Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 3, 1989

I’m baaaack . . .

If you remember me from the Herald Examiner, I hope you will continue to enjoy the column. To new readers of “Notes on a scorecard,” a note or two of explanation. This is the buffet of sports columns. If an item isn’t appetizing, proceed directly to the next. Variety will be the spice of this space four times weekly . . .

Most of the notes are compiled from a press box seat at a sporting event or an easy chair in front of a television set. I’m a sportsaholic. Big events are my bag, but the best of any sport is worth commenting about. Well, maybe not the America’s Cup . . .

The Pepperdine Waves are OK with me, but not the wave . . .

I knew hockey before Gretzky or Bo. Boxing is still the sweetest of sciences. College sports are my favorites, but the pros run a close second. There’s so much more to the ponies than merely the pari-mutuel windows. Give me UCLA vs. USC any time, whether it’s hoops, debate or water polo . . .

Consider yourself a true aficionado if you can name more than one horse in any Breeders’ Cup race Saturday except the Classic. This year, it’s six prelims and a main event. The MVH--Most Valuable Horse--should be Sunday Silence. He’s won two of three from Easy Goer and is better on the road . . .

More than 75,000 tickets have been sold for the Beach Boys and the pre-concert USC-Oregon State football game at the Coliseum Saturday. Record attendance for a Trojan-Beaver game in L.A. was 61,301 in 1947, when the Boys were toddlers . . .

The Gate 6 Motel is located across from Gate 4 at Hollywood Park . . .

Peter O’Malley should spend the anticipated profits from raising ticket prices by a buck each--3,000,000 fans would mean an extra $3 million--on a contract for free-agent pitcher Mark Langston. Then trade either John Wetteland or Ramon Martinez for Red Sox center fielder Ellis Burks . . .

Sharlene Hawkes, the former Miss America from Utah who hosts ESPN’s “Scholastic Sports America,” exudes star quality . . .

George Raveling is conducting USC basketball practice at 6 a.m. daily in the campus gym and tardiness will not be tolerated. “Anybody who shows up later than 10 minutes to 6 gets kicked off the floor,” says Early Bird George . . .

Junior forward Larry Johnson of Nevada Las Vegas would have been a lottery pick if he had chosen to go directly from Odessa (Tex.) Junior College to the NBA . . .

The Jimmy Carson trade makes the Great Gretzky deal look all that much better for the Kings . . .

For the first time ever, all four major league commissioners--Paul Tagliabue, Fay Vincent, David Stern and John Ziegler--are lawyers . . .

Tonight’s date: The NBA opener, Clippers vs. Rockets, at the Sports Arena. There’s a new look in the Clippers’ dressing room. Unfortunately, it’s the room, not the players. It’s twice the size of the old one . . .

In an otherwise empty Sports Arena Tuesday night, Danny Manning and Elgin Baylor went at it for 90 minutes, one-on-one, halfcourt. Both looked primed for comebacks . . .

The Lakers will dress four rookies tonight in Dallas. Three weren’t drafted. The other, Vlade Divac, was drafted twice, by the Lakers and the Yugoslav army . . .

Notre Dame should whip Navy Saturday if the Irish aren’t caught looking ahead to next week’s game against SMU . . .

I’ve never seen a pump fake by a quarterback that didn’t work . . .

The 1978 Steelers upset the previously unbeaten ’72 Dolphins, 21-20, in NFL Films’ “Dream Bowl.” So who beat the ’78 Steelers for real? Houston and the Rams . . .

Fight of the Year should be the Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor super-lightweight title bout March 17 in Las Vegas. No senior citizens allowed inside this ring . . .

The NCAA’s two-point conversion rule makes for more exciting finishes than the NFL’s overtime . . .

Joe Walton is getting a bum rap in New York. It’s the lack of playing talent, not coaching talent, that’s ruining the Jets . . .

Now that Cleveland has broken off contract talks with Joe Carter, the most talked-about trade possibility has him going to Kansas City for Danny Tartabull. San Diego and San Francisco also are preparing offers for the Indians’ slugger . . .

The appointment of Stephen Greenberg as deputy commissioner of baseball may serve as an antidote to the feared strike of 1990. Who better than an ex-agent to understand labor’s side? . . .

As Nuke LaLoosh said in “Bull Durham,” it’s great to be in The Show . . .