Paper’s False Start Penalizes Falcons

In the history of premature celebrations, it doesn’t quite rank up there with Jack Kent Cooke’s having hundreds of balloons put in the rafters of the Forum before Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals (a game the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics).

But ESPN.com’s Len Pasquarelli reports that eyebrows were raised in Atlanta on Monday when the Falcons jumped the gun with a newspaper ad in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution honoring Coach Dan Reeves.

“In anticipation of a victory over the visiting Washington Redskins on Sunday afternoon, the Atlanta Falcons’ marketing department readied a quarter-page ad congratulating Reeves on the 200th victory of his career,” Pasquarelli wrote. “One problem: After jumping to an early 17-0 lead, the Falcons lost to the Redskins, 33-31.

“Bigger problem: Despite phones calls from Falcon officials after the defeat, apprising the paper to pull the ad, oops, it still ran.”

Trivia time: Who was the Philadelphia Eagle running back who rushed for a then-playoff record 196 yards in the 1949 NFL championship game in the mud at the Coliseum against the Rams?

Out of control: There are an estimated 12 million fantasy football league players, and some get a little carried away.

Author Daniel Okrent, considered one of the original founders of the fantasy football craze, tells this story on the next edition of HBO’s “Real Sports”:

“There was this guy who followed me into the bathroom, yammering about his team. At first, I’m polite. Then I go into the stall and I’m in the can. He’s still talking in the next stall. And he climbs up on the toilet seat and looks down and says, ‘So, what do you think?’ ”

Boo for Boo-yah: The latest issue of FHM magazine has a list of the 50 most hated people in television history. Coming in at No. 30 is ESPN’s Stuart Scott.

“Please say ‘Boo-yah!’ once more, because it really is such a clever catch phrase,” the magazine says. “Then talk about yourself constantly. Obviously, the only reason we’re watching ‘SportsCenter’ is to hear about how you and Michael Jordan are best friends.”

Giving him the needle: Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb was sacked seven times, threw two interceptions and fumbled twice in Sunday’s 31-10 loss to New England.

“In a related development,” says Michael Ventre of MSNBC.com, “Campbell’s Chunky Soup is preparing a commercial in which Donovan’s mom feeds him intravenously.”

Old joke: Hurdler Edwin Moses, 48, has announced he will try to qualify for the Olympic trials. “I don’t want to say Moses is old,” writes Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, “but in his first Olympiad he ran naked.”

Trivia answer: Steve Van Buren, who led the Eagles to a 14-0 victory.

And finally: From Tom Arnold, doing a “Things you wouldn’t say to

“Hey, Oscar, I haven’t seen you take that severe a beating since the critics reviewed your last album.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com