The Beat

As anyone who hasseen her Nike commercial knows, Maria Sharapova feels pretty. (Oh, so pretty.)So it's hardly surprising that Sharapova celebrated her U.S. Open title byhitting Fall Fashion Week in New York City. Along with friend and former TheO.C. star Mischa Barton (below), she sat in the front row at Marc Jacobs'srunway presentation. Men's Open champ Roger Federer was also feelingfashionable, and at the Oscar De La Renta show--he attended with hisgirlfriend, Mirka Vavrinec--he was treated as the most special person in theroom. During the event the Dominican designer gave him a bouquet of red andwhite roses. (They were delivered by runway model Tanya Dziahileva.) Said De LaRenta, "I love tennis, so I loved having Federer there."

• "Understatedsporty elegance." A slogan for a new cologne? No--it is how Cynthia CarrGardner, a stylist from Marblehead, Mass., describes the look she's fashionedfor Joe Theismann and his Monday Night Football boothmates, Mike Tirico andTony Kornheiser. In May, Gardner, who has dressed B.B. King, Terry Bradshaw andMNF reporter Suzy Kolber in the past, was hired to punch up the guys' on-airwardrobes. The result: a 90-piece custom-tailored Canali collection that, shesays, impresses without distracting. What's the secret to making a newspapermanlike Kornheiser look GQ? "With less hair you want a little more strength incolors," says Gardner, who adds that Theismann "can put a piece ofburlap on, and he looks beautiful."

• Former SIcolumnist Bill Scheft, who's also written for The Late Show with DavidLetterman, the ESPYs and the Oscars, plays an umpire in the softball comedyBeer League, which stars Ralph Macchio and was directed by Saturday Night Livewriter Frank Sebastiano. "I had three lines," Scheft says. "'Playball,' 'Take your base,' and I make a gigantic 'Out!' call. They cut my fourthline, which was: 'Does this look infected?'" Scheft knows a thing or twoabout suds-soaked softball: His 2002 novel, The Ringer, is about a New Yorksandlot mercenary. Scheft's latest book, Time Won't Let Me, was named afinalist for the 2006 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

• ESPN is turningJonathan Mahler's best seller, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning, intoan eight-part miniseries. Set against the backdrop of the 1977 Son of Samkillings and citywide New York blackouts, Burning will focus on two charactersfrom the World Series--winning Yankees: outfielder Reggie Jackson and managerBilly Martin. Neither role has been cast.

PICTURE THIS

Hey, it's another Royal who can't hit. During a visit toBirmingham, England, last week Prince Charles took some hacks while talking toparticipants in a youth cricket training program. (For his safety, the bowlerused a tennis ball, not a cricket ball.) Lesson No. 1 for the kids: When itcomes to your swings--and, for that matter, life in general--do as the princesays, not as he does.

SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Fans of Steve (the Crocodile Hunter) Irwin have cut offthe tails of several stingrays to avenge his death.

They Said It

ANDY RODDICK, 24-year-old tennis star, on bachelorlife:

"My new address isn't listed, so my parents get alot of my mail. My mom will open some of it, read it and say, 'Not with my son,you won't.'"

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DAVID JONES/ AP (PRINCE CHARLES)

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ANDREW H. WALKER/GETTY IMAGES (SHARAPOVA AND BARTON)

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MANNY MILLAN (RODDICK)