Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 9, 1992
Chuck Knox should be a good fit for the Rams. . . .
He is a specialist at lifting sagging franchises, as he has shown in Los Angeles, Buffalo and Seattle. . . .
Elevating a young assistant coach would have been a crapshoot. Hiring Buddy Ryan would have been a mistake. . . .
What Knox needs is support from management, whose bottom-line approach contributed to the Rams’ bottom-line finish in the NFC West this season. . . . No wonder so many local high school basketball stars go East to attend college and gain more exposure. The UCLA-Arizona State game won’t be televised to Southern California tonight, and the USC-Arizona game won’t be shown until 10:30 p.m., on a delayed basis, by Prime Ticket. . . .
Those who saw him at Pauley Pavilion Saturday night find it difficult to believe that Georgia guard Litterial Green went three for 15 from the field at Kentucky on Tuesday night. . . .
After the Kings made what seemed to be an insignificant trade with the New York Rangers for Corey Millen, who was playing in the minor leagues, I recalled how much I liked the little water bug of a center when he skated for the United States in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. . . .
Millen has given the Kings a lift, scoring four goals in seven games, improving team speed and showing a tremendous work ethic. One reason the Rangers let him go so cheaply--they got center Randy Gilhen in return--is that Coach Roger Neilsen is partial to big, physical types. . . .
The next hitting star from the Dominican Republic could be Ramon Mondesi, a 20-year-old outfielder in the Dodger organization who has been impressing scouts with his play in the winter league. . . .
USC has a proud tradition in baseball, but Tom Seaver is the first former Trojan to be voted into the Hall of Fame. . . .
Not unlike Kal Daniels, Pedro Guerrero would make a better American League designated hitter than National League left fielder. . . .
When the Angels drafted Eduardo Perez, he became the fifth offspring of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine to become a first-round pick. Others are Ken Griffey Jr., Brian McRae, Lee May Jr. and Ed Sprague. . . .
The Los Angeles-Anaheim chapter of the Baseball Writers Assn. will have its best master of ceremonies in years, comedian Tom Dreesen, for the annual dinner Feb. 9 at the Long Beach Sheraton Hotel. . . .
This is the era of the $375,000 minor league contract, which free-agent pitcher Jeff Robinson got from the Chicago Cubs. . . .
Although the major league team will remain the Braves, Atlanta’s farm club in Idaho Falls, Ida., has changed its nickname from Braves to Gems. . . .
Former Washington Senator catcher Paul Casanova worked as a security guard during the winter baseball meetings. . . .
Future book: John McEnroe, that new Davis Cup discovery, will play in the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles tournament Aug. 3-9 at UCLA. . . .
Every time I watch a hockey goalie get hit by a puck, I wonder how they survived all those years without masks. . . .
Rocky Lockridge, former International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight champion, will come out of retirement to fight Rafael Ruelas on Jan. 30 at the Country Club in Reseda. . . .
IBF light-flyweight champion Michael Carbajal, probably the most exciting fighter around, will defend his title against Marcus (Bang Bang) Pacheco on Feb. 15 at Phoenix in a bout to be televised by ABC. . . .
Long Beach Veterans Memorial Stadium is looking to hold a major track and field meet this year after the installation of a state-of-the-art track. The surface is similar to that of the Olympic stadium in Barcelona. . . .
With all the football coaching jobs available, I am amazed that Mike Gottfried’s name has not been mentioned. . . .
Logical NFL trade: Andre Ware from the Detroit Lions to the Houston Oilers. Warren Moon is 35, and Ware knows Jack Pardee’s system from their days together at the University of Houston. . . .
Besides having an extra draft choice in each of the first three rounds from the Herschel Walker trade with the Minnesota Vikings, the Dallas Cowboys have an additional second-rounder from the Steve Walsh deal with the New Orleans Saints. . . .
The national ratings for ABC’s telecast of the finals of the pro bowling event at Gable House in Torrance Saturday probably will exceed those for any other sporting event over the weekend except the NFC and AFC Championship games. . . .
Arizona State Coach Bill Frieder, on being forced out of Michigan before the Wolverines’ NCAA basketball championship in 1989: “If I had that to do again, I’d go in there and coach the team anyway and make the security guards carry me off in front of all the cameras. Then (Bo) Schembechler would have been the jerk instead of me.”