Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 29, 1993

Hank Stram maps strategy better from the broadcast booth than most coaches do from the sidelines. . . .

The former pro football, AFL and AFC coach of the year doesn’t second-guess. He first-guesses, even when there is no huddle and he must go into hurry-up analysis. . . .

For the 13th consecutive year, Stram and play-by-play announcer Jack Buck will be working the Super Bowl on CBS Radio. . . .

Stram took Kansas City to Super Bowl I--well, the first NFL-AFL championship game in 1967 against the Green Bay Packers--and masterminded the Chiefs’ upset of the Minnesota Vikings three years later. . . .

“The most important thing for a coach during Super Bowl week is to scout his own team,” Stram said. “You don’t put in anything new. But you study what your tendencies have been during the season, and try to make yourself less predictable.” . . .

Stram is picking the Cowboys, although he says their best might be yet to come. . . .

“They have more balance than Buffalo,” he said. “The Bills have a great offense, but their defense is not quite the same caliber as Dallas’.” . . .

Stram continued: “If anybody has a chance to maintain a high level in the ‘90s, it’s the Cowboys. The fact that Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones are old friends is a tremendous advantage. There are too many ‘memo’ coaches in this league. That’s how their owners communicate with them--by memo. Mike Ditka had problems in Chicago only because he didn’t have the authority.” . . .

Howie Long and Boomer Esiason sat next to each other at the Clipper-Utah Jazz game Wednesday night at the Sports Arena. Don’t be surprised if you see them together in Los Angeles next football season. . . .

The Raiders’ three Lombardi Trophies, awarded for Super Bowl victories, are insured for $10,000 apiece. . . .

Cowboy guard John Gesek describes upcoming surgery on his knee and elbow as “a six-year tuneup.” . . .

Of the 10.5 million radio listeners who heard Super Bowl XXVI in the United States, 57% listened in their cars. . . .

The only people to earn Super Bowl rings as players, assistant coaches and head coaches are Ditka and Tom Flores. . . .

Dallas’ Troy Aikman and Buffalo’s Jim Kelly will be hard-pressed to equal the performance of New York Giant quarterback Phil Simms the last time the Super Bowl was played in Pasadena. Simms completed 22 of 25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns during the Giants’ 39-20 victory over the Denver Broncos in 1987. . . .

Among the reasons that the Cowboys are such a solid favorite in Nevada is that America’s bettors usually like to wager on America’s Team. . . .

Daryl Gates must have been delighted by the police escort that was given to buses transporting the media on interview day at Dodger Stadium. . . .

Buffalo running back Kenneth Davis would like to become a professional billiards player when he retires. . . .

Anyone who says the Cowboys are looser than the Bills right now, or vice versa, is imagining it. . . .

“We stop the run and contain the pass,” Dallas safety James Washington said. “That’s why we’re No. 1.” . . .

The NFL party at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center tonight is named--what else?--the Mane Event. . . .

Mitch Frerotte, the offensive lineman who wears a tattoo of a pit bull on his leg, rides a motorcycle and plans to become a professional wrestler, listed housecleaning as his hobby in the Bills’ media guide. . . .

“I was kidding,” Frerotte said. “I’m the biggest slob in the world.” . . .

Cowboy teammates Tony Casillas and Daryl Johnston are partners in Ridgemont Farms, Oklahoma’s leading thoroughbred racing stable last year. . . .

“I’d run over my mother to win it,” Washington Redskin guard Russ Grimm said before Super Bowl XVIII. . . .

“I’d run over Grimm’s mother, too,” Raider linebacker Matt Millen said. . . .

Stram, on the deal that sent Herschel Walker from Dallas to Minnesota: “It’s what you do with your draft choices that’s important. The Cowboys drafted wisely. The Rams got a lot of choices in the Eric Dickerson deal, but they didn’t pick ‘em right.”