Notes on a Scorecard - June 22, 1995

I won’t believe the Raiders are leaving until they take their first snap at Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. . . .

I won’t believe the Raiders are staying until they take their first snap at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. . . .

If Al Davis doesn’t know what he’s going to do, who else does? . . .

Mike Tyson should be treated not as a hero, but as a convicted rapist who served his time and is trying to rehabilitate himself. . . .

I’m glad they didn’t give him a parade the other day in New York. . . .

He didn’t deserve one. . . .

But I’m also pleased that he made a $100,000 donation to Our Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit, non-sectarian educational support group in Harlem. . . .

“We make mistakes and we grow from our mistakes,” Tyson said. . . .

For sure, the former heavyweight champion has a lot of growing to do. . . .

*

Garfield vs. Roosevelt is the biggest rivalry in Los Angeles city high school football, an annual 20,000-seat sellout at East L.A. College. . . .

On Sept. 9, the rivalry will be moved to the ring when Garfield graduate Oscar De La Hoya faces Roosevelt graduate Genaro Hernandez at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. . . .

This one has been nearly three years in the making--and longer than that in the minds of the fighters. . . .

Before the 1992 Summer Olympics, De La Hoya, who was to become the United States’ only boxing gold medalist in Barcelona, sparred with Hernandez, already the World Boxing Assn. junior lightweight champion, at a local gym. . . .

“I’ve wanted to fight Oscar ever since then,” Hernandez said. “People wrote that he manhandled me in the gym. That wasn’t true.”. . . .

Hernandez said that he was just coming off hand surgery--not unusual because he has had five hand operations--was rusty, took some good shots in the first round, and fought better the remainder of the four-round session. . . .

“This will be my toughest fight because Genaro is an intelligent fighter,” De La Hoya said at the news conference Wednesday. . . .

“That’s the way I’m going to beat him, fighting a smart fight, not a brawlers’ fight,” Hernandez said. . . .

*

It puzzles me that teams such as the Dodgers that traditionally put so much emphasis on pitching are often so shoddy in the field. . . .

New Dodger pitching coach Dave Wallace is getting high marks. . . .

Dodger and Angel fans can’t be accused of stuffing the ballot boxes--or Internet--in the All-Star game voting. . . .

Only Mike Piazza, who leads National League catchers, is getting much support. . . .

Of course, you have to wonder what this year’s performance means when Lenny Dykstra is receiving the second most votes among outfielders and Jeff Bagwell the second most among first basemen. . . .

How strong is the Cleveland Indians’ batting order? Third baseman Jim Thome, who bats No. 7 or No. 8, has 15 home runs. . . .

The Sporting News preseason college football magazine ranks USC sixth in the nation and UCLA 17th. All six Bruin opponents at the Rose Bowl are ranked in the top 33. Texas A&M; is picked No. 1. . . .

The only year both the NBA finals and Stanley Cup championship series were swept was 1983, the Philadelphia 76ers over the Lakers and the New York Islanders over the Edmonton Oilers. . . .

The topic at the lunch table was to name the top 10 NBA players of all-time, regardless of position. This was our consensus, in alphabetical order: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell and Jerry West. . . .

Our 11th man was Julius Erving, who was replaced in the top 10 by Olajuwon after the Houston-Orlando series. . . .

Playing spots are available for the UCLA water polo scholarship golf tournament Monday at Braemar Country Club. . . .

Thumbs up to UCLA’s Amy Acuff, who has a 3.67 grade-point average in biology and recently became the second American woman to win the high jump at the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets and the U.S. outdoor championships all in the same year. . . .

Eastern-based horses seldom get much action at the betting windows in Southern California, but Cigar and Concern figure to be the first and second choices in the Gold Cup on July 2 at Hollywood Park. . . .

Trainer Gary Jones, saying he couldn’t remember the last time he had claimed a horse, explained, “My memory is so bad, my wife lets me hide my own Easter eggs.”