The Beat

BEING DUMPED is never fun, but Tony Romo seems to have landed on his feet after his girlfriend gave him the heave-ho three weeks ago. Two days later Romo replaced Drew Bledsoe as the Cowboys' starting quarterback (page 76), and last week there was word that he already has a new girlfriend—Dallas native Jessica Simpson (below). Romo has declined to comment, but he did dine with Simpson's father and manager, Joe, in Los Angeles earlier this month; he also treated Joe to tickets for the Cowboys-Cardinals game on Nov. 12. Romo knows how to impress a girl's dad: He passed for 308 yards and two TDs in a 27--10 win.

? In related news, there are only two degrees of separation between Simpson and Derek Jeter now that Simpson's ex-husband, Nick Lachey, is dating MTV VJ Vanessa Minnillo, who recently broke up with Jeter after an on-and-off two-year romance. Jeter wasn't single for long. Last week the New York Post and the New York Daily News reported that the serial celebrity dater (he has been linked to Mariah Carey, Jordana Brewster and Jessica Alba) is an item with Jessica Biel, who was named Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2005.

? If Grambling's players look funkier than usual when they face Southern University in Saturday's Bayou Classic, it's because they're wearing Big Boi. Russell Athletic, which makes Grambling's togs, commissioned the OutKast rapper to whip up a new jersey for the game. The result: a red, yellow and black ensemble that, Big Boi says, is everything a uniform should be: "You wanna be like, bam, all in their mouth—and that's what these jerseys do." The Savannah native now wants to redo the Atlanta Falcons' threads: "Maybe put feathers on the sleeves. I wanna make 'em fly."

? When 2K Sports released its NBA 2K7 game for PlayStation 2 in September, the feedback was almost unanimous: Clippers center Chris Kaman looks like a zombie. "People would write on Web boards, 'God, he looks awful,'" says 2K spokesman Anthony Chau. So when the title was updated for the PS3 (released last Friday), producers de-zombified Kaman (page 54), softening his facial features. Other complaints were ignored. " Shaun Livingston wanted us to give him an Afro," says Chau, "and—as always—Shaq asked us to bump up his three-point [shooting]." ... Sammy Sosa turned 38 on Nov. 12, and his party was a home run. Actress Salma Hayek and Dominican president Leonel Fern�ndez were among the 700 at Sosa's $8 million home in La Romana, Dominican Republic. The former slugger, who didn't play this year, loves retirement. "If I had known my life would be this great," Sosa said, "I would have retired three years ago."

