The Beat

In case you were fooled, that's not really Woody Allen skating with the effortless grace of Dick Button on the Rockefeller Center rink in a new New York City tourism ad. The actual ice capades were performed by 2001 U.S. junior national champion Parker Pennington. "To get me to look like Woody, they put a wig on me," says Pennington, 17, who's coached by 1960 Olympic champ Carol Heiss-Jenkins. "I had to try on all these clothes and glasses and wear a hat to make it look real." In postproduction Allen's head was superimposed on Pennington's body, so viewers see Woody's face during the routine. Pennington says the auteur does have one quality shared by most skating champs: "He's the right size."

...The folks who plaster parental warnings on video games might be shocked to learn that in EA's NHL 2002, players can stock their rosters with barenaked ladies. Actually it's the Canadian pop quintet Barenaked Ladies. The band (above) contributed three songs to the game's soundtrack, so EA's programmers put the musicians in the game's player pool. Users can choose their skill level, allowing drummer Tyler Stewart or singer Steve Page to skate and shoot like Mats Sundin. "Seeing myself as a member of the Maple Leafs is a boyhood fantasy," Stewart told the Canadian Press. "It was exciting to know I could make it to the NHL—even if only on the digital level."

... Bernie Kosar can't get Cleveland football out of his system. When the 20-year-old fanzine Browns News/Illustrated folded last month, Kosar came in to fill the void. On Monday he launched the magazine Bernie's Insiders, for which he'll serve as publisher and write a column. "This is a result of something I had to come to grips with recently: I love sports," says Kosar, who is also part owner of the NHL's Panthers. "It beats the heck out of growing up."