Let's say you are an NFL quarterback. Let's say you are making millions of dollars. Why not hire someone to drive you home after a night of liquid refreshment?

That question has to be running through Jeff Garcia's mind today after his encounter early Wednesday morning with San Jose State University police in a fast-food joint's parking lot near the campus.

You can make all the jokes you want about Garcia scrambling and being blitzed. But it's no laughing matter. And Garcia knows it. About seven hours after he was released from the county jail on a DUI charge, he appeared at 49ers headquarters and was visibly distraught about his arrest. Unlike some athletes in these situations who read carefully prepared statements, Garcia spoke without notes for 75 seconds. He took no questions. He also left no doubt about his emotions.

``I'm extremely embarrassed for my family, for the San Francisco 49ers organization and for the Bay Area for having to put them through something like this,'' Garcia said. He ended by saying, ``It's not something that will be taken lightly at all. And it's something that I hope that I can put behind me very quickly.''

Not as quickly as he'd like. Garcia is innocent until proven guilty. Don't forget that 49ers defensive back Mike Rumph was arrested for DUI in Miami Beach in the summer of 2002 but was acquitted last February.

Nevertheless, if you look at the mug shot, you can tell Garcia was not in the best shape at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday when he was booked at the county jail. He's surely pondering what he might have done differently after leaving the Sharks game with his friends Tuesday night.

It's unclear why Garcia was booed by the HP Pavilion crowd at the game when his face was shown on the scoreboard's television. But it's clear he made some bad choices after leaving the building -- where he was also seen in the club bar, which stays open for a while after the games.

If you are a 33-year-old man, it can't be any fun having campus cops from your alma mater pull you over. Garcia became familiar with the downtown drinking establishments while a student. The place his group visited before the arrest, Mission Ale House, is a college-type hangout with that familiar musty college-bar smell and lots of beer on tap. The joint is mostly for young adults just out of school, people in their 20s and early 30s. If you're over 35, you're definitely one of the older customers.

As an extremely visible sports personality, Garcia has to know that (A) if he has so much as one drink in a public establishment, people are going to notice; and (B) if he then gets behind the steering wheel of a car, word is going to spread -- whether he is over the legal limit or not.

When former Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly was playing for the Bills, he realized quickly that he couldn't go out and enjoy nightlife like the average city resident. So he transformed his home's basement into a full-scale tavern with a bar, dance floor and video games. He invited friends and teammates over after games and tried to make sure they had safe rides home.

Garcia might not need to do something that radical. But he ought to be rethinking his social options. Along with everything else, this is an especially non-great time for him to be confronting a DUI arrest.

If Garcia pleads guilty -- and he seemed remorseful enough Wednesday to do that -- he could be disciplined by the NFL for his offense. But there is something else at stake, too. The 49ers are scheduled to pay Garcia nearly $10 million for the upcoming 2004 season. But it's common wisdom that his contract is going to be ripped up and restructured because of that lofty figure and its impact on the team's salary cap.

As he and his agent sit down with the team to negotiate the restructuring, which could well involve a salary decrease, the 49ers will consider a number of factors. Will this arrest be one of them?

Probably. But you'd like to think no more so than other stuff Garcia has done, both on and off the field. On the field, he's still the best quarterback on the roster. Off the field . . . well, no person is 100 percent terrific or 100 percent rotten. Or, certainly, 100 percent perfect. But Garcia has done much community work in the South Bay, particularly in the area of encouraging Latino youth to attend college -- and he has backed it up by donating scholarships himself. If Wednesday morning's arrest goes on Garcia's permanent record, then so should the positive deeds.

Pro football has fought issues with alcohol forever. There's even a Web site called badjocks.com with a constantly updated chart listing the blood-alcohol content of athletes who have been convicted of drunk driving. Garcia isn't the first 49er to be arrested for DUI. The Raiders' Sebastian Janikowski and Charles Woodson have alcohol-related arrests on their resumes.

The list also includes Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach Jon Gruden and Garcia's current coach, Dennis Erickson, who was pulled over for DUI in 1995 while he was with the Seattle Seahawks. He made no excuses and admits it was one of the worst nights of his life. Erickson has had no further incidents.

For this last reason, it's doubtful the 49ers will punish Garcia in terms of his contract. The 49ers knew about Erickson's arrest when they were choosing a new coach last winter. They investigated it and still hired him.

Knowing Garcia a little bit, the guess here is that Garcia will do as much as possible to redeem himself after Wednesday's ugliness. By now, he surely realizes how lucky he was to have the cops pull him over before he could hurt someone.

No matter how the case is resolved, the arrest will haunt Garcia until his career is over, and beyond. However, he knows the rules of celebrity, both fair and unfair. He has had tragedies in his life, with two of his siblings dying while he was in grade school. Garcia will figure out a way to handle this. And no matter how you cut it, he's still the key to the 49ers' success in the immediate future.

But next time he's out for a drink, he should give the keys to someone else.