At Least He Can Still <i> Talk</i> a Good Game

It’s doubtful that quarterbacks Jim Harbaugh and Jim McMahon will exchange pleasantries Sunday when the Chicago Bears play the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis.

McMahon, a former Bear, now with the Vikings, told Inside Sports: “A lot of guys can’t figure out why (Chicago President Michael) McCaskey threw all that money at Harbaugh, because a lot of guys on the Bears don’t think Harbaugh should even be playing.

“Harbaugh doesn’t even have instinct. I don’t think he can get in a huddle and react instinctively.”

Harbaugh could not be reached for comment about McMahon’s performance Sunday against the Raiders.

Trivia time: Not counting the two most recent National League expansion teams, Florida and Colorado, who are the only two major league teams not to have a player pitch a no-hitter?

Odd couple: From Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News: “Sudden thought: Don King and Yasser Arafat have that same constant, phony smile.”

Good planning: The Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee, concerned about train collisions with elk disrupting rail-commuter service during the 1994 Winter Games, has persuaded Norwegian Rail to make elk food drops at strategic distances from its tracks in the Olympic region during the Games.

Mighty Matadors: San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Wayne Lockwood commenting on San Diego State’s 34-17 victory over surprisingly stubborn Cal State Northridge Saturday night in San Diego:

“A Marshall Faulk should never lose yardage against a team with as little sheer physical football talent as this one.

“Instead, the Matadors made a lot of plays and Faulk took some big-time hits from a small-time school.”

Don’t ask: Among his off-the-wall predictions for the football season, columnist Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Examiner wrote:

“Bill Walsh will hold his tongue, and the questioner’s throat, if someone asks him to compare the 49ers and the Washington Huskies.”

Wait a minute: After Noureddine Morceli of Algeria broke the world record in the mile by 1.93 seconds Sunday with a time of 3:44.39, it was noted that rarely is the mile record broken by more than fractions of a second.

Not so. In 1923, Paavo Nurmi lowered the mile record by 2.2 seconds to 4:10.4. In subsequent years, the mile record was lowered by one or more seconds a total of nine times through 1975.

The biggest drop was Australian Herb Elliott’s time of 3:54.5 in 1958, breaking the record by 2.7 seconds.

Trivia answer: New York Mets and San Diego Padres.

Quotebook: Minnesota Twin rookie outfielder David McCarty after going one for nine in a 22-inning, 6-hour 17-minute win over Cleveland last week: “Why don’t they have ties?”