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Having the No. 1- and 2-ranked teams play for the national collegiate football championship every year should work out just fine. . . . Especially if the games are more competitive than that
between No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Florida in the Fiesta Bowl last season. . . . The bowl alliance is a step in the right direction toward crowning a true NCAA champion. . . . But a playoff
format still would be the best way. . . . Consider that seven of the nine NCAA Division I basketball champions from 1985 to ’93 were not ranked in the top two of the Associated Press poll at
the end of the regular season. . . . Of course, basketball has a 64-team tournament that would be infeasible for football. . . . An eight-team playoff format would be ideal. . . . The site
for the first championship game after the 1998 season has not been determined, but here’s a vote for the Rose Bowl, whose seating capacity is bigger than those of the stadiums hosting the
Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowls and whose tradition is unmatched. . . . The most exciting swimming race I’ve ever seen was the duel between Alexander Popov and Gary Hall Jr. in the 100-meter
freestyle at Atlanta on Monday. . . . Popov won by seven-hundredths of a second after the bitter rivals matched stroke for stroke the last half of the race. . . . But NBC showed more replays
of finishes of races that weren’t nearly as close, local newscasts focused on other results, and this newspaper didn’t have a photo of Popov anywhere or a mention of him on Page 1 of our
Olympic section the next morning. . . . Do you suppose the coverage would have been different if Hall, the American, had out-touched Popov, the Russian? . . . If international swimming
officials allowed Michelle Smith of Ireland to compete in the 400-meter freestyle, then the U.S. federation should have allowed Kristine Quance to compete in the 400-meter individual medley.
. . . Common sense prevailed only in Smith’s case. . . . A 200- 400-meter double in the Olympics by Michael Johnson would be unprecedented for a male runner, but still wouldn’t match the
5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and marathon triple by Emile Zatopek of Czechoslovakia in the 1952 Games at Helsinki. . . . The Olympic boxing tournament, which has a blind draw, ought to be
seeded. . . . Dream Team I was ripped for showing its opponents no mercy in 1992. Dream Team III is ripped for defeating Argentina by only 28 points and Angola by only 33. . . . Pity the
athlete who gets up at 6 every morning for several years, trains half the day, earns a silver medal, has a microphone pushed into his or her face, and is asked, “What went wrong?” . . .
President Clinton asked to meet Mark Spitz in Atlanta and got his wish. . . . The regulars at Friendly Hills Country Club in Whittier say Oscar De La Hoya couldn’t be more friendly. . . .
Terry Donahue’s newest passion is golf. . . . Mary Murphy, 78, of Los Alamitos, is giving water skiing lessons at the American Boating Jubilee that runs through Sunday at the downtown Long
Beach marina. . . . Exit finished second in the last race of the Hollywood Park meeting. . . . Anaheim already has clinched a playoff berth--in arena football. . . . Louisville
Courier-Journal columnist Pat Forde has nominated Cigar for sportsman of the year. . . . Chances of the Astros staying in Houston improved slightly last week when a club-record 170,447 fans
showed up at the Astrodome for a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves. . . . Cincinnati outfielder Eric Davis should figure prominently on any list of National League
comeback-player-of-the-year candidates. . . . Ryne Sandberg’s error with two out in the ninth inning that gave San Francisco a 3-2 victory over Chicago on Monday was only the second of his
comeback year. . . . Where They Aren’t Now: Quarterback Andre Ware, the 1989 Heisman Trophy winner from Houston, was released by the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League. .
. . Super Bowl XXXI will be Jan. 26 at the Superdome in New Orleans. The NFC and AFC championship games will be Jan. 12, but I can’t tell you where. . . NBC volleyball reporter Bill Walton,
a basketball Hall of Famer, would have made a ferocious spiker. MORE TO READ