point: “If it had happened to a heterosexualnwoman who had been with 100nor 200 men, they’d call her a whorenand a slut, and the corporations wouldndrop her like a lead balloon. And she’dnnever get a job in her life.” MissnNavratilova, a lesbian, added: “I don’tnhave one damn endorsement outsidenof rackets and shoes.” Conclusionnfrom Madison Avenue: better an immoralnand sexually immature malenthan a lesbian who believes in monogamousnrelationships.nMost importantly, this incidentnshould be used for opening debate onnthe role that sports and athletes play innAmerican culture. Last year BobbynBonilla was a good, slightly aboveaveragenbaseball player for the PittsburghnPirates. Last December he becamenthe highest-paid athlete in thenhistory of team sports, signing a $29nmillion contract to play five years fornthe New York Mets. And by all standards,nBonilla has nowhere near thenpotenHal or ability of a dozen othernplayers currently in baseball. A LittlenLeague ^baseball manager in La Center,nWashington, was last year chargedntransactionn8/CHRONICLESnwith second-degree assault with a,ndeadly weapon when he beat an umpirenwith a baseball bat during a postgamenargument. The umpire hadncalled the game because of darkness,nmeaning the score of the game revertednto the previous inning when thenother team was winning. The managernwas also a local school board member:nOne of the arguments used by EdwinnEdwards in the recent gubernatorialnelection in Louisiana was that, if DavidnDuke were elected, athletes would benscared away from attending Louisiananschools, costing the state millions innlost revenue. Sports tainting politics byntainting higher education — not a prettynscenario.nAt Dixie College in St. George,nUtah, crimes committed by school athletesnhave led to a heated debate in thenlocal press. In the last seven years,nthere have been 27 charges of rape onncampus — 24 against athletes, 22 ofnthem being against football players.nLast year four Dixie football playersnwere charged with varying crimes involvingnthree teenaged girls, and angroup of recruits committed a robberynwhile staying at Dixie. One footballnplayer had an extensive juvenile record,nincluding the beating of a man whonlater died. The chief of campus security,nDon Reid, told Sandi Graff of thenlocal Daily Spectrum that he knew ofnplayers who had been recruited rightnout of prison. Football coach GregnGroshaw was fending off charges latenlast year that he had met with a probationnoflRcer and a judge in Arizona tonget a prisoner an early release to playnfootball at Dixie.nWith sports permeating every porenof American culture, the public responsento the Magic Johnson storynshould not be surprising. A Germannnews agency compared Magic Johnsonnto the Persian Gulf War in the degreenof national attention garnered in thenAmerican press — what a comfort tonparents who lost a son or daughter innthe Saudi desert.nAlexander the Great slept with ancopy of the Iliad under his pillow to getncloser to the noble and heroic figuresnof antiquity, but our kids have a differentnclass of heroes. The classics arenout, along with virtue and exemplaryn^ ^ Learned, thoughtful,nV V and superbly ^ ^nwrittenn-Robert NisbetnNATIONAL REVIEWn”In this probing and thoughful book, ThomasnFleming has begun to address the principalnchallenge to our society and polity.”n-Elizabeth Fox-GenovesenCHRONICLESn”A thoughtful conservative of the old school.n… Progressives and radicals could benefitnfrom grappling with Fleming’s intellectuallynstimulating presentation.”nISBN: 0-88738-189-8 (cloth) 276 pp. $32.95nTHE PROGRESSIVEnMajor credit cards accepted. Call (201) 932-2280nSend prepaid orders to:nF”^^ transaction publishersnI r» I Department FLn^ mi Rutgers-The State Universityntransaction New BruRSwJck, N.J. 08903nnn