Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 25, 1996

This not being an NFL city, I thought you might like to know what some of your sports viewing options are on Sunday during the Super Bowl. . . .

ESPN is catering to bodybuilding fans. . . .

At 3:30 p.m., shortly after kickoff in Tempe, Ariz., the all-sports network will show a tape of the Masters Olympia competition that was staged as recently as Sept. 10 at Atlanta. . . .

That will be followed at 4:30 by a tape of the Fitness America Pageant that was held in Redondo Beach on Nov. 18. . . .

Even football fans might want to tune in at 6 p.m.--certainly the winner of the Super Bowl will have been decided by then--for the Legends of Figure Skating Competition that was held in Huntington, W.Va., on Oct. 11. . . .

At 4 p.m., ABC is offering an hour of World Cup freestyle skiing action taped this month in Blackcomb, Canada. . . .

But the most effective flick of the channel switch for those who find the Super Bowl a bore will be to the great motion picture, “The Caine Mutiny,” starring Humphrey Bogart, at 5 p.m. on The Movie Channel. . . .

Nothing during the days leading up to the Super Bowl--which have been as eventful as always--has changed my mind that Dallas will beat Pittsburgh, 38-20. . . .

The Cowboys simply have better players than the Steelers, and I don’t think that the improving Barry Switzer is going to mess up a second time this season against a team from Pennsylvania. . . .

Super Bowl week is not nearly as charming as NFL-AFL championship game week was in 1967 when Green Bay Packer Coach Vince Lombardi served drinks nightly during his media briefing in his hotel suite. . . .

The Packers trained in Santa Barbara and the Kansas City Chiefs in Long Beach. . . .

Mediocre ticket sales at the Coliseum meant the game--won by the Packers, 35-10--was blacked out in Southern California although it was telecast to the rest of the nation by CBS and NBC. . . .

First post at Santa Anita on Sunday will be 11 a.m. and last post 3 p.m., giving patrons time to get home for the football or bodybuilding telecasts. . . .

*

Notre Dame will have the partisan-crowd advantage next Nov. 2 when the Fighting Irish play Navy at Dublin, Ireland. . . .

Headed for UCLA are Joshua and Micah Webb, defensive linemen from Turlock, Calif., and sons of former San Francisco 49er Jimmy Webb. . . .

Anaheim will get a chance to beat St. Louis in pro football when the Piranhas of arena football make their debut at the Pond on April 20 in an exhibition game against the Stampede. . . .

John Calipari is a terrific coach, but the state of Massachusetts might never have forgiven him if the Minutemen’s basketball winning streak had been broken on a night in Pittsburgh when Marcus Camby didn’t play even though he had the OK from the team doctor. . . .

Calipari had plenty of time to insert Camby into the lineup because the game went into overtime. . . .

It won’t be long before the Chicago Bulls clinch a playoff berth. . . .

Michael Jordan’s 38.5-point average in his last eight games is impressive, but Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 during the 1961-62 season for the Philadelphia Warriors. . . .

The Detroit Pistons are going to retire Isiah Thomas’ No. 11 jersey Feb. 27 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, but Thomas will be rooting against the Pistons because they will be facing the Toronto Raptors. Thomas is the Toronto general manager. . . .

I was ready to turn in my Dangerous Dana Rosenblatt Fan Club card when I learned that the unbeaten middleweight from Massachusetts finally will swing back into action Feb. 4 against Pat Lawlor on ESPN. . . .

The installation of the new field at Dodger Stadium means no winter workouts there. . . .

Among the most improved outfields in baseball next season should be that of the New York Mets after their acquisitions of Lance Johnson and Bernard Gilkey. . . .

Actor George Wendt says he had a problem with the glowing, computer chip puck used on Fox Sports’ telecast of the NHL All-Star game. “I found myself watching the puck too much and not watching the players’ moves and the flow of the action enough,” Wendt said. . . .

The third set of Chanda Rubin’s 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 upset of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the Australian Open lasted 2 hours 22 minutes, which is only eight minutes fewer than NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show. . . .

The Ottawa Senators’ version of a hat trick is having three coaches in one season.