They Couldn’t Talk Way Out This Time

The San Francisco 49ers rubbed it in against Atlanta on Sunday, 56-17, after two previous defeats at the hands of the Falcons--and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Lowell Cohn followed suit.

“The Atlanta Falcons talk trash,” Cohn writes. “Their symbol shouldn’t be a bird. It should be an open mouth with a wagging tongue.”

For good measure, Cohn said that Atlanta Coach Jerry Glanville is a “notable bigmouth.”

Trivia time: Ricky Watters is trying to become the first 49er running back to lead the NFL in rushing in 38 years. Who was the last?

Still safe: From Wallace Matthews of Newsday: “Two inmates escaped from the Indiana Youth Center, and to the relief of the heavyweight division, neither was named Mike Tyson.”

War of words: Terry O’Neil, NBC-TV sports executive producer, said that his network is dedicated to serious reporting, in contrast to the other networks.

“We are more willing to tell the truth about what really goes on,” O’Neil told the Miami Herald. “The others don’t nearly have the football depth, or intellectual depth we have. CBS’ approach is more frivolous, more superficial.”

Host Greg Gumbel of CBS’ “The NFL Today” responded: “I vehemently object to the perception that we are frivolous. We do news, but we don’t do it like a funeral.”

Joke is on whom? Texas Ranger announcer Mark Holtz says that Ranger managing partner George W. Bush nicknamed his golf cart “Perot” because “sometimes it runs . . . sometimes it doesn’t.”

Who needs it? Ira Berkow of the New York Times is skeptical that the Goodwill Games, which have been awarded to New York, will have any meaningful financial impact on the city in terms of facilities for the homeless, or improving community centers.

“Otherwise, the whole enterprise is just another way to clog the streets, to add noise pollution and to distract from the misery that exists in the city.

“I would rather go to a Devils game.”

Anyone for golf? The average cost for a round of golf in the United States, according to Runzheimer International of Rochester, Wis., is $29.83, cart included. It’s only $7.06 in Czechoslovakia and $7.20 in Iran.

But in Japan, it’s $150.26 per round.

Highest praise: Mark McNamara, a journeyman center for the Orlando Magic, on rookie Shaquille O’Neal: “He’s the best center I’ve ever played with, or against.”

McNamara numbers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone and David Robinson among his former teammates.

Incentive: Defensive tackle Tony Casillas of the Dallas Cowboys is taking acting lessons and hopes to start a motion picture career when his playing days are over.

Having watched Brian Bosworth star in “Stone Cold,” Casillas told the Tulsa World: “I figured if he can act, anybody can.”

Cold war: From Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe: “Do the Atlanta Braves have any responsible veteran leadership, and if so, where was it when Deion (Sanders) was seeking out Tim McCarver for ice-water hits Nos. 2 and 3?”

Trivia answer: Joe Perry in 1954.

Quotebook: CBS boxing analyst and former trainer Gil Clancy on overweight boxers: “That’s why I like to train horses. When you have a horse, you can lock him in the barn at night.”