Notes on a Scorecard - Dec. 29, 1992

Remember when the Rose Bowl used to be the toughest ticket in town? . . .

Washington and Michigan have returned 12,000 of the 60,000 tickets allotted them for the game Friday, and several thousand are being offered at the face value of $46 each by a local agency. . . .

Some of the best seats in the house--40-yard line, Rows 15 and 16--were still available as recently as last week. . . .

Of course, this is a rematch of teams that have no chance to win the national title, many Washington and Michigan fans can’t afford another trip here and the Pacific 10-Big Ten rivalry has grown lopsided and stale. . . .

The Rose Bowl--which has the largest seating capacity, richest tradition, best atmosphere and finest weather of any bowl--should have cut all ties a while ago and invited the two best teams it could find every year. . . .

Oh yes, a downtown broker reports that tickets for the Super Bowl Jan. 31 in Pasadena--face value $175, but scaled from $600 to $1,500--already are selling briskly. . . .

The Freedom Bowl, between USC and Fresno State tonight, not the Holiday, between Hawaii and Illinois on Wednesday, is expected to be the highest-scoring bowl game this time. . . .

If Trojan wide receiver Curtis Conway and linebacker Willie McGinest, both juniors, aren’t planning to declare for the NFL draft, why have they scheduled news conferences before Jan. 6? . . .

What a plum Dan Reeves, whose Denver Broncos overachieved for most of his 12 years there, will make for some other NFL team. . . .

Look-alikes: Craig Stadler and Mike Holmgren. . . .

Proceeds from the NFL Experience, to be held in a 700,000 square foot theme park next to the Rose Bowl Jan. 28-31, will be donated to a South-Central Los Angeles charity. . . .

Defenseman Paul Coffey is the only King leading the Campbell Conference voting at his position for the NHL All-Star game Feb. 6 at Montreal. . . .

Jockey Laffit Pincay will celebrate his 46th birthday today on the job at Santa Anita. He is only 115 victories from joining Bill Shoemaker in the 8,000-victory club and is projected to surpass Shoe’s record of 8,833 about the time of his 5lst birthday. . . .

Few believed Pincay, a natural 140-pounder who constantly must fight a weight problem to ride at 117, would still be riding on his 40th birthday. . . .

A hunch bet for fans of Pincay, who is known as “the Pirate,” will be his mount on Pirate’s Affair in the fifth race today. . . .

Sal (the Barber) Maglie was one of many pitchers who used to give batters close shaves with inside deliveries, but he would have been unique in this era. . . .

This was the year when none of the football and baseball teams in the nation’s three largest markets--New York, Los Angeles and Chicago--even came close to reaching the play-offs. . . .

Defending NCAA champion Pepperdine is ranked ninth and runner-up Cal State Fullerton eighth in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll, which has Louisiana State No. 1. . . .

Kevin Young, who began his UCLA career as a walk-on and went on to shatter Edwin Moses’ world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic Games, is winning most of the male track and field athlete-of-the-year awards. His latest comes from the IAAF. . . .

Strange, but the St. John’s-Manhattan basketball game was televised into Southern California Monday night and the UCLA-Pittsburgh game wasn’t. . . .

Manute Bol, at 7 feet 7, doesn’t jump center for the Philadelphia 76ers. . . .

Jerry Tarkanian lasted only 20 games for the San Antonio Spurs, but the NBA record low for a coach is six by winless Carl Bennett of the Ft. Wayne Pistons in 1948. Former Laker Coach Butch van Breda Kolff was fired by the Phoenix Suns in 1972 after going 3-4. . . .

Three members of the Houston Rocket team that lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1976 Eastern Conference finals are NBA coaches--Rudy Tomjanovich, Mike Dunleavy and John Lucas. . . .

The Lakers already have lost six games at home. They have lost fewer than that in eight different seasons since moving to Los Angeles and lost only six during two other seasons. . . .

Charles Barkley is getting most of the attention, but Richard Dumas, a forward from Oklahoma State who didn’t play last year because of drug problems, is another reason for the Phoenix Suns’ success. . . .

The Clippers expect to make a decision on a future home by the end of this season. Among possibilities are sites next to the present Sports Arena, Dodger Stadium, the Convention Center and Union Station and in Burbank. . . .

Danny Manning looks like a stick in the Clippers’ Christmas card photo. Maybe it’s because he’s standing between John Williams and Stanley Roberts. . . .

I guess the Kings could use Wayne Gretzky, after all.