Notes on a Scorecard - Aug. 21, 1990

The crowd that was announced as 28,273 for the Raider-Dallas exhibition game Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum didn’t look nearly that big. . . .

It would be nothing new for a Los Angeles team to inflate attendance figures, but why would the Raiders want to? If they flee to Oakland, the smaller the crowds for Coliseum games, the more logical the move. If they stay in Los Angeles, the smaller the crowds, the more urgent the need for a remodeling or rebuilding job on the Coliseum. . . .

Meanwhile, USC continues to draw at the Coliseum. The season ticket sale will exceed 50,000, the Notre Dame game Nov. 24 already is a sellout, and the Penn State game Sept. 15 should come close to filling all 92,516 seats. . . .

The largest crowd to see the Raiders at the Coliseum this year probably will be Nov. 3--for a concert featuring Paul Revere and the Raiders after the USC-California game.

The Dodgers and Reds will meet six more times, three in Los Angeles Sept. 7-9 and three in Cincinnati Sept. 14-16. . . .

Before shortstop Jose Offerman was called up from the Pacific Coast League, the Dodgers dispatched former infield coach Monty Basgall to Albuquerque to try to to make Offerman a more aggressive fielder and improve his footwork. . . .

The Dodgers now have two teams in the Dominican professional summer league, which produced Offerman and Ramon Martinez, and Fred Claire has a weekly conference call with club officials there. Scout Rafael Avila is their main man. . . .

Said Pete Arbogast, Dodger Stadium public address announcer: “I had an urge to say, ‘No. 30, the shortstop, Maury Wills,’ the first time Offerman came to bat.” . . .

Besides Hoyt Wilhelm, former Angel Dave Machemer is another who hit his only major league home run in his first at-bat. Machemer’s career lasted only 29 games in 1978-79 with California and Detroit. . . .

Angel Manager Doug Rader deserves a contract extension. . . .

Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Pac-10 to add Brigham Young University of the Western Athletic Conference than Texas and Texas A & M of the Southwest Conference? Provo, Utah is a lot closer than Austin and College Station, and BYU regularly sells out its 65,000-seat football stadium and 23,000-seat basketball arena. . . .

Here’s another great NCAA edict: Shawn Bradley, the BYU freshman basketball player, cannot be measured by the school until next month. He took three classes during the summer term, but is prohibited from sports related activities until the fall semester when most members of his high school graduating class start college. . . .

Bradley’s estimated height is 7 feet 6. . . .

The word most athletes hate to hear is choke, but that’s the one honest Monica Seles used in describing her performance late in the third set Sunday before she beat Martina Navratilova. . . .

Promoter Al Franken has begun negotiations to bring Ben Johnson to the Sunkist meet in January at the Sports Arena. But don’t look for Carl Lewis. His comparatively slow start hurts him indoors and Franken doesn’t have millions to spend on a Lewis-Johnson match. . . .

The new Tommie Smith is Michael Johnson, the former Baylor sprinter who excels at 200 meters and beat world-record holder Butch Reynolds at 400 meters last week in Cologne. . . .

Mark McGwire is the Lou Gehrig of his day. Gehrig played in the shadow of Babe Ruth, and McGwire, who has hit at least 30 homers in each of his first four seasons, hardly gets noticed on a team that features Jose Canseco. . . .

The Boston Red Sox lead the American League in batting average, but are next to last in home runs, an unusual combination for a team that plays in Fenway Park.

Cecil Fielder is no fluke, but now the same questions are being asked about Kevin Maas. . . .

At 6 feet 1 and 147 pounds, Maurice Blocker, who won the World Boxing Council championship from Marlon Starling Sunday, is the new Mark Breland of the welterweight division. . . .

Mike Garrett, who became USC’s first Heisman Trophy winner 25 years ago, will serve as master of ceremonies at the preseason Trojan football banquet Saturday night at the Bonaventure hotel. . . .

NBA trade rumor central: Forward Otis Thorpe from Houston to New York for guard Mark Jackson in a deal also involving other players. . . .

The signing of Terry Mills by a team in Greece doesn’t do much for Denver’s youth movement. Mills is the forward from Michigan who was drafted in the first round by Milwaukee and then traded to the Nuggets for Danny Schayes. . . .

Howie Long on whether the Raiders are moving to Oakland: “I don’t know. Al Davis’ operation is as leak-proof as Jacques Cousteau’s submarine.”