Sideshow

Would Jeter date Clijsters if she wore Serena's clothes?

By SHARON FINK
Published January 16, 2005

A LAST LOOK AT 200 4 : Derek Jeter did end up with a postseason prize: the Six Appeal Award from the New York Post Page Six gossipers. Jeter was honored with one of the ninth annual Sixy Awards for being "Bachelor of the Year, if not the Decade, for dating Jessica Alba, Vanessa Minnillo, and Scarlett Johansson. ... Those three alone constitute a Hall of Fame year."

David Beckham's year was so bad - bad play, bad decisions, bad choice of personal assistant - the world's most famous soccer player couldn't even take consolation in being voted only the fourth-biggest loser in Britain. The biggest loser, in a poll by the Web site MyOffers.co.uk was his wife, Victoria. The former Spice Girl's year included "friend" Elton John blaming her for the marriage problems that led to David's personal assistant telling a British tabloid that she had an affair with him.

IT ALMOST MAKES YOU YEARN FOR THE FLATULENT HORSE. ALMOST: So, you won't be seeing the bare bottom of 84-year-old Mickey Rooney in a Super Bowl commercial. Is there anything to look forward to?

There will be Gladys Knight, fully clothed but Pip-less, hawking credit cards, the New York Times says. Olympus will use ads styled like music videos to promote a camera and a digital music player.

HAPPY LOVING COUPLES OF THE MONTH: Anna Benson tells Steppin' Out magazine that she has her own special way of supporting husband Kris when he pitches for the Mets: "I do like to get hammered."

Mark "Dud Scud" Philippoussis has bounced back from his entanglement with Paris Hilton to take up with a 17-year-old model and aspiring actor from Miami. Alexis Barbara (she turns 18 this month, Sydney's Daily Telegraph says) is spending the opening of the tennis season with Philippoussis, 28, in Australia. Among her professional accomplishments: She has two lines in - it's a small world - Hilton's upcoming movie Pledge This. She was supposed to have a scene in which she was covered in oil, but it was cut.

Lleyton Hewitt has recovered enough from his breakup with Kim Clijsters to go public with his new girlfriend, Australian soap opera star Bec Cartwright. Her soap is Home and Away, in which she plays Hayley Smith, "the champion of the underdog" who is "slowly recovering from the trauma of losing her husband, Noah," the show's Web site says.

THE OTHER RACKET: Serena Williams, who made No. 6 on the 2004 worst-dressed list of fashion's notorious Mr. Blackwell, launched her line of formal, sport and swim wear last month in Miami Beach. The line, Aneres (Serena spelled backward), had 41 outfits, the Agence France-Presse news service reported, from jeans and turtlenecks to dresses with a distinct Victoria's Secret influence.

ONE BOOK OPRAH WILL NEVER RECOMMEND: Ever find yourself at a Bucs game with the insult part of your brain paralyzed? Willing to do anything to get a sports radio showto take your call? Don't wait a second longer to reserve a copy of the Big Book of Sports Insults by David Milsted, available in March. The contributions range from inane to sly and the contributors from anonymous fans to the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound. Pound responded to Australian cricket star Shane Warne's excuse for a drug ban with, "Poisoned by his mother? It is good, it's very good. It ranks up there with "I got it from the toilet seat.' "

Sharon Fink can be reached at 727 893-8525 or fink@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 16, 2005, 00:33:22]