PLAYBOY COMPROMISES GUERRERO?

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media

What de-evolved, knuckle-scraping sports genius out there wouldn't want to see Lisa Guerrero naked?

If the Fox Sports News anchor/reporter decides to take Playboy up on an offer to lose her clothes and pose, it could be a defining moment in women's TV sportscasting. First, she has to garner enough votes from the Internet electoral college of drooling men who visit Playboy.com and click onto their poll that seeks to name ``America's Hottest Female Sportscaster.''

Guerrero has already made the Top 10 list of finalists. Early projections, however, indicate ABC ``Monday Night Football'' sideline reporter Melissa Stark collecting the most support - about 30 percent of the 4,500 votes so far - with ``NFL on Fox'' weatherchick Jillian Barberie and CBS' Jill Arrington clawing it out for second.

The rest of the field - CBS' Bonnie Bernstein, Fox's Pam Oliver, NBC's Summer Sanders and the currently seven-months pregnant Hannah Storm, CNN/SI's Inga Hammond and Fox Sports Northwest's Arlene Arlati - have until the polls close Jan. 14 to jam the software counter.

So if the ``Hispanic hottie'' (as the Playboy.com bio calls her) attracts the most interest, will Guerrero . . . ya know . . . do it?

That shouldn't even be a question.

They shouldn't even be wondering if they'll be put on the spot and asked.

This shouldn't even be topic of conversation.

But this, my eye-popping friend, is the United States of Entertainment. And as much as women have made strides for credibility, it's their incredible beauty that continues to draw most of the attention on this visual medium. Those who got it, flaunt it. Those who don't can still make it. It's just a different way of going about it.

In this case, take it for whatever it's worth, have a laugh, then move on. 'Cause a lot of other people aren't.

ABC won't let reporters talk to Stark about the situation. CBS tried to get Lesley Visser to comment, but she declined.

USA Today columnist Christine Brennan, who already had sharp words for Barberie's antics during a piece that aired this week on HBO's ``Real Sports,'' did a column on the subject and blamed the men who run network television sports who are ``responsible for hiring some of the silly women on Playboy's list.''

And Fox's Keith Olbermann felt it necessary to do not one, but two radio commentaries, upset that none of the candidates had distanced themselves from this.

CNN/SI offered up Hammond for a statement almost immediately. Guerrero said she's been taking so many calls on the subject the last two days, she's afraid she'll mess up on her assignments for Fox.

``I'll probably get more publicity out of this than for when I asked Dennis Rodman a tough question, but that's just our culture and what viewers think is interesting,'' she said.

``Does this make me a sex object? What does that mean? It sounds like a cliche from the '60s. I think today people are pretty open-minded. But if I won, chances are I first wouldn't tell anyone, have fun with it, hope that it gets people to watch the show. . . .''

And . . .

``I'm not insulted by this, but chances are I wouldn't do it,'' she said. ``It would absolutely hurt my credibility. It has nothing to do with money. I'm on eight shows and I can make a lot of money fully clothed.''

--Missed the cut: Hannah Storm over Suzy Kolber? Angie Arlati instead of Leslie Gudel?

You do a Top 10 list like this and someone's going to be left off.

Like Fox Sports Regional News' 5-foot-9 and blond reporter Suzy Shuster.

``You'd think I'd have all the requirements,'' said Shuster, currently dating ESPN ``SportsCenter'' anchor Rich Eisen. ``The funniest reaction I've got from this is from guys who are asking me if I'm OK with being left off. They're offering to write me in.''

Shuster knows what she has to do.

``I guess all the turtlenecks I've been wearing are holding me back,'' she said. ``I got to go out and get some more low-cut tops and Miracle Bras.''

--And this programming note: On Jim Rome's ``Last Word'' show tonight on Fox Sports Net, former women's volleyballer Gabby Reece is the guest. She's discussing her decision to further enhance her career by allowing herself to become exploited in the current issue of Playboy.

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

--What does Lisa Guerrero have to gain by posing in Playboy? The story and pictures on her in the current issue of OYE, a Latino men's magazine, should be titillating enough.

--Heart to Hart: John Jackson, the Fox Sports Net analyst/reporter who nearly a year ago was undergoing emergency triple bypass surgery at age 33, says he's been feeling great recently as he goes on with his TV duties. ``As athletes they tell you to play through that kind of pain, but when I was having the chest pains I knew something was wrong,'' said the former USC wide receiver about the procedure that took place last February. ``I hate to call it a freak accident, but I had no signs or family history before this happened.'' After a season on the Fox Sports Net 2 high school football game of the week, Jackson will team with Jim Watson on tonight's 7 p.m. telecast of the Hart-Mira Costa Southern Section Division III championship. ``I've seen them twice this year,'' Jackson said of Hart, ``and I think it just took time for them to jell. They'll have a huge advantage playing at home (College of the Canyons).

``WHAT CHOKES

--As a way to drum up interest on America Online, Broadband Sports' senior national columnist Rick Telander has let readers of his twice-weekly AOL column decide who he'll vote for on his Heisman Trophy ballot. The choices: Oklahoma's Josh Heupel or Purdue's Drew Brees, with Florida State's Chris Weinke not an option. ``Not only does this demonstrate the value of a chad-free voting process but it suggests how the Internet can break new ground in sports journalism,'' says Broadband chief Jeffrey Pollack. No, journalism really isn't a factor in this kind of publicity-seeking activity. Let's remember that.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: no caption (sports reporter Lisa Guerrero)

Box: SOUND BYTES (see text)