DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                 TAG: 9703070912

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Molinaro 

                                            LENGTH:   55 lines

STEROID ALERT: SOME MIGHT BE CORKING THEIR BICEPS

FUTUREWATCH: The next scandal in Major League Baseball may relate to steroid use by players, a story that is starting to leak out. And all this time we thought it was the lively ball or corked bats that accounted for those home run derbies. Turns out some guys may be corking their biceps.

AGE GAUGE: With center Serge Zwikker two months shy of his 24th birthday, and freshman point guard Ed Cota sneaking up on 21, the North Carolina starting lineup is older than an NBA all-rookie team of Allen Iverson, Kerry Kittles, Kobie Bryant, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Stephon Marbury. Which is the long way of saying that the Tar Heels, who do not feature a teenager in their lineup, shouldn't be hurt by immaturity.

NIT TO PICK: Don't quite understand the spin some are putting on the Peyton Manning story. Because he graduates this spring, Manning will return to Tennessee essentially just to play football. In a real-world, non-jock context is that such an enlightened message?

THE BIG STORY: At Tennessee, Manning's decision to stay put is comparable to Elvis not leaving the building.

MOVING UP: Virginia Tech's Jim Druckenmiller owes Manning a big Thank You. Now that Knoxville remains Peyton Place, Druckenmiller should be the first quarterback taken in the draft.

TV TIMEOUT: By bringing together Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps and Dale Brown in the same studio, ESPN is redefining the term tag-team wrassling.

POWER HUNGRY: With all due respect to baseball's thin blue line, when did the umpires become The Show? When fans pay to watch players being sent to the showers, then maybe, umpires can expect more sympathy for their cause.

ON THE OUTSIDE: The Masters is prepared to go on without Curtis Strange this spring unless the Williamsburg pro manages to win a tournament in the next six weeks.

CIRCUS IN SESSION: Oliver McCall suffers a nervous breakdown in the ring, Riddick Bowe is flushed from Marine boot camp. ... and then wants another chance, and Sugar Ray Leonard loses badly after a grandfatherly effort. Boxing's sideshow never fails to amuse.

MR. DODGER: After Tom Lasorda was elected to the Hall of Fame this week, the Dodgers renamed the road entering their Vero Beach, Fla., complex, ``Tom Lasorda Lane.'' Said Lasorda: ``I'm going to ask Peter (O'Malley, the Dodgers' owner) if it's OK if I put a toll booth up.''

BIG JOKE: Pity the poor Notre Dame alumni. They're hoping to get rid of basketball coach John MacLeod and replace him with P.J. Carlesimo. But after leading his team to an 8-10 conference record, MacLeod was voted Big East coach of the year. So much for the luck of the Irish.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS: According to Earl Woods, his son Tiger ``will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity.'' Before or after he wins his first Masters?

NUMBERS GAME: Martina Hingis is about to take over the No. 1-ranking in women's tennis without having to face gimpy Steffi Graf or creeky Monica Seles across the net.

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