People

By Ellin Martens

WHAT WOULD DENNIS MILLER SAY ABOUT THIS ONE?

What a great leg! That's what Jacksonville State football coach Jack Crowe thought when from his office window he watched ASHLEY MARTIN, 20, kicking footballs after her soccer practice. He promptly recruited the pride of Sharpsburg, Ga., as his backup kicker. Last week he and 11,000 fans at the Alabama school watched Martin boot her way into college-football history as the first woman to play--and score--in Division I football. The 5-ft. 11-in., 160-lb. Martin ran onto the field, ponytail peeping out from under her helmet, to kick three extra points in a lopsided 71-10 victory over Cumberland State. "I almost teared up at the end," said proud papa Wayne. (Cumberland, handed its 18th straight loss, presumably did too.) Crowe gave No. 89 the game ball as her teammates cheered. The modest Martin is used to this sort of thing--she played football in high school, even accepting her homecoming-queen crown in her pads and cleats at halftime.

I Want My Foxx TV

With a song in his heart and "stingers" in his pockets (i.e., pointed barbs scribbled by his joke writers), actor JAMIE FOXX, 33, insists that he's ready to be the host of this week's MTV Music Video Awards, a ceremony that prizes spontaneous combustion. New York City's Metropolitan Opera House is the venue, so Foxx says he'll open the show with nominated songs sung aria-style. In between introducing performers like Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Staind and U2, says Foxx, his mission is to set the pace and "up the ante." He's also intent on getting an intro to Best New Artist nominee Alicia Keys, though he notes that Best Female Artist contender Missy Elliott is "sure looking fine. You know that song One-Minute Man? I'll be her Two-Minute Man." Sounds like the spontaneous combustion part won't be a problem.

GEORGIA ON OUR MINDS

Country music sours on its sweet young things pretty quickly--or maybe that's just what happens when those fresh faces start suing their record labels or sneaking the bag boy from the Piggly Wiggly on the tour bus. And country hasn't had a fresh young thing in a couple of years. Then in walks Georgia peach (from Tipton) singer-songwriter CYNDI THOMSON, 24. Her first CD, My World, is the best-selling debut album since teen belter LeAnn Rimes' Blue. Thomson's discovery was a little bit country: she left dog Charlie behind to go to Nashville, and her parents sold the car to pay her way. Of course her looks haven't hurt--and neither has her husky voice, which has been compared to Sheryl Crow's. Granted, the peach theme is a bit overripe (she poses with the fuzzy fruit on her CD cover), and Thomson's sweet songs occasionally turn into mushy produce. But when she plaintively says, "I was so hungry to make it" in Nashville--well, the girl can sell them peaches.

ALICE'S RESTAURANT TURNS 30

A seven-hour lunch for 600? Why not, when you're legendary restaurateur ALICE WATERS, 57, of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and celebrating your 30th anniversary in business. Waters revolutionized the American way of eating with her emphasis on fresh, organically grown produce and unfussily prepared meat and fish with a Cali-Tuscan twist. If not for Waters, we'd still be wandering in that culinary wilderness between Salisbury steak TV dinners and French foo-foo food smothered in cream. Waters' anniversary meal cost $500 a head and featured lamb, spit roasted over oak and cherrywood fires, served with sauteed chanterelles, and mulberry ice cream cones for dessert. Missed the foodie event of the year? Waters is offering her services on eBay, with proceeds going to her Chez Panisse Foundation for youth and community projects. Bids for a Waters-prepared dinner for eight start at $44,000. The anniversary dinner was a bargain.