The Beat
He's dabbled in coaching kids, and he once caught a few passes at a USC practice. Now Snoop Dogg wants in on the business end of football. The rapper has teamed with Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest, who grew up with Snoop in Long Beach, Calif., to form Icon Sports and Entertainment. (McGinest's agent, Gary Uberstine, is also a partner.) The agency, says McGinest, will be a "launching pad to get a lot of young athletes into the world of entertainment." One place they might find a role for one of their future clients: the feature film Coach Snoop, which the rapper is producing and starring in about his gig coaching his son's football team. McGinest--who also owns a record company called 55 Entertainment--doesn't worry that he's spreading himself too thin. "It doesn't interfere with football," he says. "It's fun."
• In the past Rocky has done battle with several real-life jocks: former Raiders linebacker Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed), pro wrestler Hulk Hogan (Thunderlips in Rocky III), ex-karate champion Dolph Lundgren (Ivan Drago in Rocky IV) and former heavyweight Tommy Morrison (Tommy Gunn in Rocky V). So it's not surprising that light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver, 37, will play the Italian Stallion's opponent, Mason (the Line) Dixon in next year's Rocky Balboa. In other casting news, Milo Ventimiglia of Gilmore Girls will play Rocky Jr., a role last handled by Sylvester Stallone's son Sage.
• Did Danica Patrick and her new husband toast their intertwined futures with champagne or milk? We may never know. The 23-year-old driver (left), who finished fourth at the 2005 Indy 500, exchanged vows with Paul Hospenthal, 40, before a small group of relatives and friends in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Nov. 19, but they're remaining extremely hush-hush on the details. The couple met in 2002 when Patrick was referred to Hospenthal's Desert Institute of Physical Therapy to rehab a hip injury she got while doing yoga.... Here's one couple that never made it to the altar: actor Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator) and Brazilian model Gisele B√ºndchen. They broke up last month, and now B√ºndchen is being linked to seven-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater, with whom she is rumored to have spent Thanksgiving.
• Plaxico Burress has plenty of things to give thanks for (like, say, Eli Manning), so the Giants' receiver made sure he had plenty of people to give thanks with. Last week Burress paid for and dished out turkey and ham with all the traditional fixings to more than 500 people--many of them single moms--at his former stomping grounds, Virginia Beach's Green Run High. So what is he most grateful for, besides the emergence of his quarterback? "I'm thankful that I could help that many people," says Burress, "and that I could see another Thanksgiving."
PICTURE THIS
Love him or hate him, you must admit Ron Artest has a head for marketing. The Pacers forward and aspiring music mogul took the court against the Clippers on Sunday with the name of his record label, Tru Warier, shaved into his scalp. Artest made it a hairy week for Indiana's opponents. On Thanksgiving he shut down LeBron James in a win over the Cavaliers, and he led the Pacers with 22 points when they defeated L.A.
SIGN OF THE
APOCALYPSE
A urinal salvaged from Busch Stadium, which is being demolished, was sold at auction for $2,174.
They Said It
JAMES CRACKNELL, British Olympic rower who plans to cross the Atlantic as part of a two-man team, on their decision to row naked to avoid chafing:
"I've made sure I'm sitting in the stern so I don't stare at his butt for 50 days at sea."
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JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (PICTURE THIS)
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ACTION IMAGES/WIREIMAGES.COM (CRACKNELL)
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JEAN-PAUL AUSSENARD/WIREIMAGE.COM (PATRICK)