Notes on a Scorecard - Oct. 3, 1990

Here’s why the national collegiate football championship should be decided by a tournament instead of polls: Washington and USC are both 3-1. Washington beat USC, 31-0. USC is ranked ahead of Washington in both the Associated Press and United Press International polls. . . .

UCLA not only is the undisputed leader of the Pac-10, it has a chance to stay that way for a while. The Bruins’ next three games are against Arizona at home, California on the road and Oregon State at home. Then comes the harder part: At Oregon, at Washington, and USC in the Rose Bowl. . . .

Smiling referee Jerry Seeman logged more air time on ABC Monday night than Al Michaels. . . .

It would be difficult to match the five outfielders the Oakland Athletics will have available for the American League championship series--Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, Jose Canseco, Willie McGee and Harold Baines. . . .

Glad to see that Dutch Rennert is part of the umpiring crew for the National League championship series. Nobody calls strikes with more authority than Rennert. . . .

Cleveland Indian catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. deserves to be voted AL rookie of the year. No Maas! . . .

Ramon Martinez won 20 games in his first full major league season. Sandy Koufax didn’t reach that plateau until his ninth season; Don Drysdale didn’t until his seventh. . . .

Deion Sanders, the .158 hitter, has an inflated opinion of his abilities as a baseball player. . . .

If the National League had the same attendance rules as the American League--tickets issued, including no-shows--the Dodgers would be well over 3 million. . . .

Thumbs up to ABC, which isn’t in the baseball business anymore, for giving frequent updates on the AL East pennant race during the Seattle Seahawk-Cincinnati Bengal telecast. . . .

Upset of the week: The St. Louis Cardinals hit four home runs at Montreal Monday night. . . .

Roger Stein, who won 17 consecutive training championships on the California harness racing circuit, won his first thoroughbred title at Pomona and will have a 25-horse stable at the Oak Tree meeting that opens today at Santa Anita. . . .

Bob Gansler is to U.S. soccer what Dave Peterson is to U.S. hockey. . . .

The Cleveland Browns have gone from overachievers to underachievers. . . .

Sam Wyche should be forced to coach for Victor Kiam. . . .

The Cardinals are selling out in Phoenix about as often as they did in St. Louis. . . .

Yes, there is a trading deadline in the NFL. It’s Oct. 16. . . .

When in doubt, start Steve DeBerg at quarterback. He has helped the Kansas City Chiefs to get off to a 3-1 start. . . .

UCLA is ranked first in the nation in soccer and women’s volleyball and second in water polo. . . .

It might surprise you to learn that the highest-rated network TV fight this year was the Mike McCallum-Steve Collins bout for the World Boxing Assn. middleweight championship Feb. 3 on ABC. . . .

I love the atmosphere at the big Las Vegas outdoor matches, but there was nothing quite like fight night at Madison Square Garden. . . .

The Olympic Auditorium is still standing, but the marquee above the Grand Avenue entrance has been torn down. . . .

Two women--Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova--and only one man--Stefan Edberg--have earned more than $1 million on the circuit this year. . . .

In the year of the Czech in the National Hockey League, the best one could be Hartford rookie center Robert Holik. . . .

The Montreal Canadiens, who have been defensive-minded recently, are going back to firewagon hockey after trading Chris Chelios to Chicago for Denis Savard. . . .

Magic Johnson has gone international. He recently shot a commercial for a food company in Barcelona--and then practiced with the Olympic Games city’s basketball team for a couple of hours. . . .

Boston’s decision not to re-sign Dennis Johnson brings to mind one of the Celtics’ best trades: Rick Robey and two second-round draft choices to Phoenix for Johnson and first-round and third-round draft choices in 1983. However, the greatest Celtic trade was Easy Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan to the St. Louis Hawks in 1956 for a first-round pick, who turned out to be Bill Russell. . . .

Whatever happened to Eric Dickerson? . . .

There’s something unfair about the NHL suspending Grant Fuhr, who is now clean, for a year because he admitted in an article that he used to take drugs. The NBA says step forward and we’ll help you. The NHL says keep it a secret forever.