Dieter Brock Has Some Good Friends in the Right Places

The notebook . . .

How good is Dieter Brock?

We won’t really know until he sees his first live NFL action, but the Rams’ new quarterback apparently has charisma.

Example: A few years ago, Warren Moon took Edmonton to the CFL title, led the league in touchdown passes and threw for more than 5,000 yards, and Brock was named MVP.

Brock is already very popular with the one person who counts most, John Robinson.

The same John Robinson who discovered Eric Dickerson and Ron Brown.

If Brock is half as good as Robinson thinks he is, the Rams could develop quickly into the league’s most feared offensive machine.

Most improved major league team: The Padres.

They went from wearing baseball’s worst uniforms, to rating among the classiest five.

The Padres’ new pinstripes are traditional and ungimmicky. The new unies have probably added 20 points to Steve Garvey’s batting average, just by making him look and feel like a major leaguer for the first time in three seasons.

During a flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles the night of the last big fight in Las Vegas, the pilot came on the intercom with a bulletin:

“For you sports fans, we have received word that Thomas Hearns has just been knocked out in the third round by Marvin Haggard.”

Not to be confused with Marvelous Merle Hagler, the Okie from Muskogee.

Correction: Howie Long of the Raiders called to set the record straight. Howie Long is the highest paid defensive lineman in the NFL, not Mark Gastineau, as was stated here recently.

Long, a Villanova alum, also inquired how E-Z Ed Pinckney’s sneaker tasted. Howie was no doubt referring to a prediction in this column that Villanova would be crushed by Georgetown in the NCAA championship game.

The sneaker wasn’t bad, Howie. I just closed my eyes and pretended it was a Philly-style hoagie.

It’s a tossup who is getting more current TV exposure, Hawkeye Pierce on MASH reruns or Doug Flutie on USFL telecasts.

How many USFL teams does Flutie play for, anyway? The kid is on TV every week. How about throwing in some Mary Lou Retton, just for variety?

No wonder Mary Decker was crying after she tumbled onto the Coliseum infield in the Olympic Games.

According to Runner’s World magazine, that fall cost Decker hundreds of thousands of bucks. Had she won a medal, a clause in her shoe contract would have automatically made her a free agent in the highly competitive shoe endorsement market.

Carl Lewis, the magazine reports, earned $783,000 last year from track and related activities and endorsements.

Decker was sixth on the list with $355,000. Twenty track stars earned at least $110,000.

I assume this was an April Fool story--although it’s the May issue--since amateur athletes aren’t allowed to accept money.

Now I think I understand what Joe Douglas, Lewis’ manager, was talking about during the Olympic Trials.

Douglas told of offers to his client from pro football, baseball and basketball teams.

“But we’re going to stick with the major sport,” Douglas said.

It probably won’t make much difference in their series with the Suns, but this season the Lakers have a legitimate shooter of the three-point shot for the first time in the team’s history.

Byron Scott led the league in three-point shooting percentage with a .433 (26-for-60).

Somewhere along the playoff line, that obscure talent might come in handy.

Bernie Kosar could conceivably wind up being drafted five separate times by the NFL--twice this year, twice in ’86 and once in ’87.

It’s too complicated to get into here, but if he doesn’t like the Vikings’ offer after the regular draft this year, Kosar may be eligible for a special one-man supplemental draft.

Same next year, if he doesn’t sign this year and returns to college, where he has two seasons of eligibility left.

The funny thing is, while NFL team execs are locked in a ferocious interleague battle over the rights to Kosar, the scouts are yawning. A lot of them don’t think Bernie is in a class with such recent college phenoms as John Elway and Steve Young.

With all the attention drawn to the surprising performances of the UCLA and USC basketball teams this season, a stunning development on the local basketball scene was all but overlooked.

The Caltech Beavers snapped a string of 58 consecutive conference losses by defeating the University of LaVerne, 48-47.

Caltech finished the season 6-17, and, in an all-brain-school tournament, suffered narrow losses to Washington University of St. Louis, 96-50, and MIT, 71-46.

To close today’s column on an upbeat note:

Looking ahead to next season, the Caltech News reminds fans that “several key players will return.”