No need to kick the tires on this bus

How does one of the world’s great soccer teams travel?

In the case of Germany’s Bayern Munich, it goes to its Bundesliga games by bus. But not just any old set of wheels.

Bayern, coached by former Newport Beach resident Juergen Klinsmann, splashed out more than $700,000 for its fancy vehicle, which comes with reclining leather seats, four plasma TVs carrying all European channels, DVD players, a top-notch sound system, and full Internet access.

Not only that, the bus also includes a kitchen in which postgame snacks are prepared for the drive back to Munich, and a high-tech lighting system that turns the ceiling into a view of the night sky.

“This bus is an important addition when it comes to helping the team to win,” said former German international Uli Hoeness, Bayern’s manager.

Trivia time

Irish horseman Aidan O’Brien this summer became the first thoroughbred trainer since 1935 to sweep all five Irish classics and has won 20 Group/Grade I races in all, only five short of the single-season world record held by whom?

Bad lie

Samuel Ryder, after whom the little golf tournament now underway in Kentucky was named, supposedly was so enamored of the sport that he had his five-iron buried with him.

“Really, the only sensible thing to do with golf clubs,” said Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News.

Story hits iceberg

During its six-game summer tour of Ireland, Notre Dame’s basketball team visited the site of the shipyards where the Titanic was built.

Blogging for Rivals.com, senior center Luke Zeller had this to say:

“Thomas Andrews was the guy who designed the boat. They say he was in a club in Belfast when he heard the news, and after the ship wrecked, they didn’t serve ice anymore in the club.”

Nice story, except Andrews died on the Titanic.

All talk

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer has won five U.S. Open championships in a row, causing the Miami Herald’s Greg Cote to comment: “Seldom has anyone made such a declarative statement while taking the fifth.”

Trivia answer

Bobby Frankel of the United States.

And finally

Toronto comedian “Frenchie” McFarlane says Michelle Wie did well at the LPGA’s Q-School. She got an “A” in spoken and written English, he said, “however, she scored an ‘F’ in Korean.”

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grahame.jones@latimes.com