Notes on a Scorecard - July 18, 1990

That cackle you hear is Don King laughing all the way to the bank. . . .

Lucky Don. He and Donald Trump will split up millions for not promoting the Buster Douglas-Evander Holyfield heavyweight title fight. The promoter, Steve Wynn, probably will swim in a pool of red ink at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas after paying $32 million in purses. . . .

Mike Tyson-George Foreman, Douglas-Tyson II and Douglas-Foreman have far more box office potential than Douglas-Holyfield. And guess who would promote any of those fights? Lucky Don. . . .

Tom Lasorda once said he would love to manage a team full of players on the last years of their contracts. The St. Louis Cardinals may have changed his mind. . . .

The Cardinals are so bad that they’re being booed by some of the most loyal fans in sports. . . .

The more I hear ESPN baseball announcer Jon Miller, the more I like him. . . .

Rickey Henderson has such a big lead that he might be able to win the American League stolen base championship without stealing another one the rest of the season. . . .

One of the differences between the Oakland and Atlanta franchises is that the A’s can sign a Todd Van Poppel after he tells the Braves not to draft him because he’s going to attend the University of Texas. And what about the 12 other teams that could have picked the “Can’t-Miss Kid” before Oakland? . . .

The way Will Clark drives in runs and Kevin Mitchell hits home runs, it’s surprising that so many San Francisco Giants are on base when National League run-batted-in leader Matt Williams comes to bat. . . .

Get enough baseball on the tube Tuesday? Eight of the 13 major league games were shown in Southern California. . . .

President Bush, who left the Oriole-Texas Ranger game at Baltimore in the seventh inning Monday night, would blend in well at our local ballparks. . . .

Steve Lyons’ fashion statement in Detroit Monday night is a cinch to make most baseball highlight films the rest of the season. . . .

John Wetteland, one of the Dodgers’ unsuccessful fifth-starter candidates, still hasn’t pitched at Albuquerque of the Pacific Coast League after suffering a cracked rib June 25. . . .

Gene Vollnogle, John Sciarra, Isaac Curtis, Vince Ferragamo, Ernie Zampese and San Francisco Examiner sportswriter Merv Harris will be inducted into the Shrine North-South Football Hall of Fame on July 28 at the Rose Bowl. . . .

Never has a football player gotten more money, ink or television exposure for accomplishing less than Brian Bosworth. . . .

If you desire Goodwill Games coverage, I imagine TBS, CNN and TNT will satisfy you. . . .

USC opens football practice Aug. 10 and the season Aug. 31 against Syracuse in the Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. UCLA opens practice Aug. 20 and the season Sept. 8 against Oklahoma at the Rose Bowl. . . .

Look-alikes: Diego Maradona and Robert (Baretta) Blake. . . .

The push is on for an outdoor soccer league in the host nation of the 1994 World Cup, but the MISL might fold late this week. . . .

Among the guest lecturers at the NIKE ABCD Basketball Camp in Princeton, N.J., last week were Ed McDonald, the prosecuting attorney in the Boston College point-shaving case, and Rick Kuhn, a former BC player who spent 2 1/2 years in prison after being convicted in the scandal. . . .

“It was the most stimulating session we’ve had in eight years,” said camp director Sonny Vaccaro, whose program includes six hours of lectures and classroom work, and only 40 minutes of basketball daily. . . .

Vaccaro rates the top six prospects at the camp: Juwan Howard, 6-foot-9 forward from Chicago Vocational; Alan Henderson, 6-9 forward from Brebeuf Prep, Indiana; Glenn Robinson, 6-9 forward from Gary, Ind., Roosevelt; Jason Kidd, 6-4 junior guard from Alameda St. Joseph’s; Chris Webber, 6-10 center from Detroit Country Day, and Cherokee Parks, 6-10 center from Huntington Beach Marina. . . .

Agent Scotty McClellan will handle the book of 16-year-old apprentice rider Vann Belvoir at Del Mar while regular client Chris McCarron recuperates from the injuries he suffered in a spill at Hollywood Park. In 1969, agent Harry Silbert picked up apprentice Rudy Rosales’ business when Bill Shoemaker was injured, and Rosales won the Del Mar riding title with 65 victories. . . .

The comeback of harness racing at Los Alamitos will receive a boost when Lloyd Arnold revives the American Pacing Classic series this season. First entry is the highly regarded T.K.’s Skipper. Three legs, each for a $35,000 purse, will be contested before the $150,000 final Sept. 29. . . .

Stories about recovering alcoholics and drug users in sports can be inspiring, but aren’t the real heroes the people who have never gotten into trouble?