The Swimsuit Issue: Hot Cover, Less Sizzley Inside

Kudos to Elaine Farley, the new "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit editor, for putting Tyra Banks on the cover of the latest issue (pictured at left). At various times over the past few months, a number of the supermodels appearing inside were go ing to be cover girls. First we heard it was going to be Niki Taylor. Given the expansive spread she got in this issue (12 pages of fabulous swimsuit pics and 6 pages of feature article about her bonefishing skills), that would have been a teriffic choice. Then it was going to be Steffi Graff, who, interestingly, is one of the swimsuit models. Then it was going to be Eva Herzigova, who got a healthy 11 pages. Finally, as reported on Monday, it was going to be who it is: Tyra. It's a gutsy call. It marks the first time that an African American has had the opener all by herself. Tyra was on the cover last year, but she shared the honor with Valeria Mazza in a sort of toe-in-the-water approach to plumbing the depths for a potenti al backlash. Farley ran way past the toe stuff and dove in deep this year. Good for her.

Among the other distinctions between this and prior years: A relative absence of anything else in any way sports related. Niki's bonefishing article gets into tackle and casting styles; an article about Tyra and her starry-eyed view of the L.A. Lakers is great reading; there's a quick piece on sports in Monaco; and a volleyball story -- down boy, they're clad where it counts. There's a great historical retrospective of the bikini with some nostalgic shots of famed bikini wearers of the past. But don't lo ok for this week's hockey and basketball scores or articles about Tiger Woods and the Yankees spring training camp.

Disappointingly, scant too are the number of perennials who always seem to grace these coveted pages. Only Tyra, Valeria Mazza and Stacy Williams are returnees. It would have been great to see Rebecca Romijn and Manon Von Ge rkan repeat, but you can't have everyone every year.

And the issue is plenty long on models anyway. When you've got the whole issue, you've got the room. The line up this year includes (listed in order of appearance): Karen Mulder, Niki Taylor, Naomi Campbell, Vendela, Stacey Williams, Eva Herzigova, Valeria Mazza, Tyra Banks, Steffi Graff, Chandra North, Laetitia Casta, Navia and Brandi, among others.

While Farley's first attempt at making this work is more than credible, this year's issue doesn't seem to have the same snap and sizzle last year's did. Many of the models don't jump from the pages as most of them did last year. Some are muted by the sce nery. Others are rendered lusterless by poses more apt for "House and Garden." Nonetheless the 250+ pages (versus 202 last year) are still well worth the $4.95 cover price (the same as last year).

Perhaps the biggest hoot we got appears in one of the ads. We won't give it away. Just make sure you check out the Chivas Regal ad on the back cover. It'll give you a tickle for sure. Anybody know what Weird Al is doing these days?