No Marquee Names, but at Least They’re Games

It might seem like cruel and unusual punishment, but you can attend both the USC-Oregon State and UCLA-Northeast Louisiana games on Saturday. . . .

The Trojan kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. at the Coliseum and the Bruin kickoff at 7:30 p.m. at the Rose Bowl. . . .

Plenty of good seats are available. . . .

Oregon State is coming off a 35-14 loss to Montana and Northeast Louisiana a 30-3 loss to Minnesota. . . .

You probably are aware that the Beavers from Corvallis belong to the Pacific 10 Conference. . . .

But consider yourself an expert if you can identify Northeast Louisiana as the Indians from Monroe who are one of the few independents playing NCAA Division I-A football. . . .

Well, I guess we should be happy for small favors. . . .

These are the only home games for USC and UCLA in September. . . .

Seven of the Trojans’ 12 games and six of the Bruins’ 11 this season are on the road.

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Callers have been flooding New York sports talk shows with criticism of the celebration Keyshawn Johnson staged after catching his first NFL touchdown pass Sunday. . . .

They ought to be happy that a Jet caught a TD pass, period. . . .

Fred Claire made himself an easy target by not pulling the trigger on a major deal down the stretch, but the Dodgers are playing their best baseball of the season and the signing of Tim Wallach is looking like a significant move. . . .

Thumbs up to the Diamond Vision crew at Dodger Stadium for letting the crowd know the nature of Raul Mondesi’s injury on Monday night. Too often these things are kept secret to the paying fan. . . .

Manager Bill Russell believes Todd Hollandsworth deserves to become the fifth Dodger in a row to win the rookie-of-the-year award. . . .

“Nothing against the rest of the candidates, but Hollandsworth is coming through in the heat of a division race,” Russell said. “He’s getting better all the time.” . . .

Russell isn’t giving Hollandsworth many at-bats against the few left-handed pitchers the Dodgers are facing, but says he will be an everyday player next season. . . .

If a comeback-within-the-year award were given, it would go to St. Louis pitcher Andy Benes, who has gone from 1-7 to 17-9. . . .

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Invitations have been extended to the three godfathers of Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez’s children--Daniel Zaragoza, Pipino Cuevas and Julio Cesar Chavez--to participate in ceremonies on “Adios, Chiquita” Night Saturday at the Forum. . . .

In the main event, the sport’s busiest champion, unbeaten Marco Antonio Barrera, will be making the eighth defense of his World Boxing Organization junior-featherweight title in eight months, against Jesse Magana. . . .

Negotiations have begun for Barrera to fight Naseem Hamed, the colorful London-based fighter who calls himself the Prince. . . .

According to promoter Bob Arum, Chavez’s tax problems with the Mexican government have been settled. . . .

“Top Rank has given the government a letter of credit for $1 million,” Arum said. “This fight [against Joey Gamache] is for the Mexican government. So Julio’s incentive is to win and fight his next fight for himself.” . . .

A Chavez-Oscar De La Hoya rematch is in the works for January if Chavez and De La Hoya, who defends his World Boxing Assn. super-lightweight title against Miguel Angel Gonzalez, both win as expected on the Oct. 12 card at Caesars Palace. . . .

De La Hoya was grand marshal of the Mexican Independence Day parade last Sunday in East Los Angeles. . . .

“It was a very emotional experience to be honored by my people,” De La Hoya said. . . .

The NFL alumni have added basketball Hall of Famer George Yardley to the celebrity field for their 15th annual golf tournament next Monday at Los Coyotes Country Club. Yardley’s football experience consists of backup duty at end for the 10th-grade team at Newport Harbor High in 1943. . . .

Eddie Murray wears No. 33, played for the Orioles at Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street in Baltimore, has a single-season high of 33 home runs, hit 333 homers during his first tour of duty with the Orioles, and was 33 when he played his first National League game.