Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 11, 1994

The meteorological technician for the National Weather Service in Buffalo chuckled when he was told that a sportswriter from Los Angeles was on the line. . . .

“The preliminary forecast is that Saturday will be a very cold day,” Mike Pukajlo said with gusto. “It could dip into single-digit temperatures at kickoff time.” . . .

Just what the Raiders need. . . .

In the deep-freeze this season, they have been upset by Cincinnati, 16-10, and whipped by Green Bay, 28-0. . . .

It was a relatively mild 37 degrees last month when the Raiders upset the Bills at Rich Stadium, 25-24, and about the same on Jan. 20, 1991, when the Bills prevailed in the AFC championship game, 51-3. . . .

“There are eight to 10 inches of snow on the ground now,” Pukajlo said. “It’s too early to tell about more snow or freezing rain at the end of the week. The average temperatures for Jan. 15, the day of the game, are a high of 30 and a low of 14, but it looks as though it will be colder this year.” . . .

The late George Allen sometimes took his Ram teams east early so they could get acclimated, but the Raiders won’t leave for Buffalo until 3 p.m. Thursday. . . .

“It’s more important for us to get good practice time in, especially during such a short week,” said Al Davis’ right-hand man, Al LoCasale. “You can’t get used to the cold in a few days, anyway. You just try to ignore the weather.” . . .

Both the Raiders and the New York Giants, who are matched against the 49ers at San Francisco, are faced with cross-country trips and Saturday games after playing on Sunday. . . .

The Raiders will conduct a brief workout Friday, either at Rich Stadium or inside the Bills’ practice bubble, depending on field conditions. . . .

Art Shell presented a game ball after the wild-card victory over Denver to the family of Robert Rosenfeld, the team orthopedic surgeon who died last week. . . .

Look-alikes: Tom White, the referee of the Detroit-Green Bay game last Saturday, and Alfred Hitchcock. . . .

*

With all their firepower, and with Scotty Bowman behind the bench, the Detroit Red Wings have as good a chance as anyone to win the Stanley Cup. . . .

Like Bowman, Glen Sather won’t win many popularity contests, but the Edmonton Oilers are 10-6-3 with him as coach after going 3-18-3 under Ted Green. . . .

Chris Antley has moved his tack west in a style reminiscent of the days when Sandy Hawley got off to such a great start in Inglewood that they called it Hawleywood Park. . . .

Antley is tied with Laffit Pincay for the Santa Anita riding lead with 12 winners and has an average victory payoff of $25.53. A $2 wager on each of his 65 mounts would give you a $176.40 profit. . . .

Incidentally, Hawley, who had surgery for lung cancer Oct. 5 in Canada, will begin riding at Santa Anita next week. . . .

Promoter Bob Arum plans to invite those who fought at the Olympic Auditorium over the years to sit in a special section at various shows there, beginning with the double title-fight card March 5. . . .

Jerry Tarkanian will do commentary on a Nevada Las Vegas game for the first time tonight when he is paired with Ross Porter on the Rebel-UC Irvine telecast on Channel 56. . . .

UCLA and Wisconsin, those old Rose Bowl foes, are two of the six major unbeaten basketball teams in the nation. . . .

One of the oldest records in Southland college basketball was broken recently when forward Blair Slattery surpassed the Occidental career scoring mark of 1,336 points, set by Ted Tiffany in 1957. . . .

The reason Dallas settled for so little from New York in the Derek Harper deal is that the Mavericks want to clear salary-cap space for next season. when they plan to get into the free-agent market. . . .

Miami Heat Coach Kevin Loughery’s next victory will be his 600th in pro basketball, but, before putting him in the Hall of Fame, consider that he has lost 690. . . .

I don’t like Michael Jordan’s chances of becoming a major league baseball player or a touring golf professional, but I still think he will return to the Chicago Bulls within a couple of years. . . .

The two Los Angeles NBA teams have combined for 22 victories this season. Seattle, Phoenix, and Houston each have more, and Utah, San Antonio, and Atlanta have as many.