Sports Beat

The Hawks billed their April 10 game against the Celtics as Family Night and gave discounts to parents who brought their children. Then, during a second quarter timeout, the Philips Arena sound system blasted DMX's song Party Up, which features the f word six times. Patrons were not pleased. The team blamed the gaffe on the fact that the regular sound person was off duty that night. Said Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche, "Without question this never should have occurred."

?Even though she took a photographer to court last July to keep topless photos of her under wraps, Cameron Diaz has chosen the role of a Playboy model for her next movie. X-Girls is based on the true story of three Playmates who competed in the 2002 Eco-Challenge, a 300-mile, multidiscipline race in Fiji. During the Eco-Challenge the women slept in caves full of bats, were covered in leeches and had their feet torn up by ocean coral. The team, called Playboy X-treme, was the first mostly female squad to finish their race.

? Jim Calhoun may ply his trade somewhere between Boston and the Bronx, but the 61-year-old coach is a native of Braintree, Mass., and there's no doubting where his loyalties lie. When the Yankees asked the man who guided UConn's men's team to the national title to throw out the first pitch at an upcoming game, Calhoun, a lifelong Red Sox fan, said, "No way. Sixty years of torment is enough." Instead Calhoun threw out the first ball at Monday's Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park.

?You can't exactly call it the breakfast of champions, but Jake Delhomme, who quarterbacked the Panthers in their Super Bowl loss to the Patriots, is the latest jock to have his own cereal. Jake's Flakes (not to be confused with quarterback Jake Plummer's Jake's Flakes) are frosted cornflakes and are being sold in North Carolina stores.

?During his peripatetic coaching career Larry Brown has shown little allegiance to any city. But if his recent fashion trend is any indication, the first-year Pistons coach might finally have found a permanent home. On April 9, after the Tigers ran their record to 4-0, Brown showed up for a postgame press conference wearing a Tigers cap and an Ivan Rodriguez jersey. (Tigers manager Alan Trammell reciprocated two days later by meeting the press in a pin-striped suit, a la Brown.) Then on April 12, as the Red Wings were in the midst of their first-round playoff series with Nashville, Brown showed up for his press conference wearing a Steve Yzerman jersey. And if Pistons fans are worried that Brown might skip town over the summer, fear not. It looks as if he'll be around at least until the fall. "I hope to wear a Lions jersey soon," he said....

Whitney Ping, a 17-year-old from Portland, made the U.S. Olympic team in—what else?—table tennis. She qualified with her doubles partner, who, alas, is not named Pong....

ESPN has yet to cast the role of Pete Rose for its forthcoming movie Hustle, but they have nabbed a big name to direct: Peter Bogdanovich, who was nominated for an Oscar for directing The Last Picture Show.