Separating the Facts From the Opinions

FACT: The nine hitters earning at least $3 million a year(Jose Canseco, Kirby Puckett, Don Mattingly, Robin Yount, Kevin Mitchell, Will Clark, Eric Davis, Joe Carter, Rickey Henderson) are hitting a combined average of .270 this year with an average of 21 home runs and 75 RBI.

OPINION: I don’t care how little they got in return or how good a 1990 year he is having with the Dodgers, the Orioles are better off without Eddie Murray.

FACT: Since the beginning of the 1988 season, the Redskins have won five of 17 games against teams with winning records.

OPINION: If the 49ers slip, the Giants will be the team that catches them.

FACT: If the A’s win the World Series this year, it will mark the first time in 27 years that the champions of the three major sports are repeat winners at the same time. (The Yankees, Packers and Celtics reigned together from the time of the Packers’ second straight NFL title in December, 1962, until the Yankees’ loss to the Dodgers in the 1963 World Series.)

OPINION: Jerry Glanville may be a loudmouthed punk, but at least he is an original personality in the homogenous NFL.

FACT: Throwing out the strike year of 1982 (when the size of the playoff field doubled), every NFL team except the Packers and the Cardinals played a postseason game in the 1980s.

OPINION: At less than three hours, NFL games are almost start-to-finish watchable again.

FACT: The bombing of Pearl Harbor came less than a year before Eddie Robinson was hired as the football coach at Grambling, where he coached his 500th game last weekend.

OPINION: Sure, Rickey Henderson is having a terrific season, but Cecil Fielder is the MVP in the American League.

FACT: John (Hot Rod) Williams will earn $9 million in the first 12 months of his new mega-contract.

OPINION: With road games at Tennessee and USC in November, Notre Dame will have trouble finishing No. 1.

FACT: The Toronto Blue Jays have almost quintupled their attendance in the last nine years.

OPINION: It sure is fun watching Buddy Ryan get his tough talk stuffed back in his mouth.

FACT: Thirty-two years ago today, Hoyt Wilhelm became the first Oriole to throw a no-hitter.

OPINION: I wish the rest of the announcers on television were as knowledgeable and insightful as CBS tennis analyst Mary Carillo.

FACT: Arizona defensive back McCann Utu was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for posing nude in Playgirl.

OPINION: Dexter Manley might wind up playing for--gasp--the Dallas Cowboys.

FACT: (From the “What Game Were You Watching?” Dept.) After his team lost to Oklahoma by six touchdowns last weekend, Pitt quarterback Alex Van Pelt said: “I think Oklahoma gained some respect for Eastern football.”

OPINION: Vinny Testaverde may never get over the hump.

FACT: Gerald R. Ford was six months into his term as President when the New England Patriots drafted their current quarterback, Steve Grogan.

OPINION: The Chiefs, Jets and Falcons are NFL teams headed in the right direction.

FACT: Yes, it was the U.S. Open, but Curtis Strange, supposedly the best American golfer of his generation, has won only one golf tournament in the past 23 months.

OPINION: The Bills, Browns and Saints are NFL teams headed in the wrong direction.

FACT: Television audiences for the biggest college bowl games are roughly the same size as audiences for most regular-season NFL games.

OPINION: With his pleasant demeanor and attention to tennis history, Pete Sampras is almost too good to be true.

FACT: Steve Trittschuh, a member of the U.S. soccer team that played in the World Cup last summer, recently became the first non-Czech since 1938 to score a goal in the Czechoslovak league. He plays for a team in Prague.

OPINION: Someone needs to explain to the Boston Celtics that they aren’t close to being a championship team.