Sports Beat

Call it Bernie-Mania. Sir Paul McCartney has signed guitarist—and Yankees centerfielder—Bernie Williams to his music publishing company, MPL Communications. Williams's first album, The Journey Within, a collection of original jazz songs with guest appearances by Bela Fleck, David Benoit and Ruben Blades, will be released on July 15, and the deal gives MPL rights to Williams's compositions for use in film, television and commercials. "When I heard his CD, I was blown away," says McCartney, who first learned of Williams's musical talent while attending a Yankees game in 1999. "It's a home run." Williams and the aforementioned guests will play at Chicago's House of Blues as part of All-Star week two days before his CD is released.

?Lawyers for Karla Knafel, Michael Jordan's ex-girlfriend, say they'll fight last week's dismissal of her $5 million breach of contract case against His Airness. Knafel claimed that Jordan—who paid Knafel $250,000 after she gave birth to a baby in the early 1990s that both Jordan and Knafel mistakenly thought was his child—reneged on an unwritten promise to pay her $5 million for her silence when he retired from the NBA. Judge Richard Siebel ruled that any promise Jordan may have made ( Jordan denies making it) is un enforceable under the law. "The judge either didn't believe Karla's story or didn't want to believe her story," said Blake Hannafan, Knafel's lawyer. "We will appeal."

? Andy Roddick certainly had his head in the game when he defeated Andre Agassi for the first time last Saturday, but it just may have been his hat that made the difference in the outcome. Instead of the usual nerdy-looking white visor, which tended to make his hair spike upward in a way that only Don King could love, Roddick was wearing a white baseball cap with a gray Reebok logo. The change in headgear was a mandate from Roddick's new coach, Brad Gilbert, who himself favors a Metallica cap. "Brad just told me the visor wasn't very intimidating," says Roddick. "I couldn't come up with a good one-liner in my defense, so it's gone."...

Talk about getting busted: David Horton, the 24-year-old fugitive from justice whose parole officer spotted him giving lip service on the big-screen Kiss Cam at the Great American Ballpark during a May 7 Reds game, has been sentenced to 4� years in prison for violating his parole on cocaine trafficking charges. Said sentencing judge Melba Marsh, "Lo and behold, you're found on the Kiss Cam, smooching it up, an image shown the world over. How stupid [are you]?"...

Rockets guard Steve Francis has begun a tour (he was in Virginia last week) to promote his record label, Isoh Entertainment, and its first two artists, T'Neq, a 17-year-old female R&B singer, and Lil Jah, an 18-year-old male rapper. Francis, 26, started Isoh last year with a business associate from Houston. "I'm not looking for it to happen overnight," said Francis, "but eventually, I want to be a big fish in the pond."...

Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca received a memorable Father's Day gift when his 13-year-old son, Matt, played the U.S. and Canadian national anthems on the violin before Sunday's home game against the Cubs. Matt, who played his grandfather's violin, hopes to attend Julliard.