Daly Didn’t Want to Take a Drop in This Spot

Golfer John Daly, the star of a new reality series, “The Daly Planet,” which makes its debut on the Golf Channel on Saturday night at 7:30, was in Los Angeles on Tuesday to promote it.

In the first of the 13 episodes, Daly attempts to hit a golf ball across Niagara Falls. He said the helicopter that was supposed to take him to the spot where he was going to tee off developed engine problems and, with a camera rolling, hovered in the air out of control before finally making a safe landing.

“Some people might think it was a setup, but believe me, it wasn’t,” Daly said. “It was one of those scared-to-death type of things. There’s a lot of bleeping in that episode.”

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Trivia time: Daly, 39, won two major championships before his 30th birthday. Name them.

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Snow said no to snow: It is widely believed that Jack Snow, who died Monday, was the Rams’ first-round draft pick in 1965. But according to Jim Finks Jr. of Newport Beach, his late father -- who in 1965 was the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings -- drafted Snow.

But Snow, according to Finks, never reported to the Vikings. “Jack wanted no part of catching balls in the snow and refused to report,” Finks said.

Finks added that the Rams and Vikings made a deal that sent Snow, who was from Long Beach, home to sunny Southern California to play for the Rams, and the Vikings in return got defensive tackle Gary Larsen.

“It all worked out,” Finks said, “particularly since Larsen hailed from Fargo, N.D.”

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Governors at play: California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, made news by crashing his motorcycle over the weekend. New Jersey’s acting governor, Richard J. Codey, recently made a half-court shot during halftime of a high school basketball game.

“Ninety-nine out of a hundred people are short with the shot,” Codey told the Star-Ledger of Newark. “You have to get your legs into it.”

Codey won two tickets to a New Jersey Net game, which he plans to give away.

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A ratings winner: Comedian Jerry Perisho, on the high television ratings in Texas for the Rose Bowl game: “There haven’t been that many Texans sitting breathlessly by their television sets since J.R. Ewing was shot.”

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Ouch: NBC’s Jay Leno on Monday night said: “Did you have a nice weekend? I spent the day yesterday doing absolutely nothing. It was like I was a member of the New York Giants.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1973, the American League adopted the designated hitter rule.

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Trivia answer: The 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 British Open.

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And finally: The mascot for the Johnstown Chiefs, a minor league hockey team in Pennsylvania, may be the early leader for sports dunce of the year. Before a recent game, the mascot, attempting a fire-breathing stunt, accidentally set his fake beard and jersey on fire and suffered minor injuries. The mascot’s name -- “Puckhead.”

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