Original Issue

The Beat

Author:
Adam Duerson

Nets guard JasonKidd cleaned out his locker long before his team was eliminated from theplayoffs by the Heat. For an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Editionthat aired on Sunday, Kidd accommodated designers Tanya McQueen and MichaelMoloney (below), who asked if they could take items from his stall to help witha remodeling project in Irvington, N.J., last month. The crew snatched hisnumber 5 jersey for wall art. Later Kidd and singer Enrique Iglesias were onhand when the house was presented to Beverly Turner, a 54-year-old adoptivemother of 18 special-needs children whose previous home burned down last year.Asked how his own dream renovation might go, Kidd told SI, "I want toinstall a large restaurant-style kitchen. And on the day it's finished, I wouldlike us to be welcomed with a catered meal by Emeril."

• Mike Tysonseems to be mellowing: The man who once said he wanted to do a film with pornstar Jenna Jameson (it never happened) now fantasizes about recording withchart-topping Irish boy band Westlife. According to the ex-champ's friend andsparring partner, Irish boxer Joe Egan, Westlife's music makes Tyson"melt," and digital voice enhancement could compensate for the factthat Iron Mike is "not a Pavarotti or Domingo." A representative forthe group--Tyson reportedly sent Westlife a set of autographed boxing glovesearlier this month--told London's The Sun, "This sounds reallyinteresting--the band are all fans of Tyson."

• Tuesday will bethe new Friday on NBC this fall. The network announced it will air a one-hourdrama series based on Friday Night Lights, H.G. (Buzz) Bissinger's 1990 bestseller about a high-school-football-obsessed community in West Texas. The bookalso inspired a 2004 movie that was directed by Peter Berg and starred BillyBob Thornton. Berg wrote and directed the NBC pilot, which introduces viewersto a rookie high school coach and the unrealistic expectations he faces in thefictitious town of Dillon, Texas. According to NBC, Lights will be "TheO.C. with guts and intensity."

• In the May 14episode of HBO's The Sopranos, Tony and his brother-in-law Bobby Baccalieribonded while watching a Giants game on TV. But the scene probably leftsharp-eared viewers saying, "Eh?" Tony and Bobby were actually watchinga CFL telecast (the voice of CBC broadcaster Chris Cuthbert could be heard inthe background). The northern league has been selling footage to productioncompanies for less than the NFL, charging roughly $890 for a few seconds,according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. The league has had severalhigh-profile cameos, filling in for NFL action in NBC's Las Vegas and The WestWing and in 2005 Best Picture nominee Brokeback Mountain. Chris McCracken, theCFL's senior director of broadcasting, says the league will continue theplacements, "as long as it's not a scene where, say, someone is shot in theforeground."

PICTURE THIS

Careful, Brandon Marshall: You don't want to go downwith a trading-card injury before your pro career gets started. Marshall,Denver's fourth-round pick, joined 30 NFL newbies--including Reggie Bush in anumber 5 jersey--at the Reebok NFL Players Rookie Premiere at the L.A.Coliseum, where they spent four days preening and posing for card companieslike Upper Deck (above), Topps and Donruss Playoff. Marshall's take on theevent: "Overwhelming."

SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Barbaro's jockey, Edgar Prado, was booed Sunday atBelmont Racetrack by fans angry they had lost money when the horse fracturedhis leg in the Preakness (page 40).