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SPORTS:.............%u2014 ......GARY HOENIG%u2019SBottomCome November, the citizens of New Jersey are likely to be represented in the Senate by Bill Bradley, who only two years ago was roaming the Garden floor in pursiut of John Havlicek and others, as a forward for the New York Knicks. Certainly Bradley is not the first athlete to achieve instant success as a political candidate. Jack Kemp, the former Buffalo quarterback, is now a Congressman from that area, with a reputation as a comer in the right wing of the Republican Party. Decathlon champion Bob Mathias was a Congressman from California for a couple of terms. Vinegar Bend Mizel, who pitched for the Pirates during the late fifties, was elected to Congress despite political views slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, and somewhat less sophisticated.But Bradley is not running for one of 435 seats. Political novices don%u2019t normally shoot for as prestigious a position as Senator. And it is entirely possible that after a modestly successful six-year term, Bradley could become a serious candidate for the Vice Presidency in 1984. He is intelligent, genial, and a hard worker, if a bit stiff in public. His views are well thought out, and his private life is as impeccable as Ralph Nader%u2019s. In short, Bradley is no worse than the usual bright-eyed newcomer political parties sometimes gamble on - except that he has managed to leapfrog all the political dues paying that normally goes into winning such a prestigious nomination. Oh, Bradley has done his political homework, and has spent long hours with local politicos and voters on the streets. And his position as the favorite is the result of the surprise victory in the Republican primary of Jeffrey Bell, a conservative with a Proposition 13 campaign who shocked incumbent Clifford Case, a liberal Senate veteran with a publicly admitted alcohol problem.But Bradley wouldn%u2019t be where he is if it wasn%u2019t for his old persona as a basketball player. Before Bradley%u2019s political career was more than mere speculation. New Jersey politicos knew his recognition factor was very high in the state. Aside from his career with the Knicks, Bradley had play his college ball at Princeton, where he was perhaps the most heralded college player of all time, a Great White Hope in a sea of dunking black bodies. His refusal toWhite Knight sheen to his All America image. His publicized views on current issues coincided with the soft leftism of the new generation of voters, without alienating the older voters. And, three times a week during the basketball season, Bradley would parade his number 24 before hundreds of thousands of metropolitan area voters on the old video billboard. Why waste him on the state legislature? Why not give him a crack at something worthwhile?In Bradley%u2019s case, the justification seems rational. He is more qualified to run for high office than most of the hacks who normally get a crack at the job.Certainly the smart money would he on number 24 in any debate between, say, Bradley and Roman Hruska. But Bradley%u2019s rapid ascent to the top raises some important questions.KnickWithPoliticalKnackWe are living in an age when all public personalities have become homogenized. Bruce Caputo and Perry Duryea follow Mr. Whipple and Suzanne Sommers on the screen. Do the catch phrases used by Jerry Brown sound any different than an ad for a new L. Ron Hubbard book on dianetics? Does the voter distinguish between Jesse Jackson ann Reggie Jackson? Don%u2019t you think Billy Martin could run for Congress and get elected?Bradley and John Glenn, the former astronaut who is now a Senator from Ohio, have proved to some degree that they are both intelligent, qualified men who have some claim on the job they seek or hold. That fact makes their candidacies more palatable to those of us who still pay some attention to such niceties. But, like the games whose vocabulary politicians are so fond of quoting, politics is played to win. No doubt a slew oi political candidates will emerge in the next decade whose sole qualification for office will be the mass recognition they have accidentally obtained by being 7' tall or throwing a 90 m.p.h. fastball. Is it so difficult to imagine Bill Walton running for Congress in Marin County, or Sparky Andersonin o f/\\r tVw* a t f h n i K f %u2019 in O h i o ^... ...O -..........It is easy to dismiss television fare as pablum fed to a tired and undereducated public. It is an easy, elitist excuse to escape responsibility for what actually shapes the public consciousness. But we better keep an eye on those guys in uniforms out there, especially the ones that get to blab into the mikes after the games are over. They may be telling us all what to do one day.Jets%u2019BrutalButtle:%u2018Hitting isWhat TheGame isAll About.%u2019In the midst of the locker room jubilation after Jets%u2019 opening day victory over Miami, a reporter approached Greg Buttle, the Jets precocious outside linebacker, and asked him if he was surprised at how well the Jet defense had played that afternoon. %u201c Where you been during the preseason, man,%u201d Buttle snarled. %u201cYou reporters are all alike. Haven%u2019t you seen us play this season?%u201dIt was an angry response from an intense young man, the kind of player coaches look for when building football team s. Fans recognize them. They%u2019re hitters, guys that slam opponents with grim delight, the guys who pop so hard that heads turn to see who is beating on whom. Strong and fast may be the physical requirements, but sensitive and intense are the psychological ones.Buttle was seven-year-old when he began to channel the frustrations of growing up into playing football, %u201c Funny thing was, I hated football then,%u2019%u2019 Buttle says, %u201c I only played it because my friends did.