People

By Lev Grossman

THE HOUND AND THE JURY

Despite the fact that there were many funnier-looking dogs with even funnier-sounding names, the prize for best-in-show at the 127th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show went to a Kerry blue terrier named TORUMS SCARF MICHAEL. The judges, who belong to that elite group of non-rappers who can say "bitch" a lot, chose Mick, as he's known for short, over 2,602 other contestants, including a bichon frise named Paray's I Told You So and a Newfoundland named Darbydale's All Rise Pouchcove. Neither Mick nor his owner, Marilu Hansen, will get any prize money, but Mick will get to breed with lots of good-looking dogs. And isn't that its own reward?

THE LADY AND THE TIGER

Why do they always want to play with the boys? Golf megastar Annika Sorenstam won 13 out of 24 tournaments last year on her way to posting the lowest average score in LPGA history. Now she is turning her eyes to greener, er, greens: she has accepted an invitation to compete in the Bank of America Colonial tournament in May, which will make her the first woman in more than 50 years to play in a PGA event. Sorenstam says she is "curious to see if [she] can compete." But experts don't foresee a Billie Jean King--style man-beating--Sorenstam will be driving from the men's tees, which are about 10% longer than the women's. A Top 10 finish is probably out of reach. But now that the athletic gender barrier is down, is it finally time for Dennis Rodman to try out for the WNBA?

Didn't He Use to Be A Musician?

Morbid fascination with MICHAEL JACKSON has eclipsed baseball and Yu-Gi-Oh! as our national pastime. On Thursday Fox will air a new prime-time special that will include Jackson's own footage of the fateful interviews with British journalist MARTIN BASHIR. (Bashir reportedly praises Jackson's parenting skills: "Your relationship with your kids is spectacular.") Meanwhile, on Monday night ABC will rerun the show that started it all, and NBC will show a special two-hour all-Jackson Dateline. Only CBS will stick to the relative moral high ground with such wholesome fare as 48 Hours Investigates, which will bring you an interview with a cosmetics heir who is on trial for date rape.

PLEASE, PLEASE PUT THESE SCENES ON THE DVD

Last November approximately 29 million viewers saw AARON BUERGE propose to schoolteacher HELENE EKSTEROWICZ on Fox's The Bachelor. Over New Year's, approximately nobody watched as they broke up. But theirs is not the most scandalous of behind-the-scenes Bachelor doings. The original, first-season Bachelor, Alex Michel, and his TV fiance, Amanda Marsh, have also called it quits. The reason? During the show's taping, Michel slept with--wait for it--TRISTA REHN, a runner-up to Marsh and current star of The Bachelorette. Even though Michel chose Marsh in the end, she told Inside Edition that Michel still had feelings for Rehn. This bothered Marsh so much that she decided to call things off. Let's just hope that whomever Rehn picks as her new fiance on Wednesday doesn't watch TV gossip shows.