Notes on a Scorecard - Feb. 8, 1994

If their teammates played with as much enthusiasm as the lowest-paid Laker and Clipper--CBA products Reggie Jordan and Harold Ellis--it would be a lot more fun to watch pro basketball in this town. . . .

The plus side to the Lakers having no all-stars is that everyone but Nick Van Exel, who will play in Saturday’s rookies games, will have four days off after playing three consecutive nights. . . .

The Sacramento Kings, who were in town when the earthquake hit and play the makeup game Thursday night at the Forum, will find that not much has changed. The quakes are continuing, except they are called aftershocks. . . .

UCLA was overrated at No. 1 two weeks ago--and underrated at No. 13 in the Associated Press preseason poll. . . .

Six of the 11 teams in the so-called Big Ten have been ranked in the top 25 this season. . . .

Friends of Bob Boyd will honor the Utah State assistant coach and former head coach at schools too numerous to mention Wednesday at 7 p.m. at a dinner at the Red Lion Inn in Costa Mesa. . . .

The Los Angeles Strings, who have been disbanded, was Jerry Buss’ first sports franchise. . . .

Buss’ World Team Tennis venture wound up costing him millions of dollars, but he has a championship trophy to show for it. The 1978 Strings, led by Chris Evert, defeated the Boston Lobsters, led by Martina Navratilova, for the title. . . .

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There have been more famous winners of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, but none more grateful or perhaps more deserving than Phil Grove. . . .

“Winning the award came as the greatest shock of my life,” Grove said during ceremonies Sunday in the walking ring at Santa Anita. “I felt honored just being nominated.” . . .

Grove, 46, who was the leading apprentice rider in the nation in 1967, has spent most of his career on the minor-league circuit in Maryland and West Virginia, and the biggest of his more than 3,700 victories have come in such races as the Tri-State Futurity and Hilltop Stakes. . . .

He is a member of the board of directors of the Jockeys’ Guild, a longtime advocate of jockey rights, and extremely popular with his colleagues. . . .

Grove is the 45th recipient of the award that recognizes sportsmanship and achievement and is presented in memory of the jockey who won the first Santa Anita Handicap aboard Azucar in 1935 and died in a racing accident at Santa Anita in 1946. . . .

Funny thing about Corey Nakatani claiming foul unsuccessfully against Laffit Pincay after the Strub Stakes is that they have the same agent, Bob Meldahl. . . .

Proof of the depth of the Santa Anita jockey colony is that only five victories separate the co-leaders in the standings, Kent Desormeaux and Alex Solis, from the 10th-place rider, Eddie Delahoussaye. . . .

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USC has begun its 100th baseball season. . . .

Champions of 11 College World Series, the Trojans have won 1,819 games and lost 976. . . .

The worst trade the San Francisco Giants ever made sent Orlando Cepeda to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ray Sadecki in 1966. . . .

Now they’re both working for the Giants, Sadecki as a recently appointed minor-league pitching instructor and Cepeda in community relations. . . .

Best little-known commissioner in sports might be bowling’s Mike Connor. . . . Bryant Gumbel, whose shot hit a sea gull at Pebble Beach, must have gotten some tips from Dave Winfield. . . .

The Florida Panthers have made 11 trades and the Mighty Ducks none since the start of their training camps. . . .

The difference between the Pro Bowl and the NBA/NHL All-Star games is that they don’t play much offense in Honolulu. . . .

Concern that Oscar De La Hoya would have trouble making the 130-pound limit for his World Boxing Organization junior-lightweight title bout against champion Jimmi Bredahl on March 5 at the Grand Olympic Auditorium has evaporated. . . .

Although his upper body appears bigger and more muscular than ever, De La Hoya already is down to 131 at his Big Bear training camp. . . .

The May 7 card at the MGM Grand is expected to be packed with rematches--Frankie Randall vs. Julio Cesar Chavez, Simon Brown vs. Terry Norris, Azumah Nelson vs. Jesse James Leija and Joe McClellan vs. Julian Jackson. . . .

Considering all the recent seismic activity, I wonder how Forum fans will react to ring announcer Michael Buffer’s trademark, “Let’s get ready to rumble!” before he introduces Michael Carbajal on Feb. 19.