tall, quick-witted bald man: Tony
Kornheiser, cohost, with Michael Wilbon, of ESPN's Pardon the
Interruption. CBS is developing a sitcom called Shut Up and
Listen, based on Kornheiser's columns in The Washington Post
style section in which he writes about his home life. "You put
your work out on the street and hope as many people read it as
possible," says Kornheiser. "For someone to say, This could make
a television show, well, how flattering is that?" Alexander's
character will likely also do TV work, meaning there will be a
Wilbon-esque foil. (Says Kornheiser, "Isn't the perfect guy to
play him Charles Barkley?") Kornheiser doesn't see himself
scripting the show. "You know those varsity jackets with the
leather sleeves and the logo of the show on the back? All I want
out of it is one of those," he says. "And maybe TONY stitched on
the front."

Hornets guard Baron Davis is serious about his second career as
a movie exec. He went to Santa Monica's Crossroads High, renowned
for its performing arts program (he graduated in the same class
as Kate Hudson), and says, "I knew I wanted to eventually get
into movies." The former UCLA star is a coproducer of Asylum, a
dark romance that stars Sir Ian McKellan and Natasha Richardson
and started filming last month. And Davis's film financing
company, Too Easy Entertainment, recently purchased the right to
remake the 1979 urban cult film Penitentiary. "This movie really
teaches you something," says Davis, who has lined up investors
and is now casting actors. "When you see it, you know prison is
not a place you want to be." ... Katarina Witt has long been
known for her provocative outfits, and her latest may land her in
trouble with the German government. The skater has been
threatened with prosecution for wearing a blouse with the logo of
the Free German Youth, an organization set up by the communist
regime in the former East German Republic to extol the virtues of
socialism to kids. Witt, who represented East Germany when she
won gold medals in the 1984 and '88 Olympics, wore the blouse
while hosting her TV show, DDR Show, in which former East Germans
reminisce about the country--sort of the German equivalent of
VH1's I Love the '80s. Witt, 38, could face up to three years in
prison for "parading symbols belonging to an organization which
offends the constitution."

COLOR PHOTO: SHAKH AIVAZOV/AP (KHOTOKHOV) PICTURE THIS In this corner--trust us, there's a corner back there somewhere--is Russia's Dzhambulat Khotokhov, better known as the world's largest four-year-old. After reading a story about the 3'11" 123-pounder, a Georgian journalist organized a wrestling match between Khotokhov and a five-year-old local boy. After the match, which ended in a draw, the grapplers went out for ice cream.

COLOR PHOTO: STAN HONDA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (FISHER)

COLOR PHOTO: HEARST CORPORATION (HOWELL) Cover Girl Howell

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

A 46-year-old Alabama man was charged with attempted murder after
he allegedly fired a gun at his son while stewing over the Tide's
loss to Arkansas.

THEY SAID IT
SARAH FISHER

The IRL's only female racer, on her biggest driving problem: "I'm
22, and you have to be 25 to rent a car."