And He Only Has a High School Education

Bob Sansevere in the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “Warning: If you are easily depressed you might not want to continue reading.

“OK, you’ve been warned. The minimum wage in the United States is $5.15 an hour. It takes Kevin Garnett less than seven seconds to make that much....

“When you’re making $25.2 million a year, which is what the Timberwolves are paying Garnett, the money doesn’t flow. It gushes. He makes $69,041.10 a day, $2,876.71 an hour, $47.95 a minute....

“Said Wolves’ Coach Flip Saunders, ‘A lot of people make that money.’ Not in the NBA they don’t. Garnett has been the highest-paid player for the last four seasons. [He] will continue to be the No. 1-paid player this season. Next season too.”

And, how was your day before reading this?

Trivia time: Which school holds the Pacific 10 record for consecutive victories?

Don’t hold back: New Orleans Hornet point guard Baron Davis, on playing for Coach George Karl in last summer’s World Championship, where the United States finished sixth:

“I hated it. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I didn’t like playing for him. I’m glad it’s over with, and if he ever had to coach another one of those teams, I would decline. I don’t like George Karl.”

Very poor judgment: Jason Cole in the Miami Herald: “Detroit Lion President Matt Millen opened a can of worms with a comment that one of his team’s defensive starters is a ‘devout coward.’ Millen didn’t name the player when he made the comments on a radio show, casting everyone in a bad light.”

Subdued approach: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Warrior rookie Coach Eric Mussselman asks the arena crew to tone down the pregame introductions, screaming announcer, music and disco light show.

“Makes sense. When you order a Big Mac, you don’t get it delivered on a flaming skewer by four waiters in tuxedos. Where has this guy been all our lives?”

Barely warmed up: Bud Geracie in the San Jose Mercury News: “Yao Ming’s 11-minute stint in his NBA debut was the shortest by a No. 1 overall pick since Kent Benson played two minutes for Don Nelson’s Milwaukee Bucks in 1977.”

FYI: Gene Rock, an All-American USC basketball player of the early 1940s who died Thursday, was a detective for the Los Angeles Police Department for 30 years.

Looking back: On this day in 1921, UCLA, in its third season of football, lost to Whittier, 62-0. That was an improvement over the previous season, when Whittier routed the Bruins, 103-0.

Trivia answer: USC, 25, 1931 to 1933, when the streak ended in a 0-0 tie with Oregon State. The Beavers played that entire game without a substitution.

And finally: Bret Lewis on radio station KFWB: “Manchester United, one of the most popular soccer teams in the world, has learned that at least 18,000 of their season-ticket holders are dead.

“It seems the families didn’t want the club to know, for fear they would lose their seats at Old Trafford. The club says it will give the fans a chance to come clean and keep their tickets.”