The Beat

WHOM DID DennisQuaid (right) turn to to prepare for The Express, his movie about Syracuserunning back Ernie Davis opening on Oct. 10? Jim Brown. Quaid, who playsSyracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder, befriended Brown—who played for theOrangemen from 1954 to '56, a few years before Davis—while filming 1999's AnyGiven Sunday, in which Quaid was an aging QB and Brown a coach. "Jim was mymain source for this role," Quaid tells SI. "He gave me insight intoBen's character and the time." ... Hank Williams Jr. has been belting theopening of Monday Night Football for 20 years, and he, for one, is glad theshow is no longer leaning on celebrities in the booth. "Some of themmurdered it," Williams tells SI. "I'd say, 'What did they get thatidiot for?'"

FREE AT SI.COM
SPORTS MEETS SHOWBIZ
For updated sports and celebrity news, go to SI.com/extramustard.

PHOTO

CHUCK HODES/COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES (QUAID)