Geography Often Doesn’t Figure Into the Naming of Places, or an NBA Team

When Terri Lau of Toluca Lake assigned her fourth-graders to create travel brochures for vacation spots, one of the kids enthusiastically chose Lake Tahoe.

“A few minutes into the project,” Lau related, “he came up to me looking puzzled and said, ‘I know all about Lake Tahoe, but what’s the name of that big lake they have there?’ ”

On the other hand: Just to defend the kid, what body of water are the Los Angeles Lakers named after? Not Lake Los Angeles. That artificial creation in the Antelope Valley dried up long ago.

And for that matter, where’s Lakewood’s lake? Or Riverside’s river?

No mystery over this sight: Things that grow seem to be a rare sight in New Mexico, judging from the shot that Kathryn Blackmun of Highland Park took at a housing development (see photo).

Disastrous Typos Dept.: “I know a lot of people think ‘jumbo shrimp’ is an oxymoron,” wrote Michael Helwig of Canoga Park, “but I don’t know what to make of this kind” (see accompanying).

Have clipboard, will travel? The end of the college basketball season traditionally is followed by a number of job openings, what with all the firings and resignations of coaches.

And, sure enough, Mary Fosselman of South Pasadena noticed that one 6-footer advertised that he’s available -- and for a modest sum (see accompanying). Of course, he implied he might have trouble passing a physical.

Free entertainment: One thing about Little League, it offers dramas that you won’t catch at major league games. Here are a few at the halfway point of my son’s season:

* An outfielder calling timeout, explaining to umpire Damon Hawn, “I just had a tooth fall out.”

* A public address announcer unaware that his cell phone conversation between innings is being blared to the audience because he left his microphone open.

* A batter calling time out three times in order to reposition his unstable protective cup.

* A batter, who has drawn a walk, casually flinging away his bat, which lands at the feet of the horrified third baseman.

* And, finally, at the snack shack, which is manned (and womaned) by volunteers, a kid ordering two candy bars, only to be told “no” by one of the workers. Before another worker can ask whether they have the right to refuse service, the first explains, “I’m his mom.”

miscelLAny: Tom Brazil received a piece of junk mail from a company promising he could obtain a university degree without “waisting” time. Maybe it was a culinary school.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, Ext. 77083; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.