Notes on a Scorecard - May 9, 1994

Is it parity or mediocrity when the NBA playoff team with the worst record eliminates the one with the best record?. . . .

I say mediocrity. . . .

The Seattle SuperSonics are well balanced, but their defeat by Denver exposed their weakness--the lack of a go-to guy at crunch time. . . .

The Nuggets were as poised as their coach, low-key Dan Issel. . . .

Those who voted for David Robinson as the league’s most valuable player over Hakeem Olajuwon must be having second thoughts. After scoring 71 points on closing day of the regular season against the Clippers, the Admiral scored 80 in four games as the San Antonio Spurs were eliminated by the Utah Jazz. . . .

I don’t know about his relationship with Madonna, but Dennis Rodman might have worn out his welcome with the Spurs. . . .

Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson protested to NBC interviewer Hannah Storm after she said that the Phoenix Suns “stole” one from the Houston Rockets on Sunday. . . .

What a day Saturday was for couch potatoes--Denver’s overtime victory over Seattle in Game 5, the back-to-back home runs by sluggers Brett Butler and Jose Offerman during the Dodgers’ victory over San Francisco, the day of Gin and Roses at Churchill Downs, and the four title fights from Las Vegas. . . .

If the Julio Cesar Chavez-Frankie Randall bout had been conducted under California rules, Randall would have gotten a technical draw instead of an eighth-round defeat. . . .

Under World Boxing Council regulations, a point is deducted from a fighter who is guilty of an accidental head-butt that results in the fight being stopped. There is no such regulation in California. The deduction was the difference on one of the two scorecards that had Chavez ahead. . . .

Whatever, Chavez’s performance did nothing to change the feeling that Pernell Whitaker would dominate even more in a rematch of their absurd draw. . . .

There is no faster starter in boxing than WBC middleweight champion Gerald McClellan, who scored the 20th first-round knockout of his 33-bout career when he stopped Julian Jackson in 1 minute 23 seconds. In his three title defenses, McClellan has yet to hear a bell ending a round. . . .

A flyweight fight worth waiting for would be between Mark Johnson, the fifth-ranked contender who faces Javier Juarez at the Forum tonight, and Danny Romero. . . .

Romero, who looked terrific in his local debut Thursday at the Olympic, reminds me of former bantamweight contender Jesus Pimentel with his explosiveness inside the ring and charming personality outside it. . . .

Lennox Lewis can hit, as he showed against Phil Jackson, but you have to wonder if the stiff, upright WBC champion would have any better luck evading Michael Moorer’s right jab than Evander Holyfield did. . . .

I feel sorry for Randy Winick. . . .

The trainer does a flawless job bringing Brocco into the Kentucky Derby and then the horse uncharacteristically loses concentration and gets left in the starting gate, for all intents and purposes losing any chance to win. . . .

You are probably better off drawing numbers out of a hat than trying to handicap the Derby. . . .

Since Spectacular Bid’s victory in 1979, the average finish of the favorite has been eighth. . . .

There is nobody better in a pinch than Chris McCarron. . . .

McCarron completed a pinch-hitter’s Triple Crown on Saturday aboard Go For Gin. The first time he rode Danzig Connection, he won the 1986 Belmont Stakes. The first time he rode Pine Bluff, he won the 1992 Preakness. And the second time he rode Alysheba, he won the 1987 Kentucky Derby. . . .

Leave it to Charlie Whittingham to have the good sense not to run Strodes Creek in the Preakness and wait until the Belmont. Strodes Creek is a long-striding horse who is still learning how to run and those tight turns at Pimlico would make the Preakness seem like a Formula One race. . . .

My first Derby Day in Louisville was disappointing because of the rain that dampened spirits and a race that lacked suspense. . . .

Based on last season’s won-loss records, the Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings will have the fourth-toughest schedules in the NFL in 1994. The Rams, Denver, New England and Cleveland will have the ninth-toughest. Kansas City and Cincinnati will have the toughest and Tampa Bay the easiest. . . .

John Wooden on Louisville coach and former UCLA guard Denny Crum, who will be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame at Springfield, Mass., today: “He’s the only player I ever had that, while he was playing, I knew was born to coach.”