Notes on a Scorecard - Aug. 23, 1994

This has not been a terrific summer for the Lakers. . . .

They didn’t sign Horace Grant. They didn’t sign Danny Manning. They didn’t sign Dominique Wilkins. They are about to lose Doug Christie, who will undergo ankle surgery Wednesday, for at least training camp. . . .

But there is a chance that they will make a deal this week--a draft choice or a player to Phoenix for Cedric Ceballos, who would become their starting small forward. . . .

At one time, the Lakers were trying to land both Grant and Manning. . . .

Jerry Buss is still considered a players’ owner, but the old Laker mystique is gone and Grant and Manning signed with teams--Orlando and Phoenix, respectively--that appear to be a lot closer to an NBA title. . . .

The Lakers had little interest in Wilkins because of his age, 34. . . .

The Clippers might sign free agent power forward Wayman Tisdale, the nine-year veteran who has played for Indiana and Sacramento. . . .

Tisdale was picked second by Indiana in the 1985 draft. Patrick Ewing was selected first by New York, and Benoit Benjamin third by the Clippers. . . .

How shocking that Rick Pitino’s name hasn’t surfaced in speculation about the next coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. . . .

Darlene May, who coached Cal Poly Pomona to three NCAA Division II basketball titles and is battling cancer, used to live on Wooden Ave. in Placentia. . . .

There is also a Nell Lane in the same Orange County town. . . .

It seems that Ed Powell, a former assistant coach to John Wooden at UCLA, was city manager when the streets were named in the honor of the Wizard of Westwood and his wife. . . .

The Rams could do worse than hiring a proven winner such as Charles Mann. . . .

*

It took Emmitt Smith about two seconds to flash midseason form during his first game of the exhibition season against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. . . .

Perry Klein, the former Southland high school and Cal quarterback who finished his college career at C.W. Post, has won the Atlanta Falcons’ third-string job over veteran Bob Gagliano. . . .

Coach Jim Sweeney says 6-foot-4, 310-pound Jason James, who has been switched from center to tackle, is Fresno State’s best offensive linemen ever. The former Buena Park High player will return to Orange County for the Disneyland Pigskin Classic against Ohio State on Monday. . . .

Former USC tailback Allen Carter has become coach at Anaheim High, where he will inherit one of the best running backs in the Southland, junior Reuben Droughns, who gained 2,039 yards as a sophomore. . . .

Max Mikhailovsky, the L.A. Blade goaltender who will face the Anaheim Bullfrogs in Roller Hockey International playoff games tonight at The Pond of Anaheim and Wednesday at the Forum, has been invited to the Kings’ training camp. . . .

Bob Kennedy, the former Indiana performer who set an American record in the 3,000 meters recently, could become the best U.S. distance runner since Steve Prefontaine. . . .

Pity those who bet a Soviet Problem-Mamselle Bebette exacta Sunday at Del Mar and got a $2.40 return instead of $2.80 on a Soviet Problem bet in the match race. . . .

The mutuel takeout is far bigger on exotic bets, such as the exacta, than on flat bets. . . .

The fair thing would have been for Del Mar to offer only win betting. . . .

John Longden, 88, recently wowed a luncheon audience by rattling off the fractions of a race he won aboard Count Fleet in 1942. Longden still believes that the 1943 Triple Crown winner was the greatest thoroughbred ever. . . .

It was nice that Julie Krone won her first Grade I race in more than a year Sunday at Saratoga, the same track where she was seriously injured last Aug. 30. . . .

*

Boxing historian Dick Mastro says that if Rafael (Bazooka) Limon really is only 35, he would have been 13 when he began his pro boxing career. . . .

Jerry Nathanson, who died last week at 83, did something many other State Athletic commissioners haven’t over the years. He attended boxing matches regularly. . . .

When Julio Cesar Borboa defends his International Boxing Federation super flyweight title against Harold Grey on Monday, it will be the 12th anniversary show for Buss’ Forum Boxing, Inc., and the 218th consecutive card without a cancellation. . . .

Now that his Nov. 5 heavyweight title bout against Michael Moorer is on again, George Foreman has resumed vigorous training, told publicist Bill Caplan not to schedule any interviews for the next two weeks and set a goal of trimming to 235 pounds. . . .

The USC basketball team, which is 2-0 on its Asian tour, is staying at the Stanford Hotel in Hong Kong.