The Beat

After director McG (Charlie's Angels) kicked four field goals during halftime of Marshall's spring game last week, Thundering Herd coach Mark Snyder told SI, "If I had him on the roster last year, maybe we would have won a few more games." The director was in town to film We Are ... Marshall, about the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 members of the football team, and he promised to donate $20,000 to the school after nailing successive 20-, 25-, 30- and 35-yard attempts in front of a packed stadium. Snyder also got coaching help from a member of the cast: Actor Matthew McConaughey was an honorary assistant during the game along with Marshall alums Chad Pennington and Randy Moss.

? Knicks superfan Spike Lee will go to drastic lengths to heckle the Pacers: Last week he ventured out of New York City to watch the New Jersey Nets' Game 2 win at home over Indiana. Lee, who sat courtside (next to Giants linebackers Antonio Pierce and LaVar Arrington) in a location almost identical to his Madison Square Garden roost, told a Nets official he simply wanted to see some playoff basketball--a treat the Knicks haven't given him in two years. But could the visit foretell a change in Lee's allegiances? Perhaps. The Nets are slated to move to Brooklyn, where the director (below, left, with Arrington) grew up, in 2009.

? Boardwalk, Park Place and Pennsylvania Avenue are being bulldozed, and wannabe tycoons can help pick real estate to replace those Monopoly landmarks. Hasbro is updating the 71-year-old board game and letting the public choose an address in each of several U.S. cities to fill out the board. (Voting is being conducted at www.hasbro.com until May 12.) Among the early leaders: Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park and Dallas's Texas Stadium, which won't be a hot property for long. The Cowboys plan to abandon it in 2009.

? Apparently Jon Heder wasn't acting in his klutzy Napoleon Dynamite title role. Heder will star as Will Ferrell's on-ice nemesis in the figure skating comedy Blades of Glory. But he broke his ankle twice recently, forcing a delay in production. Heder suffered the first fracture while working on the animated Monster House (he tripped on a cable); the second came while he was learning skating moves for Blades. Heder told The New York Times, "I've got to get this thing right and not break my bones anymore." ... Ever wonder what a World Cup locker room smells like? A British fragrance company is offering an Aromas of Football package that includes scents inspired by a soccer field, a trophy room, a halftime meat pie and a team's changing room ($8.56 each; $32.14 for a set). Fair warning for fans looking to catch a postpitch whiff of David Beckham: No, his socks were not used to create the locker room formula.