The Beat

THE BASIC premise of Jim Carrey's new movie, The Number 23, is that the number 23 is unlucky. That might be a hard sell in Chicago, where much of the citizenry still walks around in Michael Jordan jerseys, and where another number 23—Devin Hester—provided one of the Bears' few Super Bowl highlights. Before Chicago took on the Colts, Carrey told friends to watch out for Bears return man Hester, whom Carrey has long been a fan of. Hester ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, and a week later Carrey invited him to the L.A. premiere of The Number 23. (It opens nationwide this Friday.) So, now that he's seen the movie, is Hester planning to swap his 23 for a safer number? "Hardly," he tells SI. "Twenty-three ain't a bad number for me. If you kick the ball to number 23, bad things are going to happen to you. It's the scariest number in football."

? Can't decide whether to begin your day with SportsCenter or The View? Your prayers have been answered, maybe. Sportsbabes, an online video roundtable of five sports-obsessed women, debuted on Feb. 14. (It can be viewed at sportsbabestv.com.) The show features MTV personality and former Lingerie Bowl participant Lauren Bergfeld (above), Vicki Johnson (a former reporter for the Speed Channel), model and actress Keriann Kada, MarieSam Sanchez (a sports desk assistant at the Los Angeles Times) and Marisol Salguero (also on the sports desk at the Times) . Margot Rogers Oca�as, a rep for the show, calls the women "eye candy with a bucketful of knowledge," and thinks they'll overcome viewer skepticism. Says Oca�as, "The challenge is to make sure guys don't turn off the sound."

? It's hard to think of O.J. Simpson as inspiring—unless you're a writer for Law & Order. This Friday, NBC's ubiquitous crime drama will air a show that seems based on the controversy surrounding Simpson's ill-fated tell-all book about the 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. ( HarperCollins canceled If I Did It 10 days before its scheduled November release.) In the episode, titled Murder Book, a fictional ex--major leaguer has a similar book pulled—and his publisher subsequently turns up dead. ( Simpson's editor, Judith Regan, was merely fired.)

? Tom Brady and actress Bridget Moynahan broke up in November after three years together, but that's not the end of their story. Last week Moynahan, 36, announced that she is pregnant and that Brady, 29, is the father. She is "healthy and excited," according to a representative for the Six Degrees and Gray Matters star. Meanwhile Brady, who is reportedly dating model Gisele B�ndchen, has stayed quiet. "This is the first I'm hearing about it," a Patriots rep told the Boston Herald. "And I don't anticipate having any comment."

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Ever wonder what might happen if Ron Artest took up elephant polo? During a tournament in Sri Lanka last week 8,800-pound, 18-year-old Abey, one of the U.S. team's mounts, went on a mid-game rampage. He threw off his rider, charged off the field and attacked the Spanish team's minibus. Luckily, no one was in the bus. The vehicle was badly damaged, however, and afterward Abey announced he's starting a music label: Tru War Elephant Records.

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