Notes on a Scorecard - March 22, 1990

How much would Michael Jordan be worth in a trade? Clipper owner Donald Sterling once offered owner Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Bulls $25 million and several first-round draft choices for Jordan and was promptly turned down. . . .

UCLA will be the underdog to Duke tonight, but it was an underdog, too, in 1964 when it won its first NCAA basketball tournament championship game. Led by Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich, the Bruins upset Jeff Mullins and the Blue Devils, 98-83, in Kansas City, Mo. . . .

Loyola Marymount is the sentimental favorite, but many college basketball people would like to see the class act that is North Carolina’s Dean Smith keep winning. . . .

A lot of fans who brought cameras to the Forum to take pictures of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when his Laker jersey was retired also got shots of Bo Kimble. Between posing and signing autographs, the Loyola Marymount star hardly had time to watch the game, but seemed to enjoy the attention. . . .

Another jersey that belongs on the Forum wall along with those of Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Rogie Vachon is Marcel Dionne’s. . . .

Look-alikes: Xavier Coach Pete Gillen and David Letterman. . . .

How much has media coverage of the NCAA tournament grown? The Forum’s Bob Steiner, then working for the University of California, remembers stapling together some sheets of paper at the last minute that served as the press book for the few out-of-town reporters who covered the Final Four at San Francisco’s Cow Palace in 1960. . . .

This is supposed to be a down year for the Atlantic Coast Conference, so I guess that’s why it has only four teams in the sweet 16. . . .

Not unlike the pros, the coach who wins the college basketball championship rarely is voted coach of the year. The last was Bobby Knight of Indiana in 1976. Of course, the ballot boxes close before the tournament starts. . . .

Maybe the NCAA did Cal State Long Beach a favor. The 49ers wouldn’t have lasted long in the big tournament. At least, they got an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii out of the National Invitation Tournament. . . .

The NBA playoffs don’t begin until three weeks after the NCAA tournament ends. . . .

Austin Carr of Notre Dame holds the tournament single-game scoring record of 61 points against Ohio University in the first round in 1970. But the all-time best performance might have been the 44-point outburst by Bill Walton of UCLA against Memphis State in the 1973 championship game, when he made 21 of 22 shots. . . .

Basketball announcers continue to give us everything but the score. That would be OK if the score was flashed on the screen after every basket, but it isn’t. . . .

Advice to major league managers: Don’t cut down on the time you spend practicing rundown plays, even though spring training has been shortened. Too many rundowns are botched during the regular season as it is. . . .

Sorry, but I could have done without the Freeway Series. Those long, substitution-filled exhibition games between the Dodgers and the Angels always seem to be played on cold, windy nights or afternoons. . . .

The Dodgers still need a center fielder, and the Philadelphia Phillies still need a pitcher, so why not make that Ramon Martinez-or-John Wetteland for Lenny Dykstra deal? . . .

If Syracuse wide receiver Rob Moore opts for the NFL draft as expected, USC’s job in the Kickoff game will be made easier. Moore is considered the best prospect at his position in the nation. . . .

How shocking that the Kings lost two in a row on the road without Wayne Gretzky. . . .

Golf linguist Mark Calcavecchia, on Mark O’Meara’s four-putt, quadruple-bogey nine on the 16th hole in the Players Championship last week: “He slummed in a three-footer for a four jack.”. . .

Aaron Pryor, who might have become one of the all-time great fighters if not for drugs, is back in the gym and looking for a bout against Hector Camacho. . . .

HBO will try to continue its streak of telecasting outstanding fights with Michael Nunn-Marlon Starling on April 17 and Pernell Whitaker-Azumah Nelson on May 19. . . .

We’ll know a lot more about Mister Frisky after he hooks up with another speed horse, Real Cash, in the Santa Anita Derby on April 7. . . .

News item: The Associated Press reports that injured New York Knicks forward Charles Oakley will be lost to the team for six to eight weeks. Reaction: AP thinks the Knicks will last a lot longer in the playoffs than I do.