Big bald Bruins

By Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein  |  April 9, 2009

Dennis Wideman will be thin on top for a while. That's because the Bruins defenseman yesterday went bald to benefit the Boston Bruins Foundation and Mass. General Hospital for Children's Pediatric Oncology Unit. Called "Cuts for a Cause," yesterday's haircut hoohah at the Harp was hosted by WBCN's morning men Fred "Toucher" Toettcher and Rich Shertenlieb. Wideman didn't intend to take it all off, but one of his teammates upped the ante. "Chuck Kobasew donated an extra $400, so Wideman took it right down to the wood," said defenseman Aaron Ward. "I bid to shave Stéphane Yelle because he's my intellectual nemesis in the clubhouse. . . . He looks pretty good now. His wife might even want to date him again." More than a dozen B's took part, including Ward, Yelle, Wideman, Kobasew, Patrice Bergeron, Byron Bitz, Matt Hunwick, Phil Kessel, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Michael Ryder, Mark Stuart, Tim Thomas, and Blake Wheeler. So who looks better without hair? "Bergeron looks pretty good," said Ward. "And Byron Bitz . . . he looks like a for-hire hit man." After yesterday's event, the players' next stop was the training room to get their helmets adjusted.

Actor Ben Affleck is committed to his craft. Before filming a scene at Gannon Municipal Golf Course in Lynn yesterday, Affleck spent some time practicing his swing Tuesday at McGolf in Dedham. The Cambridge-bred actor, who's in town filming "The Company of Men," hit a bucket of balls with Boston College men's golf coach Trevor Drum. "It was hard to tell it was [Affleck]," McGolf co-owner Marion McInerney told us yesterday. "He had a beard and it looked weird." According to McInerney, Affleck was in no mood to pose when a patron tried to snap a quick photo. "He wasn't too happy about it," McInerney said. "He said he wants to learn the game and he doesn't want to be made fun of." Fair enough. (It's not the first time a member of the Affleck clan called on a Boston coach for help - Ben's bride Jennifer Garner worked with BU trainer Mike Boyle to get in shape for "The Kingdom.") Affleck is in town shooting director John Wells's downsizing drama, which costars Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, and "Rachel Getting Married" actress Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Ben's better half in the film. The crew got an early start yesterday at Gannon. By 9 a.m., trucks had filled the parking lot. Employees, who'd seen Affleck milling around the course yesterday, told us the crew was filming a "winter scene" and would be back June 2 to film a summer scene. Gannon Municipal Golf Course was also used last year during filming of Mel Gibson's "Edge of Darkness." Four!

The return of baseball means the return of Heidi Watney about town. The NESN reporter was in Faneuil Hall yesterday for Treadmill Run for Heart, which had local personalities making strides on the 'mill on behalf of the American Heart Association. Also working up a sweat was former speaker Tom Finneran, Channel 7 weather gal Dylan Dreyer, Rialto chef Jody Adams, NECN health reporter Karen Swensen, WROR's Hank Morse, and Boston Blazers Dan Dawson and Mitch Belisle, who kept Watney company.

Matt Damon as Jason Giambi? Giambi wishes. The former Yankee recently told ESPN that if Michael Lewis's best-seller "Moneyball" ever comes to the big screen, he wants Damon to play him. "I like Matt Damon. Although he would have to gain a little weight," he's quoted as saying on ESPN's website. Rumors of a "Moneyball" adaptation began surfacing last year, with Steven Soderbergh attached as director. Brad Pitt is already slated to play super-GM Billy Beane. In a world where Pitt is Beane and Damon is Giambi, we'll cast Jason Segel as Youk. It's only fair.

Sox ace Josh Beckett was a winner again yesterday, unveiling the new Josh Beckett Cancer Treatment Room at Children's Hospital Boston. Accompanied by his mom, Lynn, dad, John, grandfather Robert Dupree, and team owner Tom Werner, the power pitcher presented CEO James Mandell with a check for $100,000 - the proceeds from last year's Beckett Bowl. The room, decorated by artist Sara Morton, includes renderings of Beckett and a bunch of his BoSox teammates. Established in 2007, the Josh Beckett Foundation supports community-based programs to help children, especially ones who are seriously ill, disabled, poor, or disadvantaged.

"Taxi" actor Danny DeVito and wife Rhea Perlman took in Tuesday's preview performance of "The Miracle at Naples" at the Huntington Theatre. Seems their daughter Lucy is in the cast. Afterward, mom, dad, and daughter posed for pics with the writer, David Grimm, and director, Peter DuBois. "The Miracle at Naples," rated V for very adult, is a comedy about food, sex, and love in all its forms.

Some of the brightest minds in medicine were at Harvard this week to preview "The Alzheimer's Project," HBO's series about the dread disease. (Maria Shriver is the executive producer.) Present were Randy Buckner, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory; Robert Green of the BU School of Medicine's department of neurology, genetics and epidemiology; Dr. Dennis Selkoe, co-director of the center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital; Dr. Reisa Sperling, director of Brigham and Women's Clinical Research, Memory Disorders Unit; and Dr. Philip Wolf, professor of neurology, medicine, and public health at BU. The show debuts May 10.

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