DAILY REPORT : Their Homecoming Is Particularly Sweet

Things worked out pretty well for James Washington and Steve Beuerlein, two guys who never wanted to leave Los Angeles.

Washington, who grew up in South-Central L.A., attended UCLA and was a fifth-round choice of the Rams in 1988, is basking in the glory of Super Bowl week as a starting safety with the Dallas Cowboys.

Beuerlein, who attended Servite High in Anaheim and was for four years a quarterback with the Raiders, was reborn as a player after his 1990 trade to the Cowboys and now figures to be one of the hottest quarterbacks on the market Feb. 1 when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Once a promising safety with the Rams, Washington was left unprotected under Plan B after the 1989 season and signed with Dallas.

“I didn’t make the decision,” Washington said. “(The Rams) did. I woke up one morning, awakened by a phone call from Phoenix, telling me I was on Plan B. (The Rams) didn’t even have the decency to tell me I was on Plan B.”

Beuerlein lost his starting job to Jay Schroeder after a bitter contract holdout in the summer of 1990 and was later traded to Dallas for a fourth-round draft choice.

In 1991, he stepped in for the injured Troy Aikman and led the Cowboys to five consecutive victories.

At Tuesday’s media session, Beuerlein declined to take any shots at Raider owner Al Davis.

“There won’t be any sparring, I’m not a sparring type of guy,” Beuerlein said. “There’s irony that I played four years with the Raiders, and now I’m coming back as a Super Bowl contender. But I’m not going to make a big deal out of it.”

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OK, but were you wild?

Cowboy star receiver Michael Irvin, on his days at the University of Miami: “I was wild. I was young, having fun, I didn’t have any responsibilities. I was wild. Wild. WILD. Just write wild .”

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Not to put the hex on Dallas offensive coordinator Norv Turner or anything, but he conducted his interviews at Dodger Stadium standing deep in the hole at Jose Offerman’s shortstop spot. . . . Add baseball notes: Kevin Mulligan of the Philadelphia Daily News found a baseball while standing in the left-field pavilion before media day. It begged the question: Did Jack Clark ever fetch that one he hit in 1985?

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What kind of owner is Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys?

Sunday night, offensive tackle Nate Newton and a few teammates set out for a night on the town when they spotted Jones near the lobby of the team’s Santa Monica hotel.

“We were looking to rent a limo,” Newton said. “And I saw Mr. Jones, and being the great guy he is, and knowing how deep his pockets are, I said ‘Mr. Jones, why don’t you (pay for) this limo for us.’ And he said ‘No problem.’ And we jumped in and away we went.”

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It must be a strange situation for the Dallas defense this week, knowing the unit’s leader and coordinator, Dave Wannstedt, has already accepted the job as head coach of the Chicago Bears.

“We’ll miss him a whole lot,” defensive tackle Russell Maryland said. “We haven’t had a lot of time to think about it. We’ve got five more days with him. We’re going go play our hearts out for him.”