%u201d But by the time Buttle became a pro, after four years at Penn State,it had become apparent to him that when the play comes his way. football drained him of a lot of But there are some unfortunate iestless, unfocused energy, signs that Buttle is not always able %u201c During the season, I%u2019m pretty to control his emotional intensity, calm off the field. I don%u2019t go In the Jets first loss last weekend drinking with the boys or looking against Seattle, Buttle was called for fights, anything like that. But for five of the Jets record 13 during the off-season, say, around penalties including an unnecessary April or May, I really start getting roughness capped by an unsportsantsv, nervous. I have to lift manlike conduct provoked by weights or something.%u201d buttle%u2019s reaction to the first penaltyButtle%u2019s relentless desire to be Buttle was also called for defensive the best at what he does provides holding during the Jets last opporperfect motivation for performing tunity to get the ball. %u201c A mickey the violent tasks that are part of his mouse call,%u201d he groused after the job. And he makes no bones about game. %u201c Goes on all the time.%u201d the violence. %u201c Violence is what this Observers may wonder how game is all about. You can put a players like Buttle can motivate bunch of people out there hitting themselves to be brutal and each other and call it a game. But aggressive on the field. Buttle, there%u2019s no game on earth like it.%u201d however, knows better than to ask The contact, the occasional fight, himself such questions. That kind are part of being a football player, of self doubt can destroy a career, in Buttle%u2019s view. %u201c Hitting is what the game is allButtle%u2019s enthusiasm was about,%u201d says Buttle, with a glance occasionally a liability during his at Jet coach Walt Michaels, himself first two years as a pro. %u201c I made a a grizzled linebacking veteran of JC lot of mistakes, because I wanted to N.F.L. seasons, %u201c Ask the coach be everywhere, make every play.%u201d what happens to you if you don%u2019t Now Buttle is playing more intel- hit. If you want to play football, you ligent football, reading the play, learn to do what is expected of covering his area, reacting quickly you.%u201dThat WasThe weekend that just passed fulfilled its promise of being one of the best New York sports fans have been able to enjoy. The pick of events, in the area and on the tube, was consistently first quality without events conflicting with one another too frequently.Friday - The Knicks open training camp at Monmouth College. All 7' of Marvin Webster are very much in evidence. Mike Glenn, free agent guard also acquired, looks slick in pickup game. Jim McMillian and Earl Monroe are nowhere to be found; they haven%u2019t signed, and aren%u2019t likely to. Jim Cleamons is there but may be traded any day. The talent is there, but the vibes are not good. Ron Guidry calmly pitches his second straight two hitter against the crumbling Red Sox. Yanks put it away with four in the fourth Meanwhile, the Mets are doing to Philly what they had already done to the Pirates, that is, beat them when the games really count. 5-4. Rookie Dan Norman, the fourth player in the Torn Seaver deal, collects a pair of homers, making his total four in his first week of play. The Yankee game ends just as the Ali-Spinks fight begins, and the Stadium bar stays packed throughout the fight. Fights break out on Jerome Avenue as Spinks supporters gradually discover what a mediocre fighter their man really is. Ali impresses with fabulous footwork and reflexes for a 36-yearThe Weekendold, but doesn%u2019t pack enough wallop in his right hand to put away Cosell, never mind Larry Holmes. Spinks shows a tendency to get mad when he gets hit, but he seems incapable of doing anything substantial about it. Both fighters would fail a before-and-after test to determine whether the fight actually took place. No one got cut, no one got dropped, no one got hurt. But the ex-Greatest can still put on a show.SATURDAY Sports world aghast as Red Sox actually take a lead over the Yankees on tremendous Jim Rice first inning homerun. But Yanks come back and w>in it on some nifty Mickey Rivers hitting and running. Phils beat Mets handily. MeanwJiile, Penn State is intercepting Ohio State to death, driving Woody Hayes into his 29th and 30th respective childhoods State wins 16-0. Eastern collegiate football wins big one. So does Seattle Slew in Marlboro Cup at Belmont Slew badmouthed when he won triple crown in 1977, as best if a bad lot. Affirmed, on the other had, was touted as legit triple crown winner because of quality of opposition. But the 5-2 Slew, with Angel Cordero up for (ho first time, takes an early lead over Cauthcn and Affirmed, and breezes home a winner in only two seconds off Secretariat's track record.SUNDAY - Giants win handily 26-10 over Chief, and look like a serious team. Pisarcik scores earlyThat Wasand often, and takes advantage of numerous breaks. Jets commit record 13 penalties and go down cursing to the pesky Seahawks, 24-17. Richard Todd has respectable day but gets greedy too often and throws too many interceptions. Seahawks Jim Zorn impressive with take-what-theygive-you patience at quarterback. Red Sox finally beat Yanks, which may have pushed Sadat and Begin into receptive anything-can-happen mood, Mets beat Phils, 2-0, with Mike Brobest of Queens pitching. Other surprises: Tampa Bay shocks Minnesota; the Rams crush the haughty Cowboys.THE FUTURE - Giants play the winless 49crs at home, but O.J. Simpson is due, and the Giants can%u2019t be too careless despite last week's win. The Jets play the undefeated Redskins in Washington. and that looks like trouble. But the Jets generally play better against better teams, and the Redskins aren't as tough as they look. The Yanks, after placing the Brewers, civ- out the season over the ne.u two weeks against Toronto and Cleveland, two clay pigeon .teams. Look for the American League eastern division in Bob Lenu n%u2019s office pietty soon. The Mets won%u2019t be playing any contenders any more so the fun is mostly in watching the youngsters.-G.H.September 21, 1978, TH E PHOENIX, Page 52