Gutty Little Standards Being Raised at UCLA

A former University of Oklahoma president once said his goal was to improve the school’s academic reputation enough to make the football team proud.

I’ve thought for years that the goal of UCLA’s football team should be to make its basketball team proud.

There are a few college teams that enter each season with a No. 1 goal of finishing No. 1.

UCLA is like that in basketball. USC is like that in football, which is the reason some of the school’s alums are not as thrilled as Trojan coaches and players about a season that will end with four or five losses and a possible bid to the Aloha Bowl.

But UCLA’s football team under Terry Donahue didn’t seem to be playing the same high-stakes game as Notre Dame, Nebraska, Florida State, Penn State or USC.

My impression was that those Bruins were satisfied if they could upset the Trojans, share in a Pacific 10 Conference championship, earn a berth in the Rose Bowl and play respectably against a Big Ten team.

No question, that’s ambitious. But their image as lovable overachievers was inconsistent with a university that prides itself on winning national championships in other sports.

From what I’ve seen this season, I doubt Bob Toledo will be truly satisfied with anything less.

He’ll settle for less, especially in a season like this one that started with two losses to all but eliminate the Bruins from national championship contention. Considering that, their potential for a nine-win regular season, a Rose Bowl berth and a top-five finish is a remarkable accomplishment.

When next season begins, though, he’ll be disappointed if his team isn’t considered a candidate for No. 1, just like John Robinson, or whoever, will be at USC.

The gutty little Bruins are no more. RIP.

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So what really happened between Oscar De La Hoya and trainer Emmanuel Steward? . . .

Angelo Dundee, who is training George Foreman for Saturday night’s fight against Shannon Briggs in Atlantic City, says the word within boxing circles is that Steward was becoming increasingly friendly with Don King and made a bold attempt to deliver De La Hoya to him. . . .

After years of teaching fighters to avoid punches to the head, maybe Steward has taken some. . . .

Bob Arum, King’s No. 1 rival, not only is De La Hoya’s promoter but is like a second father to him. . . .

De La Hoya, who already has given his 1992 Olympic gold medal to Arum, will soon honor him with one of the initial Champions of Children Awards. . . .

Arum, August Busch and Seth Abraham will receive the awards at a Dec. 16 banquet in Beverly Hills to celebrate the opening of the Oscar De La Hoya Youth Foundation in East L.A. . . .

“No comment,” Arum said Monday when asked about this latest version of Steward’s dismissal, which cost the trainer at least $2 million. . . .

How super was Super Saturday? . . .

Three of the four college football teams that played Sept. 6 in either the Rose Bowl or the Coliseum--Florida State, Tennessee and UCLA--are ranked among the top seven. . . .

And the Florida Marlins, who played that day at Dodger Stadium, became world champions. . . .

The Dodgers wouldn’t meet Montreal’s price for Pedro Martinez, but they are very serious about making a deal for Expo second baseman Mike Lansing if Eric Young is lost in today’s expansion draft. . . .

If Young feels a little queasy, it’s not necessarily seasickness from the Mexican cruise he’s supposed to be enjoying. . . .

He would rather not become known as the first player lost by the same team twice in an expansion draft. . . .

Dodger Manager Bill Russell, who would rather not lose him, is on the same cruise. . . .

If you see only one ABL game in the Long Beach Pyramid this season, tonight should be the one. . . .

It will be the first meeting between the StingRays’ Yolanda Griffith and the Portland Power’s Natalie Williams. . . .

Circle this date: The Lakers meet the Hawks for the first time this season on Dec. 19 in Atlanta. . . .

The most damage to Shaquille O’Neal resulting from that incident on the day of the Lakers’ first game this season against Utah was that his name will forever be linked with that of Greg Ostertag. . . .

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar eventually earned his place alongside Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as one of the all-time great centers, but it took years for people to forget about his confrontation with Kent Benson. . . .

On second thought, I guess some people still haven’t forgotten.

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While wishing Warren Moon a happy 41st birthday, I was thinking: Drew Bledsoe misses Bill Parcells even if he doesn’t know it, Jay Bell would have looked good in Dodger blue, baseball is in trouble when the expansion draft attracts more interest than the World Series.