Notebook: May 25, 1998

WINNERS & LOSERS

[WINNERS]

PHIL KNIGHT Nike CEO will end child labor and improve factories abroad. Go, Phil--now hike that minimum wage!

LARRY BIRD Coaching honors, play-off wins--does the dream season go on or end with Jordan's wake-up call?

LARRY KING CNN schmooze artist re-ups for a reported $7 mil. Maybe now he can afford a belt

[& LOSERS]

SUHARTO Indonesia's longtime ruler outlasts his popularity. Should've taken a tip from Seinfeld

THE CIA An agency with a $27 billion budget misses a nuclear test that was announced in the paper

STEVE BRILL New mag has to change name from Content to Brill's Content; Hope Brylcreem doesn't carp

INDIA GOES BALLISTIC. WOULD A GROUP HUG HELP?

Last week, after India conducted its nuclear tests, President Clinton, in an unusual approach to policy, explained India's feelings. "They believe that they have been underappreciated in the world as a great power," he said. "And they think one reason may be that they're not an out-front, out-of-the-closet, open nuclear power. Well, I think they've been underappreciated myself." Because the President may be facing this crisis without adequate advice from a celebrity psychologist, we asked Dr. Joyce Brothers to talk to us about a hypothetical work situation in which a colleague feels underappreciated and threatens violence:

Q: Should a violent threat be taken seriously?

No one really knows whether such a person is actually dangerous. You're best off erring on the side of caution. The company should see that this man has therapy.

Q: Would this person be likely to back down after asserting himself?

Expressing anger increases our level of anger. It doesn't decrease it.

Q: Should this person be punished?

Not necessarily punished, but counseled. If this person doesn't want to share with a counselor, then there's a real reason to carefully terminate the person. You don't want to wait until four men in your department are killed to take it seriously.

THE MEN WHO WOULD BE FRANK

Over the years, more than a few promoters have thought, "Hey, here's a good-lookin' kid who can carry a tune; maybe he can be the next Frank Sinatra." More than a few were wrong. Singers could be very talented and still not be Sinatra. Here's how a few measured on Frank's Ring-A-Ding Rating.

PERFORMER COMMENTS RING-A-DING-DINGS (OUT OF 5)

DEAN MARTIN Could sing, could act, but couldn't [4] give a damn. Never picked material with the care Frank did, and never had his ambition.

TONY BENNETT Had, like Frank, a lovely liquid [4] baritone, but not his luck withr arrangers o his appeal to women. Where's his Ava?

SAMMY DAVIS JR. Sounds on some recordings more Frank [3 1/2] than Frank Possibly his lack of an Italian background handicapped him.

VIC DAMONE Certainly had the looks and the voice. [3] You wonder what his career would have been like had rock 'n' roll remained kids' music.

AL MARTINO Frank Lite. Known less for his singing [2] than for playing Johnny Fontaine, the Sinatra-inspired character in The Godfather.