A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

What: “Outside the Lines” special--”High School Athletes: Do Jocks Rule the School?”

Where: ESPN, today, 4:30 p.m.

In the adult world, we all have had to deal with an arrogant and insensitive co-worker or supervisor who makes our blood boil. But in high school, where immaturity accentuates a lack of people skills, everything is magnified.

In the aftermath of the April 20 Columbine High tragedy in Littleton, Colo., attention was brought to the rift between athletes and non-athletes in high schools.

This excellent ESPN special takes a look at that rift. It is reported by Shelley Smith, who was assigned to write a story for ESPN The Magazine. It also evolved first into a feature for “SportsCenter” and finally into a half-hour special. The producer is Craig Lazarus.

Smith opted out of working the NBA playoffs to work on this story, which is close to her heart. Her father, Ronald Smith, is a retired Colorado high school principal who was at Lakewood High, which is in the same district as Columbine, and later Battle Mountain in Vail. Smith’s daughter, Dylann Tharp, 13, will be an eighth grader at Dodson Middle School in San Pedro in the fall.

Smith and Lazarus went to high schools across the country and did more than 70 on-camera interviews. One is with Dan Sanez, a music and drama student at Los Angeles’ Loyola High who is headed for Boston College. Sanez says he and his friends felt intimidated any time they walked past a group of athletes.

Charles Rich, a student in Geneva, N.Y., says, “They’ll push you into lockers, they’ll trip you on the stairs--like you’ll be walking down the stairs and they’ll just stand there and block the stairs so you can’t leave.”

Beau Davis, a football player from suburban Chicago, says, “Football players are supposed to be big, mean tough guys who aren’t intelligent and whatever. So I could see someone from the outside kind of looking at us--you know, sometimes we act foolish in the hallways or whatever--and you know, being kind of scared.”

Some results of a Chilton poll done for this show:

* 78% of high school students believe athletes are given preferential treatment by teachers and administrators.

* 72% believe at least some tension exists between athletes and non-athletes.

* 60% believe athletes feel superior to non-athletes.

* 24% were aware of an athlete mistreating a non-athlete.

* 11% of the athletes admitted mistreating non-athletes.

Lisa Kaune, a student from Bernardsville, N.J., says, “When I first heard about the Columbine thing, I kind of thought it was really bad, you know, because people died. But then I thought it’s a victory for all the kids who are different. It’s a horrible thing to happen, but in a way good came out of it ‘cause it kind of scared kids . . . and may cause them to think that we’re going to do something like that.”

This is a show high school students--and parents--will want to see.