Sports Beat

Figure Skater Sarah Hughes aced her final exam at the Salt Lake City Games two years ago. Now she's doing the same as a Yale freshman. The gold medalist says she got A's in both Computers and the Law and Personality Psychology this semester. (She's awaiting results for her other classes.) Hughes, 19, hasn't declared a major ("I'm thinking about psychology," she says, "because it's interesting to see how people act and think") nor has she decided whether to compete at the 2006 Olympics. Though she has been skating only occasionally, she likes to keep in shape at the Yale gym. Says Hughes, "There are a lot of hot athletes there."

?The courtside courtship between Britney Spears (below) and Luke Walton has been benched—at least for the playoffs. After Access Hollywood informed the Lakers' 6'8" rookie forward last week that Spears, 22, had a crush on him, he replied, "Oh, yeah? I've had a crush on her for a long time," and said he'd try to swing her a seat to a playoff game. But oops, Spears is away until August on her world tour. Walton hasn't had such an empty feeling since the last time he watched Shaq shoot a free throw.

?Singer Kelly Rowland collaborated with St Louis bad boy Nelly on 2003's Dilemma and earned a Grammy. For collaborating with Cowboys safety Roy Williams, she's earned a fat rock. The Pro Bowler proposed to Destiny's Child's "number two" in front of a roomful of Rowland's friends—including co-Child Beyonc� Knowles—and Rowland accepted. The power couple, both 23, have been dating for six months and have been seen at several sporting events, most recently at courtside of a Pistons-Nets playoff game in New Jersey.

"Little Steven" Van Zandt, underboss to both Tony Soprano and Bruce Springsteen, made a surprise appearance in the paddock at Belmont Park last Thursday. Van Zandt was at the track scouting locations for an edition of the Wiseguy Show, a three-hour-weekly broadcast he produces for SIRIUS Satellite Radio. While plans fell through for that particular show, the E Street guitarist made a guest appearance on camera with John Lee, the host of the track's handicapping program, chatting amiably about horses, music and The Sopranos.

?Feisty blonde Kristielee Wilcox, remembered for sprinting onto the Yankee Stadium field during 2002's Opening Day game and handing shortstop Derek Jeter her phone number (she spent a night in jail for the incident), had a run-in with Sex and the City big man Chris Noth and wound up jobless. Wilcox told the New York Post that she was fired from her job as a bartender at New York's Da Marino restaurant for allegedly flirting with Noth and sending Noth's girlfriend, Tara Wilson, into a fit. While confirming there had been an encounter involving Noth, restaurant owner Angelo Marino said that the twentysomething Wilcox was let go because "she simply didn't fit in at Da Marino."

...Besides drawing up plays for Brian Griese and Ronde Barber this summer, Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden will be sketching X's and O's for Adam Sandler and Chris Rock's prison football game in the remake of the 1974 film The Longest Yard. The 40-year-old Gruden, who inked the deal with Paramount last week, also recently starred in commercials for the Florida Department of Citrus.