Adieu KG and other stuff

Lots of rumors floating around right now about Kevin Garnett. Where rumors fly, so do bullets.

• The StarTribune is reporting that trade talks with the Celtics are heating up. Apparently the Wolves would send Garnett to Boston in exchange for up to 6 players, the most prominent of which is power forward Al Jefferson. Other reports indicate that Jefferson is not part of the trade, but that half the city of Boston is. It's confusing, but other names mentioned include Sebastian Telfair, who I think played Mr. French on Family Affair if I remember correctly and whom I'd assumed was dead for about 30 years. I know, that was Sebastian Cabot. Telfair is Stephon Marbury's cousin, I believe. If this pans out, we'll have a lot of names to learn; that much is certain.
• The Brewers continue to slide and the Cubs continue to surge in the Comedy Central pennant race. I'm not quite sure what the issue is in Milwaukee, but one alarming development is the recent series of implosions of closer Francisco Cordero. Cordero had been lights out all season, but has blown two saves in the last week. There are some good relievers available, like Octavio Dotel and Eric Gagne; perhaps the Crew could get one of those guys before the deadline. Pitching is the issue in Milwaukee.
• Meanwhile, the Twins may still be in the fight following two clutch wins in Cleveland over the weekend. The Twins seem to have a hitting issue; namely, a complete lack of it beyond Morneau, Mauer and Hunter. It was nice to see that Jason Tyner got his first major league home run over the weekend, but really now, how good a team are you if you have to rely on someone like Jason Tyner? They need bats. Maybe the Brewers and the Twins should make a trade - how about Matt Guerrier or (better yet) Pat Neshek to the Crew for, say, Tony Gwynn Jr.? Or Juan Rincon for Kevin Mench? That would be a good trade for both sides.
• I had an extended conversation with an anonymous poster last week about Barry Bonds. I remain quite ambivalent about Bonds, which is fairly heretical these days. I do wonder how all of this is going to look 20 years on; I tend to see Bonds as a Faustian figure, a fellow who may have sold his soul for glory that he may ultimately be denied. What I'll never really understand is that he wasn't satisfied with simply being the best player of his generation; he may have chosen the needle (or the "cream" or the "clear") because being the best simply wasn't good enough. The Baseball Hall of Fame has some strange standards; I highly recommend Bill James's book on the Hall, The Politics of Glory, to those who are interested in the topic. As James rightly points out, the standards of the Hall of Fame are already so hopelessly compromised that some of the oppobrium put on Bonds, Mark McGwire and others seems pretty strange.
• It's looking bad for Michael Vick, as one of his co-defendants looks like he's going to cop a plea and testify against the Falcons quarterback. If Vick did what he's accused of, he's a lousy human being and probably deserves a little time in prison. But I have heard and seen pundits who are arguing that this scandal is worse than the Ray Lewis scandal. Lewis, you'll recall, was charged with murder. Somehow, I still think murder is a more serious offense than cruelty to animals.