Notes on a Scorecard - March 8, 1990

Need a baseball fix? The Dodgers and Giants of the collegiate scene, seventh-ranked USC and 14th-ranked UCLA, will be rolling in the dirt Friday night and Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Field and Saturday afternoon at Dedeaux Field. . . .

Dedeaux Field on the USC campus seats 1,800. Tickets cost $4 for adults and $2 for children. The organ--favorite tune, “Fight On”--has been on the DL since the start of the season but is expected back Saturday. . . .

Jackie Robinson Field, known as Sawtelle Field before it was rebuilt in 1981, seats 1,250 and accommodates hundreds more on grassy slopes beyond the baselines. Tickets are $3 and $1. Among the regulars are patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital, on whose grounds the park is located. . . .

A slugger to watch is UCLA’s Paul Ellis, who leads the nation with 14 home runs and 40 runs batted in. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior is following in the grand tradition of Bruin catchers, including Todd Zeile, the St. Louis Cardinals’ rookie-of-the-year candidate. . . .

If Steve Howe is good enough, baseball should give him his latest chance to stay clean of drugs and alcohol in the major leagues instead of the minors. . . .

Say what you want about Patrick Ewing, but Akeem Olajuwon remains the most dominating center in the NBA. . . .

Charles Barkley is building MVP support. . . .

Forward Wayman Tisdale of the Sacramento Kings has finally developed into the kind of scorer the Indiana Pacers thought he would become when they drafted him second overall in 1985. . . .

It’s amazing how quickly Jim Valvano has gone from media darling to outcast. . . .

Good news for Cal State Long Beach basketball fans. The 49ers will discard those fluorescent uniforms, which belong in the garbage, after the season. . . .

Keep the name Gersten Pavilion at Loyola Marymount but add Gathers Court. At Berkeley, there are Harmon Arena and Newell Court. At Corvallis, Ore., there are Gill Coliseum and Miller Court. . . .

Illinois State’s victory over Southern Illinois for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship on ESPN Tuesday night was a gem, packing the excitement and drama of an NCAA final. . . .

Arizona, which has the best team and doesn’t need any other advantage, will be playing in front of a partisan crowd in the Pac-10 tournament. The trip from Tucson to Tempe, Ariz., is a short one for Wildcat supporters, who rank with Nevada Las Vegas’ and Fresno State’s as the most enthusiastic in the West. . . .

Washington State Coach Kelvin Sampson, on Arizona’s depth: “They’ve got five go-to guys who don’t even get to go.” . . .

With ordinary material, LSU has been tough in recent NCAA tournaments. The question now is whether Dale Brown can reach the Final Four with some exceptional talent. . . .

Four 20-game winners-- Nevada Las Vegas, New Mexico State, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Long Beach--make the Big West the most-improved conference in the nation. . . .

March 24 may be the last time King fans will be able to salute Harold Snepsts with their “Harold, Harold” sing-song. Snepsts was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the St. Louis Blues, who play at the Forum on that date, and plans to retire after the season. . . .

The NHL could eliminate fighting overnight by adopting the Olympic Games rule that automatically suspends participants. Of course, the NHL does not want to eliminate fighting. . . .

Couldn’t the Hartford Whalers have gotten more than the famed Yvon Corriveau from the Washington Capitals for Mike Liut, still one of the best goaltenders in the league? . . .

At a recent news conference, Meldrick Taylor appeared to be much bigger than Julio Cesar Chavez. . . .

The Chavez-Taylor junior welterweight title fight on March 17 will be held indoors at the Las Vegas Hilton, meaning no blankets will be necessary between rounds, a la Sugar Ray Leonard against Roberto Duran. . . .

At the rules meeting before the Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson heavyweight title bout, Douglas’ manager, John Johnson, demanded that the fighters be tested for steroids. He was informed that neither the WBC nor the WBA had a policy concerning the use of the drug. Douglas was suspicious about Tyson’s rapid loss of weight. . . .

Thumbs up to ABC’s Alex Wallau for his biting commentary on the Mark Breland-Lloyd Honeyghan fiasco. . . .

Changing the 45-second clock between plays to, say, 35 seconds might actually lengthen the time of NFL games. More plays, more incomplete passes, more stoppages of the game clock. . . . If you’re wondering why the Big Ten doesn’t have a conference tournament, Bobby Knight doesn’t want one.