Plot Twists, Cast of Characters Make for Interesting Playoffs

U nconventional wisdom of the day . . .

Bills 29, Raiders 23: Kind of reminded me of those old Ram playoff games in Minnesota, where the warm-weather team handles the conditions surprisingly well, is ahead at halftime, makes a crucial kicking error, forgets to make many crucial tackles in the second half, is flagged for a crucial pass-interference penalty and freezes at the finish. You do remember those old Ram playoff games, don’t you?

49ers 44, Giants 3: Kind of puts those two Ram losses to San Francisco this season, 40-17 and 35-10, in perspective. Strange but true: T.J. Rubley’s offense was more effective up there than Phil Simms’.

Steve Young: Let’s see. The last time the 49ers played the Giants in a playoff game, the 1990 NFC final, the Giants advanced, 15-13. That game was played where? Candlestick Park? And the Niners’ quarterback that day was? Joe Montana? Just checking.

Joe Montana: If he doesn’t win today, in the Astrodome, with Buddy Ryan’s bounty hunters homing in on his every hinge, joint and socket, the Kansas City project will have failed. To whom do the Chiefs turn then? Johnny Unitas? Sammy Baugh?

Buddy Ryan: Could that right hook to the temple of Kevin Gilbride, delivered in the so-called “heat of battle,” actually have been premeditated? Consider: The game was nationally televised. The Oilers had a bye the following week. The resulting commotion was guaranteed to fill the newspapers every day for 14 days, thus thrusting Buddy back into the spotlight, enabling him to upstage Warren Moon, Gary Brown and an 11-game Houston winning streak. Nah, Buddy’s mind just doesn’t work like that.

Jack Pardee: The head coach of the Houston Oilers. The country may have forgotten.

Houston-Kansas City: To the winner goes a trip to the freezer, and our prayers, since the winner will be the last thing standing between the Buffalo Bills and (gasp) the Super Bowl. Houston has the greater incentive, considering what happened after 35-3 in last year’s playoff meeting, and a defense that might be able to interrupt Jim Kelly’s private little game of catch with Bill Brooks. (More than anything else Saturday, the Raiders missed Jack Tatum and Lester Hayes.) But could anyone outside Texas, and maybe Philadelphia, root for Ryan in good conscience? The torture, the torture.

Green Bay-Dallas: Dallas avenges the Ice Bowl, despite the fact that Green Bay, after all these years, would be a nice change of pace in the NFC final. If only the Packers could bring the sleet and snow with them. If only the Packers knew which Brett Favre they were bringing with them.

Tonya Harding: Bizarre Sports Story of the Decade. If the allegations are true, what could the “Harding camp” have been thinking, if anything? That it could pull off a hit-and-run at the national skating championships and get away with it? That the sport would just throw up its hands and say, “Oh well, Nancy’s hurt, she can’t compete, that’s it?” That the media wouldn’t pounce on the story as if it were a raw steak in a pool of piranha, turning over every stone from Detroit to Portland? New motto for future Olympic hopefuls: If you can’t beat ‘em, beat ‘em.

BCA boycott: I wish I could work up more sympathy for the coaches regarding the loss of a 14th scholarship, I really do, but I continue to see financially strapped universities cutting science programs, minority studies programs, library hours and baseball, swimming and gymnastics programs. I also wish every one of these coaches were as altruistic-minded as the argument put forward by UC Irvine’s Rod Baker, but I suspect more than a few are driven by self-interest. For some, that 14th scholarship is important primarily because it enables State U. to stash a player that conference rival State Tech could really use. If the coaches truly want to make a difference, they can take that scholarship money and establish secondary education programs for their players once their eligibility expires.

The college football playoff: If scholarship money is the problem, here is the answer. It is coming, before the end of the decade, but in what form? Most favor a four-team playoff, but suppose such a system had been in place this year. Florida State and Notre Dame would get two bids, Nebraska the other, but who gets the fourth? Florida, which routed undefeated West Virginia? Or Arizona, which shut out Miami? Or Wisconsin, which beat UCLA, a team that placed ahead of Arizona in the Pac-10 standings? “If you break it off at two, No. 3 is upset,” Bobby Bowden says. “If you break it off at four, No. 5’s upset. There’s going to be a debate no matter what you do.”

Bill Bavasi: As the Angels’ minor league director, he and scouting director Bob Fontaine are responsible for most of the assets the current club has--Tim Salmon, Chad Curtis, Damion Easley, Gary DiSarcina, Eduardo Perez. Why not give him a shot to step up? Angel general managers with bigger names and bigger reputations have only produced 34 years of exasperation. Angel fans do hope, however, that the sins of the father are not necessarily visited upon the son.

Gregg Olson: If another Bavasi/Fontaine production, name of Bryan Harvey, had been protected in the expansion draft, none of this would have been necessary. So far, the new front-office team has signed Craig Lefferts and Bob Patterson as set-up men, but the question remains: For whom?

The Angels and their lease: How about this--the Angels and the Rams agreeing on something regarding Anaheim Stadium. Which is: Anaheim Stadium needs a face-lift. Or a wrecking ball. Right now, the Angels are one of the very few teams in the major leagues with a better spring-training facility than regular-season stadium. What the Angels need is their own Camden Yards. They already spruced up the uniforms. Build a better ballpark and who could fathom the next possibility? Maybe, even, a better ballclub.