The Beat

Howard Cosell is returning to television. Last week brought news that comedian Fred Willard would play the sportscaster in ABC's upcoming telepic about the Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs tennis match. Now we hear that TNT has begun preproduction on a movie about the early days of Monday Night Football, with actor John Turturro portraying Cosell (right). The film is an adaptation of the 1988 book Monday Night Mayhem, by Marc Gunther and Bill Carter. "The story is mostly about Cosell," says Gunther. "How he made the show, America's love-hate affair with him, and how, at the end, he turned his back on sports and walked away a bitter man." Shooting begins in January....

The NFL likes to think of itself as one big happy family. Some players are apparently taking that literally. Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor recently proposed to girlfriend Katina Thomas, sister of Miami linebacker Zach Thomas. Vikings defensive tackle John Randle is engaged to Candace Powers, sister-in-law of Minnesota quarterback Todd Bouman....

Call it Titanic news: Singer Celine Dion is reportedly part of an investment group looking to buy the Canadiens. Dion and husband-manager Rene Angelil have joined with the producers of Cirque du Soleil and a Montreal French-language TV network to prepare a bid for the storied hockey franchise....

Count Spike Lee among the critics of the Will Smith- Matt Damon golf movie, The Legend of Bagger Vance. During a panel held at Harvard last week on Lee's new film, Bamboozled, Lee noted that Vance—which he dubbed Driving Mr. Damon—is set in the South in the 1930s, a time when blacks were being attacked and lynched. "With all that going on," said Lee, "why are you f—-ing trying to teach Matt Damon a golf swing?"...

Irritable skater Tonya Harding has reunited with her boyfriend, Darren Silver. To refresh your memory, he's the guy Harding beat up earlier this year; among other things, she smashed his nose with a hubcap. Harding says that since the incident she has stopped drinking and undergone anger-management treatment. Now, she says, she enjoys being "the woman at home."