Scorecard

First the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow as a way of rebuking the Soviet Union for invading Afghanistan. Then the Soviets decided to skip the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, a move that many observers feel was made at least partly in retaliation for the U.S. boycott. Now the spirit of vindictiveness has infected the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, albeit on a far smaller scale. Last week LAOOC general manager Harry L. Usher said that the 14 boycotting Soviet bloc nations won't receive the 10,000-plus tickets that had been allocated to them but will get refunds for any money they've paid—minus, Usher said with a smile, a handling charge of "at least a dollar a ticket." Alluding to explanations by the Soviet bloc countries that they were boycotting out of a fear that their athletes would be in physical danger in L.A., Usher sarcastically said that the LAOOC was withholding the tickets because "we felt it's probably important not to subject any tourists to any claims of physical injury."

The fact that everybody is seemingly using the Olympics to get even with everybody else lends a certain unintended bite to this summer's promotional plans of Twentieth Century Fox, which has bought exclusive rights to advertise movies on ABC-TV during the network's coverage of the Olympics. The first film that Fox plans to promote in this fashion deals with a couple of young computer whizzes who decide to fight back after getting picked on by bullies because they wear thick glasses and are hopelessly square. The ads should stir up all sorts of interesting associations for Olympic TV watchers. The movie's title is Revenge of the Nerds.

COACHES ON THE MOVE (CONT'D)
In leaving his returning players and high school recruits in the lurch by quitting at such a late date as the University of Miami's head football coach to become coach of the USFL's Washington Federals, Howard Schnellenberger was guilty of atrocious timing (SCORECARD, June 11). That raises the question of what Oklahoma State coach Jimmy Johnson was guilty of when he quit the Cowboys last week to assume the vacant Miami job. Whereas Schnellenberger had made his move on May 25, Johnson made his nearly two weeks later—on June 5.

THRILLERS AFIELD

The first time we came across the question it was in Herb Caen's column in the San Francisco Chronicle. A local bartender, Caen reported, had asked what Michael Jackson and the Giants, who led the National League in errors last year and are challenging in that department again this season, have in common. The next time we heard it was after the Phillies made five errors in a 12-3 loss to the Cubs. A newspaperman of our acquaintance asked what Michael Jackson had in common with the Phillies. And we've no doubt the question will be posed again and again in reference to other teams having fielding problems.

Oh, yes, the answer: They wear gloves on one hand for no apparent reason. Of course.

HEISMANS AWEIGH

An early salvo in the 1984 Battle for the Heisman Trophy was fired the other day when Naval Academy publicists hauled star running back Napoleon McCallum over to Baltimore's Inner Harbor to photograph him in an 18th century naval uniform in front of the frigate U.S.S. Constellation. The word out of Annapolis is that the photo will appear on a poster bearing the legend, with apologies to another Navy hero, John Paul Jones I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO RUN.