Scorecard

SEEING NO EVIL IN THE BIG EAST

Last week an ugly bench-clearing brawl broke out during Georgetown's 70-66 win over Connecticut; one player from each team was ejected. Such a fight at a Big East game is no longer unexpected. Already there have been at least eight scuffles involving Big East teams this season, including a wild melee in Georgetown's exhibition against the Puerto Rican national team and another in the Boston College-Arizona game.

Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt seems oddly reluctant to deal with the violence. Gavitt is a hands-on executive who has made his league powerful, guiding it into large arenas and lucrative television deals. Yet two years ago, in one of his relatively few published comments on conference violence, he dodged responsibility: "There's no power that I know of for me to do that [suspend players for fighting]. And I don't desire it. And I don't think we have to deal with the problem until it's a problem."

It's clearly a problem, and to deal with it Gavitt should look to the example of Ohio Valley Conference commissioner Jim Delany. After a brawl at a 1980 football game between Middle Tennessee State and Morehead State, Delany suspended nine players, some for as long as four games. Last week a fight at the Middle Tennessee-Tennessee Tech basketball game led to Delany's suspending three players for a total of six games. "What we're saying is 'You can play hard and aggressive, but if something goes wrong, you can't fight,' " says Ohio Valley spokesman Jon Verner. "Flagrant fighting is not a recurring problem here."

Big East assistant commissioner Tom McElroy claimed last week that violence was a growing concern among league officials and coaches and that Gavitt was working "within the family" to find a solution. "This time you saw ejections," McElroy told SI's Greg Kelly. "Last March you didn't see that. Let that be the measure of our concern." So far, that concern just doesn't measure up.

WHEN MADISON AVENUE GOES MAD

There's at least one thing super about the Super Bowl: the hoopla surrounding its TV advertising. Last year, Apple Computer took out full-page newspaper ads to herald a new Macintosh commercial that would debut during the game. It turned out to be a spectacular (if poorly received) spot—it showed IBM-type executives following one another off a supposed cliff—but it was no more spectacular than its buildup.

This year, the talk has been about NBC's plan to turn between one and two minutes of advertising time during the Super Bowl pregame show into a moment of silence. During that moment America can head for the fridge, or wherever else it wants. It's been dubbed The Big Flush.

Now comes news that Timex has spent a million dollars to produce a new ad, and $1.1 million more to secure a Super Bowl slot for it. Just before halftime, we'll see a 60-by-22-foot replica of Timex's new Atlantis 100 sport watch submerged in the Red Sea. With more than two million bucks already spent, you can be sure the watch will keep on ticking when it takes its licking.

SLIM PICKINGS
The Pittsburgh media have selected punter Harry Newsome as the Steelers' top rookie of 1985 and presented him with the annual Joe Greene Great Performance Award. It was obviously a lean year for Pittsburgh rookies: Newsome's 39.6-yard average placed him 27th among 28 punters in the league.