Bringing It in on a Wing and a Prayer and a Lateral Hazard

A single-engine plane crash-landed Saturday on a golf course in Leonardtown, Md., missing the fairway and splashing into a pond.

Neither the pilot nor the 70 to 80 golfers on the 18-hole course were injured. The landing didn’t even interrupt anyone’s game.

“He just hit the pond and that was it, and they played right through,” a state trooper said.

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Trivia time: What UCLA single-game shooting record does Reggie Miller hold?

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Cruel: Suggested nickname for the Minnesota NBA franchise that is moving to New Orleans: “Possums”--they play dead at home and get killed on the road.

The Timberwolves won only 20 games this past season.

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Lumber-less city: The singles-only attack by the Pittsburgh Pirates is called the “Toothpick Company” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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Late sizzle: A scout in Baltimore recently clocked a Roger Clemens fastball at 97 m.p.h. in the eighth inning of a game.

“It’s not often that you see that reading from anybody in the late innings,” the scout said. “I thought my gun was radioactive.”

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L.A. scene: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle, on the Raiders possibly moving to another city:

“Al Davis’ worries are understandable. Los Angeles is the city that knows how, but isn’t sure when.

“In L.A., they repaired a quake-ravaged freeway in about 10 minutes, but when Davis asks when the Coliseum people will make the improvements they promised 10 years ago, he can’t pin them down to a particular century.”

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Indy wrap-up: Headline in the Washington Post: “The Penske is Mightier Than the Ford.”

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Changing times: Bill Conlin on ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters”: “In this era, Benedict Arnold would be considered a free agent, not a traitor.”

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Classy trasher: Coach Jim Lynam of the Washington Bullets, on Larry Bird:

“(Bird) was a big-time taunter, but the manner in which he did it was very subtle. He’d talk out of the corner of his mouth, and nobody in the building outside of Bird and the guy he was talking to heard it.”

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Verse-atile: To show their support for public libraries, the San Francisco Giants are inviting poets to recite their work during pregame ceremonies.

The leadoff poet will be Allen Ginsberg, who, according to the Associated Press, will “toss out the first stanza on June 1.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1986, Pat Bradley won the LPGA Championship to become the first to win all four major women’s tournaments.

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Trivia answer: Most three-point baskets in a game, seven against Washington State in 1986.

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Quotebook: Keith Olbermann of ESPN, describing a double play on “SportsCenter”: “That play went 5-4-3 if you’re scoring at home--or even if you’re watching by yourself.”