DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 1997           TAG: 9710290536

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

REAL MESS: DRUGS, FIGHTS AND DREADED STRIKE ZONE

It's reassuring to know that there are still some things happening in big-time sports today that can infuriate the masses.

The New York Times just reported that 60 to 70 percent of the NBA smokes marijuana and engages in heavy drinking.

Naturally, well-bred sports fans, editorialists, even political commentator George Will, have expressed outrage. They are vexed. They have been kept busy venting their spleens.

They couldn't be more angry or resentful ... over what's happened to baseball's strike zone.

As for reports of casual drug use among so many of our rich and famous athletes: Ho hum. Shrug.

Misplaced priorities and lost perspective make up the foundation of games, but isn't it a bit much the way the country is willing just to laugh off criminal behavior by celebrity jocks?

``I don't know what the percentage is,'' says NBA star Grant Hill, ``but I'm pretty sure there are a lot of guys who use marijuana.''

According to the Times, one agent puts the figure higher than 70 percent.

And yet, marijuana use is not a no-no under the NBA's substance-abuse policy.

``If it's illegal in the United States, but legal in the NBA,'' says Hill, ``then that's kind of sending the wrong message.''

Kinda.

But whatever the message, the NBA's audience doesn't care to receive it. Just as nobody seems to care when Charles Barkley hurls 5-foot-2 Jorge Lugo through a plate-glass window.

This isn't the first time Barkley has responded to insults and aggravation with excessive force. And our reaction? A giggle. A wink. Ha-ha. What a character that Charles is.

Meanwhile, we save our resentment for Major League Baseball umpires.

The umps are a disgrace. They are contemptible, detestable. They are bullies with bad eyesight. They have offended a sensitive nation with their dubious strike zone. For this, they deserve ridicule and condemnation.

And Barkley? Well, all he did was throw another human being through a plate-glass window. What's to get upset about?

If tossing someone through a plate-glass window is unacceptable in the U.S. but a laughing matter when the perpetrator is Charles Barkley, then that's kind of sending the wrong message, don't you think?

And yet, the strike-zone controversy honestly has provoked more fallout from seemingly intelligent people than we can expect to hear anytime soon in response to the NBA's drug situation or Barkley's arrest for aggravated battery.

Most likely, the well-bred fan is comfortably numb from years of exposure to athletes who refuse to act their age or even their IQ.

As a result, what might have been a big, semi-scandalous story a few years ago - such as Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh breaking his hand in a silly fight with TV commentator Jim Kelly - simply becomes more grist for the radio squawk show cynics.

Inappropriate, self-destructive or illegal behavior by athletes doesn't seem to leave much of a negative impact on the public anymore.

Take the case of basketball player Allen ``No Contest'' Iverson. We are assured by savvy sports merchandisers that Iverson's run-in with the Virginia State Police will do no damage to his marketability. That it may even enhance his prominence among the young.

``Ten years ago, this would have been the end of his endorsement career,'' says an industry insider. ``Today, bad behavior is rewarded.''

In other words, celebrity trumps character.

Where's an umpire when you really need one. Three strikes and you're out? Only on the baseball field.

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