Notes on a Scorecard - Dec. 28, 1989

Rating the five best New Year’s Day bowl games:

1. Orange Bowl. Colorado can clinch the national championship, and should, against a Notre Dame team that usually stinks out the joint in Miami. The Irish will be in big trouble against the quicker Buffaloes if Rocket Ismail is slowed by a shoulder injury. . . . 2. Rose Bowl. Bo Schembechler’s retirement makes this special. The Wolverines used to lose in Pasadena because they couldn’t pass. Now they are well-balanced (2,380 yards running, 1,818 passing). But the key is the young USC quarterback, Todd Marinovich, who must regain his form after an off day against UCLA. . . .

3. Fiesta Bowl. Florida State is playing better than anyone in the nation after losing its first two games. Coming off a rare win over Oklahoma, Nebraska will keep it close, high-scoring and entertaining. . . .

4. Sugar Bowl. Kickoff will be about a half-hour after the Orange Bowl starts, and by the fourth quarter, Miami could be shooting for a national title. An upset might silence Bill Curry’s critics at Alabama--at least for a month or two. . . .

5. Cotton Bowl. In Arkansas and Tennessee they care very much about this neighborhood brawl, but it will draw a yawn from the rest of the country. . . .

The best musical show will be in Pasadena, where the always powerful Michigan band is matched against colorful USC. . . .

Trojan wide receiver John Jackson has completed the grand slam of athletic and academic honors. A 3.30 GPA graduate in business who is working on his master’s degree, Jackson has won an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, been named to the NCAA Top Six and been selected as a National Football Foundation scholar-athlete, Woody Hayes scholar-athlete and first-team GTE academic All-American. . . .

The rising star at NBC, Joel Meyers, will announce the Freedom Bowl on TV Saturday and the Rose Bowl on radio Monday. . . .

Florida running back Emmitt Smith will be the center of attention in the Freedom, but Washington center Bern Brostek is projected to be a first-round draft choice. . . .

The AFC and NFC wild-card games each would receive more attention if they were played on different days, but TV ratings are better on Sunday than on Saturday. . . .

By now, we’ve gotten used to playoffs without the Raiders, Dolphins and Cowboys. But no Bears, either? . . .

If you’re looking for a couple of sleepers to make it to the Super Bowl, try the Rams and Browns. . . .

Three of the top four offensive teams in the AFC didn’t get into the playoffs--and neither did three of the top five defensive teams. . . .

Tom Lasorda says the first time he met Billy Martin was on the diamond. But the sport was boxing. “I was pitching for Kansas City against the Yankees in 1956,” the Dodger manager recalled. “I threw at him. A fight broke out. It wasn’t long after, though, that we became friends. You just had to be in the same room with the guy for an hour to love him.” . . .

Lasorda on Martin, the manager: “He knew how to motivate people. That made him a winner.” . . .

Regardless of his numbers, Brett Hull isn’t half the hockey player his father Bobby was. . . .

The change in the style of play in the NHL is reflected in the statistics of Doug Harvey, the Hall of Fame defenseman who died Tuesday at 65. The most goals he scored in a single season was nine. . . .

Robb Stauber, the goaltender out of the University of Minnesota who made Mark Fitzpatrick expendable, still hasn’t played for the Kings’ New Haven farm club because of groin and back injuries. . . .

Look-alikes: Jerry Burns and Burgess Meredith. . . .

The more thoroughbred racing there is, the less predictable it gets. . . .

What a pleasure it is to hear Trevor Denman call the races at Santa Anita again. . . .

Their last 0.2-second defeat to the Celtics was just another step in the learning process for the young Clippers. What they learned is that it helps to be part of the NBA Establishment when crucial calls are made by officials. . . .

Who else but Larry Bird and Magic Johnson did you expect to decide the outcomes of two games in the same city the same night with free throws? . . .

NFL take note: The Clipper-Celtic game was long by NBA standards. It lasted 2 hours 15 minutes. . . .

It’s easy to rap the Boston hierarchy for not keeping up with the Lakers, but this would be a much different club if not for the Len Bias tragedy and the defection of Brian Shaw to Italy. . . .

No team with Akeem Olajuwon in the lineup should have a losing record. . . .

Michigan will be the sentimental favorite on the moon Monday. Three Apollo 15 crew members who are graduates of the university left a UM flag there.