Notes on a Scorecard - Oct. 6, 1992

I am having trouble getting my game face on for the playoffs and I think I know why:

--Baseball season around here ended three months ago. . . .

--There is no underdog to root for. . . .

--Three of the four teams went from first to first. . . .

--One of the owners will have to be awakened by his wife during a game. . . .

--Jim Leyland will be smoking in the dugout. . . .

--Fay Vincent won’t be sitting in the commissioner’s box. . . .

--I am already tired of reading about Deion Sanders. . . .

--There is one too many domed stadiums. . . .

--There are two too many artificial turf fields. . . .

--Kirby Puckett won’t be playing. . . .

The Dodgers were swept by Houston in the final series of the season but were probably caught looking ahead to next year’s opener against the Marlins in Miami. . . .

If they don’t play another game, the San Francisco Giants will finish with an all-time record of 2,864 victories and 2,719 defeats. . . .

In the last inning of the last game, pinch-hitter Greg Litton hit the Giants’ only grand slam of the season. . . .

Attention Tom Kelly: Cecil Fielder, whom you couldn’t find room for on your American League All-Star team, was the only repeater among major league champions in runs batted in, home runs or batting. Fielder had 124 RBIs. . . .

George Brett’s coach at El Segundo High, John Stevenson, will begin his 33rd season there next year. His 711 victories are a California record and the seventh-highest in the nation. . . .

Brett wasn’t even the most valuable player on El Segundo’s CIF championship team in 1971. That honor went to Scott McGregor, who pitched 13 years for the Baltimore Orioles. . . .

Kenny Lofton, who led the American League in steals with 66 for the Cleveland Indians, had 67 steals for the University of Arizona basketball team during the 1988-89 season. . . .

The New York Giants talk a better game than they play. . . .

I’ll take Raider wide receiver Tim Brown over any defensive back in a jump ball situation. . . .

No list of Super Bowl contenders would be complete without the Miami Dolphins. . . .

The New England Patriots have taken the lead in the Marshall Faulk derby. Or is it the Drew Bledsoe derby? The Patriots may go for the Washington State quarterback over the San Diego State running back in the draft if they have a choice. After all, General Manager Sam Jankovich is a former Cougar athletic director. . . .

The Denver Broncos are the worst 4-1 team in the NFL. . . .

An early candidate for comeback player of the year is linebacker Chip Banks of the Indianapolis Colts. . . .

Considering the result of the game and the seriousness of the Bruin injuries, UCLA fans are calling Saturday night in Tucson the “Disaster in the Desert.” . . .

Bill Walsh on tradition at Notre Dame Stadium: “I probably used the same restroom as Knute Rockne.” . . .

University of Washington tailback Napoleon Kaufman may have a brilliant future but, as a sophomore, he dances too much instead of relying on his speed. . . .

John Williams, in his 20th year on the job, recorded his 300th victory as USC’s water polo coach over the weekend. . . .

From promoter Bob Arum: “Oscar De La Hoya is going to a Hispanic Sugar Ray Leonard.” . . .

The Pittsburgh Penguins opening the season without a head coach is not unique. The Chicago Cubs operated in 1961 and ’62 with a “college of coaches.” Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, Elvin Tappe and Lou Klein were the coaches in ‘61, and Tappe, Klein and Charlie Metro in ’62. . . .

I’m glad to see that the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky chess match is moving right along.