Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 17, 1996

Whipping boy of the week is Brett Favre, who is taking too much blame for Green Bay’s loss to Dallas. . . .

Unlike Troy Aikman, Favre has to provide virtually all of his team’s offense. . . .

He made some mistakes on Sunday, but threw three touchdown passes and had the Packers in front as late as the fourth quarter. . . .

If the quarterbacks had been exchanged for the NFC championship game, the Cowboys still would be in the Super Bowl. . . .

You can win a bet by identifying Lawrence McCutcheon as the only Los Angeles Ram ever to throw a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl game. On a halfback option play, McCutcheon connected with Ron Smith for 24 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl. . . .

McCutcheon’s pass gave the Rams a 19-17 lead in the third quarter, but they lost, 31-19. . . .

Del Harris is a better coach than his slightly-better-than-50% record, 400-392, would indicate. His teams often overachieve. . . .

The Phoenix Suns, who fired coach Paul Westphal on Tuesday, are 14-19. After the same number of games last season, they were 26-7 and shared the best record in the NBA with the Orlando Magic. . . .

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The Chicago Bulls are on a pace to demolish the Lakers’ NBA record 69-13 season of 1971-72, but there were only 17 teams in the league then compared to 29 now. These Bulls have a lot more breathers than those Lakers did. . . .

Tyus Edney, who wasn’t supposed to have the durability to play regularly in the NBA, logged 42 minutes during a game at Minnesota on Monday. Sacramento was beaten, but Edney got 15 points and 14 assists. . . .

However, Edney wasn’t the leading scorer among former UCLA guards. Derrick Martin, recently traded back to Minnesota from Vancouver, scored 20. . . .

Do you know anyone who misses the replacement NBA officials? . . .

It’s no wonder that, going into Tuesday’s games, Pittsburgh had scored 40 more goals than any other team in the NHL. The three leading scorers in the league are Penguins Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis. . . .

After what Bob Arum described as serious negotiations, he was confident that he would be able to co-promote a George Foreman-Mike Tyson fight this year. . . .

Foreman phoned Tyson and reported that Iron Mike was enthusiastic about the proposed match that might produce a $100 million gate. . . .

But, at a meeting in Florida, King told Arum that Tyson-Foreman wouldn’t be possible until after Tyson fought Frank Bruno, Bruce Seldon and Francois Botha in title bouts. . . .

By that time, Foreman might be on social security. . . .

Coach Jim Harrick and the 1995 NCAA basketball champions will be honored at the 18th annual Sports Legend luncheon Monday at the Century Plaza hotel. Proceeds benefit UCLA’s UniCamp charity. . . .

Right in the middle of a rigorous Pacific 10 Conference schedule, USC has to play at Cincinnati, which is unbeaten, on Jan. 28. Athletic Director Mike Garrett figured it was worth it to get some rare exposure on an ABC regional telecast. . . .

How tough is it on the road? Arizona assistant Jessie Evans’ car was towed after he had parked it illegally next to Pauley Pavilion, where he was scouting talent in the Martin Luther King Holiday Challenge. . . .

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If Massachusetts star center Marcus Camby is sidelined for two weeks after his collapse, he will miss home games against Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and Fordham and road games at Duquesne and Pittsburgh. He may return Feb. 1 at Temple. . . .

Cal State Fullerton’s defending NCAA champion baseball team will open the season with three games against Stanford on Feb. 2-4 at Palo Alto. . . .

The Titans, led by Golden Spike winner Mark Kotsay, and the Cardinal are 1-2 in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason rankings. . . .

USC, the defending NCAA runner-up, is ranked 13th and will play Loyola Marymount in the opener Jan. 30 at Dedeaux Field. . . .

All in the family: Cash Asmussen, who rides primarily in France, will be aboard Valid Expectations in the San Miguel Stakes at Santa Anita on Thursday. The Louisiana shipper’s trainer is Cash’s brother, Steve Asmussen. . . .

Former pro football kicker Ben Agajanian is among the 10 co-owners of Kentucky Derby candidate Alyrob. . . .

Best Pal should be retired. Watching him race Monday at Santa Anita was like watching Willie Mays play center field for the New York Mets.