sign #4723 that the apocolypse is upon us:

(note: the “music” category was left unchecked intentionally.)

by this time tomorrow, the timberwolves will have finally heeded my advice. kevin garnett will suit up in a different team’s jersey next season, and it’s about time. the wolves will reap mediocre players with expiring contracts as well as lottery picks. in essence, blowing the whole thing up and starting anew.

i got really excited yesterday about one rumor: kg to phoenix, stoudemire to atlanta, and the #3 and #11 picks to the woofies. that would leave the team with three (!) lottery picks when you boil in their own #7. think about it– what better way to rebuild the team than with three of the top eleven young players in the country? theoretically, we’d get the best player available not named oden or durant (conley), a much-needed big man (jianlian), and a vital cog in the florida gators’ two national championships (noah). woo!

and then i remembered one minor detail– kevin mchale will be responsible for these picks. so, if the suns-hawks-wolves deal does come through, this is what we will ultimately end up doing:

#3 – traded along with 2009′s first round pick to the clippers for future considerations
#7 – used to draft spencer tollackson
#11 – traded along with randy foye, rashad mccants, craig smith, and 2010′s first round pick to the philadelphia 76ers for joe smith

The proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes.*

Buffett said he makes $46 million a year in income and is only taxed at a 17.7 percent rate on his federal income taxes. By contrast, those who work for him, and make considerably less, pay on average about 32.9 percent in taxes – with the highest rate being 39.7 percent.

To emphasize his point, Buffett offered $1 million to the audience member who could show that one of the nation’s wealthiest individuals pays a higher tax rate than one of their subordinates.

“I’m willing to bet anyone in this room $1 million that those rates are less than the secretary has to pay,” said Buffett.

I like it. I like it a lot. I’m not saying we should have a flat tax, but it should be a fair tax. Come to think of it, it’d be nice to look at a government program, especially here in the Cheney Administration, and say “yeah, you know, that’s fair”.

*Actually, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, not to go all tilty at windmills on you or anything.

sparklegirl and i have been e-lamenting lately over the likely loss of torii hunter this offseason. wondering if he, like kirby and hrbek, might consider giving the team the life-long twin discount. wondering if the prospect of playing home games on grass in 2010 would be enough to entice him to stay. wondering if other CF free agents like ichiro and andruw jones would saturate the market so that any offer the twins make might actually be competitive. wondering what our ’08 outfield of ford, tyner, and cuddyer will look like.

i am a fan of torii. i think he hits great, fields great, and is a great asset to the team. great. just great. however, i need to agree with aaron gleeman– comments like this? not great.

I love Yankee Stadium. The atmosphere and energy there is great. And the fans know the game. When they get on you it can be pretty personal, but it’s always about your baseball game. When someone screams, “You just can’t hit that slider,” that’s someone who knows what they’re talking about. You don’t hear that kind of informed [chatter] in Minnesota.

(read the entire piece from the new york post here)

i understand that this is probably just contract-year posturing. and, i understand that we probably aren’t the most baseball-savvy crowd in the league. (heaven knows we sure seem to have issues with the rule of not walking down the aisles mid-inning.) but.. really? taking a swing at the fans? not cool.

so, torii, if new york is where you go? enjoy it. you may miss us when those “informed” yankees fans curse you for going 0-4 in games, when we’d still cheer loudly.

first, read this. (then come back).

wow. there are 38 different things wrong with this story. most importantly, people named “wade” should *not* be that ugly. less importantly, though, this (and similar stories about raging parents) is making me dread the day when the littl’uns want to get involved in sports. too many idiot parents a) lack a sense of perspective about the importance of sports, and 2) lack a sense of judgment about their kids’ talent for this *not* to happen frequently.

almost everyone thinks that their kids are great. i, for example, am blessed to have the two smartest and cutest children in the history of the world. no, really. but for other parents, it’s a valuable lesson– for the kids– to know that you don’t always make the a-squad. dealing with disappointment is a skill that needs to be developed. And that’s hard, because it pains me so greatly to see it when soph (and eventually max) gets hurt feelings. unfortunately, though, that’s life. as a parent, it’s better to acknowledge this early and help your child learn how to deal. instead of being in denial and criticizing coaches for not realizing he’s benching the next alex rodriguez.

(and, yes, it sorta kills me to use a-rod as the exemplification of the greatest contemporary baseball player. sort of the same feeling i got when taking him in the first round of this year’s fantasy baseball draft.)

a follow-up on this that i heard on the radio but didn’t make this story: campbell apparently told police that he yelled at his son after he struck out because he (the father) hadn’t experienced athletic success as a youth and “had carried that with him his entire life.” well, that’s just great. i’m sure the kid will *completely* forget about that time when his dad threatened to kill his baseball coach by the time he gets older…