And when the Knicks' first stringers came in, their defense was sharp.

Asked whether the suddenly-new first stringers had the potential to start, Coslet replied: "No comment.

And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee aggressively touts its "team of first stringers," while attacking Republicans with news releases like one that proclaimed, "G.O.P. Comes Up Empty in Texas."

The Toledo Blade wrote that Hayes' desire to impress pollsters and to establish Bob Ferguson as the Heisman Trophy winner "precluded showing a trace of mercy to a badly crippled Michigan team, hurt by the absence of several first stringers."

Another Jet first-stringer has been injured and will miss the start of the season.

But Hostetler hung in, and at the end he played like the first-stringer he considers himself.

Belichick, though, would be the ultimate first-stringer if Kraft is able to hire him as coach and general manager.

On a veteran team that has experienced success, the decision of who starts matters to the first-stringer, to his backup and to curious fans.

It will, just as certainly, be only the beginning to a nightly process of appointing a first-stringer and then bracing for second-guessing.

"It's just like having a first-stringer."

The absent Higgs is his newspaper's first-stringer, and the object of Moon's wrath.

A first-stringer a year ago, he has split starts and carries this season with Dennis Thomas, a redshirt freshman.

Belfour was the first-stringer under Mike Keenan, the coach and general manager of the Hawks.

Henderson had been a first-stringer for the first 14 games, then was replaced by Corwin Brown, a better open-field tackler.

On the one hand, Johnson is fairly bursting to tell the world what he can do and how he expects to be a first-stringer, and soon.

Or, as Coach Jim Fassel told his new first-stringer today: "Step up to the plate, man.

Today, both Frase and Baldwin worked at left end, with Frase the nominal first-stringer.

The Jets have also acquired depth, and probably a first-stringer, at linebacker by signing Phifer, an eight-year starter with the Rams.

Asked if he were getting impatient about not being considered a first-stringer and getting the playing time that entails, Johnson said: "Yeah, I'm getting there.

Glenn Still Not Starting Except for Aaron Glenn, the Jets will start every first-stringer who began the season.

Another candidate is Dan Cloutier, the backup goalie, who could be the first-stringer if Mike Richter leaves as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The rest is well documented: Pennington has become a sensation, and Testaverde has become the backup while still trying to prepare himself as if he were the first-stringer.

Marc Crawford, Canada's coach, announced that Patrick Roy, his Colorado goalie, would be Canada's first-stringer.

Lewis was Duke's second-string tailback as a sophomore in 1944, but he took over starting duties after the original first-stringer, Allen Elger, suffered a knee injury.

Only RICHIE ANDERSON, listed as the first-stringer, has significant experience.

Coach John Muckler refused to say if Cloutier would start the next game, adding that he would decide between Cloutier and Mike Richter, the first-stringer, today.

One questionable position might be goalie, where the first-stringer, Tom Barrasso, is out indefinitely following shoulder surgery and the backup, Ken Wregget, is recovering from a pulled hamstring.

Cefis: Woody Stephens's second-stringer in February often proves to be his first-stringer by May, as happened with Swale, Caveat and Creme Fraiche.