Marv Albert's return to national broadcasting means that the best basketball play-by-play man in the business is getting a second chance. It means that the lumpy brown recliner in the corner will again have Marv's patented, "Yes!" as company in the nation's living rooms.

It also means that double standards remain as American as apple pie.

Let's refresh our memories.

After Albert was charged with forcible sodomy and sexual assault--the former charge carries a five years to life sentence--Albert's lawyers agreed to a plea arrangement that gave him a year's probation for misdemeanor assault and battery.

One woman had already testified that Albert, decked in women's underwear and a garter belt, propositioned her in a hotel room. Another claimed he had tried to sexually assault her on two separate occasions--again while wearing his trademark garter belt. Albert, it is believed, worked out the plea to prevent further details of his sordid sex life--which allegedly included testimony from a drag queen--from becoming late night talk show fodder.

Albert returned to the Madison Square Garden network one year after his Sep. 1, 1997 resignation, and his recently inked deal with Turner Network Television means he will be back on the national stage in April.

Latrell Sprewell tried to strangle his coach and was suspended for six months. He returned to the NBA when it returned to us, making his debut with the Knicks in a Jan. 27 exhibition game.

Sprewell is just over a year removed from his infraction. While Knicks fans, who grudgingly recognize that beggars can't be choosers, are ready to forgive and forget, Sprewell has already been roundly booed in multiple NBA arenas.

As MSG President Dave Checkouts said the week he traded for him, Sprewell is a "a poster boy for bad behavior in the NBA."

Albert's face lit up when he spoke of letters of encouragement from fans and the public support he has received since the trial ended.

"Everyone has been so favorable in New York at the games and walking on the street," he said.

After we got over the initial shock, it turned merely to humor, and all of a year elapsed before we welcomed Albert back in to the fraternity.

Both men apologized, Sprewell almost immediately and Albert after striking his plea bargain. Why do we allow Albert the repentance we deny Sprewell?

It seems that if we are determined to treat these two men unequally, our sympathy needs to take a 180-degree turn.

Albert told the New York Times in 1991, "I always wanted to be a sportscaster from the third grade on." The bright kid from Brooklyn was raised to have a goal and pursue it vigorously through established channels.