The latest issue of GQ brings to mind a very good question about today’s athletes. Do we now live in a time when how an athlete looks, and what they own, outweighs what they do between the lines?

The GQ cover depicts Mario Lemieux, Kobe Bryant, Tiki Barber and Jason Giambi all decked out in hot fall fashions. It seems merino turtlenecks and leather coats are in again as the air turns crisp. Granted, GQ does call this issue its “Sports” issue, but the fact remains that athletes in today’s culture have added significance off the playing field.

Athletes have always done more than just play ball, but their involvement in ventures off the field were limited to a mere shadow of what we see today.

All sports fans know the legend of the infamous Honus Wagner ball card that appeared on a tobacco product to increase sales. Honus didn’t inhale, so production ceased, sending the value of the card heavenward. We have gradually escalated since.

Advertising and athletes have gone hand-in-hand since the beginning of both. The fact that we have easier access to those advertisements makes it seem like overkill. As soon as the top five draft picks in the NBA are called, you can bet your lucky penny that the majority of them will soon be seen in a video game or eating McNuggets for a camera.

But it is not just advertising that athletes seem to be involved in. They host their own talk shows, they do modeling work, they own companies, they star in movies and they make crappy music CDs. Capitalizing on their fame is perhaps the first lesson taught upon entering the pro ranks.

It is no surprise today to see a sports figure on “Cribs” or the latest round of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Is their any difference anymore between athlete and celebrity?

Perhaps the worst exploiter of their fame would be Anna Kournikova. This Wilson swinging femme fatale is much more famous for her button nose and pouty lips than for her backhand and net game. She has yet to win a major tennis tournament, but she easily tops the earnings list of all female tennis players. Sports are her platform; beauty is her nest egg.

The male equivalent to Ms. Kournikova would be Tiger Woods, with one major exception. Tiger is actually good. His ability to hole sand shots and sink 30-footers allows him to make the lump of his fortune through other mediums. His earnings potential for endorsements and other activities off the course far outweigh any money he will take home for winning tournaments.

So who really cares? Maybe nobody, as long as performances during games aren’t diminished. As soon as Marshall Faulk is too tired to run the football in the fourth quarter, because he was at EA Sports all day perfecting Madden 2002, we will have hit a snag.

Imagine Roger Clemens missing a World Series start because of hand cramping suffered during a Rawlings-sponsored autograph session.

However, it isn’t all big paychecks and smiles for these athletes. With extra exposure comes extra pressure.

Pressure to keep performing well, and pressure to not act human. Steffi Graf, Michael Irvin, Mike Tyson, Terrell Davis and, of course, O.J. Simpson are all athletes who had lucrative financial deals that fell through when they developed off-the- field personal problems.

The perception that these people appealed to the public enough to hawk products was quickly erased in the blink of a bad decision.

Different athletes, without commercial deals, would have slipped through the public’s fingers in the same instances. Things are only getting worse. Players’ images are everywhere, and just wait until the Michael Jordan barrage starts up again. We already know what kind of underwear he has on while munching on a Ballpark Frank. We haven’t seen anything yet.

There was a time not so long ago when people could break home-run records without doing a Disney World commercial. A time when the only thing that seemed to matter was the box score and the standings. Those days are gone. We now live in a time where we can go to a Magic Johnson Theatre, enjoy a Pepsi endorsed by Shaq, and then come home in time to find Dennis Rodman on the Late Late Show.

Sports are not just sports anymore. They are a stepping stone to higher dollars and more face time.

Putting a picture of an athlete on a magazine cover is fine, if he or she are on the cover because of something done on the field. Save the flashy styles for Zoolander.

Marcus Charter is a junior in journalism and mass communications from Ames.