Scorecard

PLAYER	CAREER PLAYOFF MINUTES	RINGS	MINUTES PER RING
Billy Thompson, Lakers	27	2	13.5
Mike Smrek, Lakers	72	2	36.0
Jud Buechler, Bulls	433	3	144.3
Bill Wennington, Bulls	572	3	190.7
Wes Matthews, Lakers	384	2	192.0
MALONE	5,719	0	—
STOCKTON	5,220	0	—

Cup Watching
A World Gone Mad

Except in certain ethnic enclaves, where interest is fervid, the involvement of American sports fans in the World Cup consists mostly of office-pool sheets completed in eeny-meeny-miney-mo fashion and an occasional wag sticking his head out of his office and yelling, "GOOOAAALLL!" Ifs all but impossible for the average U.S. fan to grasp the significance of the Cup in other countries. "Think of the Super Bowl happening every day for three weeks," says Michael Pins, vice president of Euro Brokers, a New York investment company, "and you begin—and I mean only begin—to see the impact."

Pins should know. Last week his company, which buys and sells bonds for emerging markets in Latin America and Eastern Europe, found closed offices and absent or, at best, inattentive clients when brokers made calls. Pins estimates that Euro Brokers lost 30% to 35% of its normal weekly business last week and expects that volume will "grind down to almost nothing" during the Cup's final rounds. Action in markets around the world was similarly tepid, although brokers in Great Britain reported a major gain (up 19p a share to 355p) on the Cup's first day in one stock: Ladbrokes, the betting house that was taking significant action on the Cup.

The intense interest elsewhere in the world became evident in a variety of other ways:

?In France, the Cup's organizing committee held a phone sale for the final 160,000 tickets. In the first hour, it received four million calls from Great Britain alone. One British member of Parliament admitted he paid 500 pounds (about $850) for a ticket to the Brazil- Scotland opener in Paris "from a gentleman in a car-park," i.e., a scalper.

?In Italy, Parliament rejiggered its schedule so as not to be in session when the Azzurri play. At the Luigi Mangiagalli maternity hospital in Milan, televisions have been set up near the delivery room so that mothers, staff and perhaps even newborns can catch the action.

?In Hong Kong, prison officials decided to show two hours of World Cup highlights to keep inmates from rioting. Games were not shown live because of their late hour and also because rival fan groups among prisoners were thought to be more likely to fight during live action.

?In Brazil, between 7,000 and 12,000 workers at a Volkswagen plant in a Sao Paulo suburb walked off their jobs without permission to watch the match against Scotland. Bosses chose not to dock them.

?In Iran, schools postponed examinations—and not just when the home team was in action. With Iran's state-run television picking up coverage from French TV, authorities in Tehran have their usual concerns about propriety. Games are being broadcast with a 10-second delay to give censors in Iran time to scan crowd shots for anti-Islamic placards or other unacceptable sights, such as women in scanty summer dresses. During the June 10 match between Italy and Chile, for example, pictures from another game showing flag-waving Argentine fans suddenly appeared on the feed. Iranian viewers had no idea what they had missed.

?In Scotland, the Haymarket Bar laid on a Braveheart Day for Edinburghers obsessed with the laddies' game against Brazil. Staffers with faces painted blue and white wore Braveheart garb as the Mel Gibson movie played continuously on a big screen. A headline from Edinburgh's Evening News summed up the World Cup phenomenon: COUNTRY GRINDS TO A DEAD HALT AS GAME IN A BILLION KICKS OFF.