Now that he's on hiatus from fighting, Evander Holyfield can show off his fancy footwork alongside a woman instead of another sweaty guy. The 42-year-old former heavyweight champ has joined a field of celebs, including 1994 SI Swimsuit cover model Rachel Hunter, on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, which debuted last week to excellent ratings. The ballroom-dancing series partners six amateurs with a pro dancer (25-year-old Edyta Sliwinska of Poland, in Holyfield's case), and the couples are judged on their moves, with one pair voted off each week. "When you're young, you think certain dances are for black people and certain dances are for white people," says Holyfield (above, with Sliwinska). "[My friends and I] did the robot, the funky chicken and the Jed Clampett. Ballroom seemed like it wasn't for me. But when ABC offered to teach me how to do it, I said, 'Hell, yeah, I'll take that chance.'" And if his next opponent teases him about his twinkletoes? Says Holyfield, who hopes to fight this fall, "If that happens, he'll probably get knocked out."
How does a Cincinnati sports fan vent if he's married to someone who probably doesn't know a Bearcat from a Burberry scarf? If you're Nick Lachey you fire off a 672-word column to your old hometown paper. The Newlyweds star, who studied sports medicine at Miami (Ohio), was made a "contributor" by The Cincinnati Enquirer, which ran his piece on May 30. Lachey was peeved at the Reds, asking, "How can they justify releasing [closer Danny] Graves?" And he argued that embattled Bearcats basketball coach Bob Huggins "deserves to go out on his own terms."
Most of the songs on Training Day, the forthcoming hip-hop album from 49ers wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, are about a familiar topic. "I'm not dealing drugs or shooting people, so there's no way for me to rap about that," says Lloyd. "It's hard not to have football references." During production, Lloyd called [Bay area rapper] E-40, and asked, "I need to know if it's whack, if I should stop." E-40 assured him it was "hot." Says Lloyd, 23, "That gave me the steam to finish the project on a strong note."
To celebrate his second wedding anniversary, Dennis Rodman planned to take part in the Wife-Carrying World Championships in Finland on July 1--3 and then run with the bulls in Pamplona four days later. Alas, his wife, Michelle Moyer, 38, suffered wrist and collarbone injuries in a motorcycle accident in Orange County, Calif., so the pair won't be able to participate in the Finnish festival. (The Rodmans will travel to the city of Sonkajärvi but merely observe the 250-meter steeplechase race in which husbands haul their better halves on their backs.) Rodman still plans to run with the bulls.... In other couples news, climbers Pem Dorjee, 23, and Moni Mulepati, 24, of Nepal became the first couple to wed atop Mount Everest when they tied the knot in front of 45 adventurous friends on May 30.
THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE
Nomar Garciaparra, who played 14 games and hit .157 before being injured, is the leading All-Star vote getter among NL shortstops.
They Said It
MIKE TYSON
After neighbors thanked him for confronting a suspicious-looking man roaming their suburban Phoenix neighborhood: "Now I'm the neighborhood watch! I'm Spider-Man!"
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AP
PICTURE THIS
It's right out of CSI: Boston: Heading the investigation are Red Sox relievers John Halama (above) and Mike Timlin, who marked the scene of the crime at Fenway after Johnny Damon crashed face-first into the bullpen wall against the Orioles. Damon, who was unsuccessfully chasing a fly ball, left the game. But after getting four stitches above his right eye, he was back in the lineup the next evening.
COLOR PHOTO
ADAM LARKEY/ABC (HOLYFIELD AND SLIWINSKA)
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CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES (TYSON)
