Fast Break

Figure skating

Kwan skates into diplomacy

Michelle Kwan has found a new way to represent her country on the international stage.

The five-time world figure skating champion was appointed a public diplomatic envoy by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as part of a program to help improve the nation’s image abroad.

Rice said Kwan’s experiences as a world-class figure skater who won her first world title at age 15 are “a deeply American story” admired by many.

Kwan is now studying political science and international affairs at the University of Denver.

NBA

Team came at a Net loss

Former Nets president Jon Spoelstra said the team was filled with “convicts and criminals” during his tenure with New Jersey.

Spoelstra, president of the Nets from 1993-95, said that his players were in so much legal trouble then, team publications could have been filled with “mug shots.”

“One year we had six guys in jail,” he said Thursday. “Not together, because that would have meant teamwork.”

College football

How about getting Rudy?

In this era of sequels, remakes, cover versions and the dumbing down of brilliant British comedies for American consumption, it’s not surprising to learn that someone wants to film a new version of the George Gipp story.

But who would play the part of the ill-fated Notre Dame star? Would you believe … Brady Quinn?

Sixty-six years after Ronald Reagan portrayed Gipp in “Knute Rockne All-American,” Roger Corman has announced plans to produce “Win One for the Gipper.”

Corman’s directing and producing credits include “Attack of the Crab Monsters,” “Attack of the Giant Leeches” and “Attack of the 60-Foot Centerfolds,” but nothing yet about the 1920 Notre Dame rushing attack.

Corman says he hopes to cast Quinn in the lead role but hasn’t received a response.