Nikola Olic: to find the true world champion is to find a country that had the most know-how to assemble the best team of its own players.

Why is that the true world champion? I think the true world champion is the best basketball team in the world. I think pretty much any NBA team could walk away with any FIBA tournament, even under FIBA rules. We'll never know because even if an NBA team did enter, there's no way they'd play it at full speed and effort.

But I don't agree that the only way to decide a world championship is with national teams.

Right. They did win 11 in a row. That should read including *the last* six in a row. We'll fix. Thanks.

Steve T.: Oh, the irony!

Did King Kaufman actually just quote George Foreman in an article in which he claimed that a former heavyweight-champion boxer making an ill-advised comeback in his forties always leads to tragedy?

That's a good question, but I would say the answer is no. If I may quote myself:

And so they keep on fighting and keep on fighting ... And except for a precious few, they pay and pay and pay for it for the rest of their lives.

See, I didn't say always. There are a precious few exceptions, and Big George is one of them.

Now, I had said earlier that I'd been down this road before and there's nothing good at the end of it, but I think Foreman was an exception there. I misjudged him at the time he started his comeback and I thought he was making the same mistake. As it happened, he was, perhaps uniquely, suited to fighting in his 40s.

An important difference: He hadn't had that decline. He retired more or less on top. After the loss to Ali, his first, he'd won five straight against stiff competition, then lost a decision to Jimmy Young and quit at age 28. He'd had 46 fights, but most of them ended early. He'd only fought 162 rounds!

Holyfield fought his 162nd round in 1992 -- also at age 28, interestingly -- in the Larry Holmes bout. He's fought 20 fights, 206 rounds since the Holmes fight. And he's been knocked out twice. I think his career total is 277 rounds.

Foreman spent ages 28-38 eating cheeseburgers, preaching and building a church. Holyfield spent those years going 11-6-2, fighting Riddick Bowe three times and Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis twice, among others. And in constant training. He is a MUCH older 43 than George Foreman was.

Chris D: Wrong about the White Sox

They wore their red, white and blue late '80s uniforms into 1990.

Right. So to somebody born in 1988, they've always worn the black uniforms.

About the "always" and "never" thing: I don't think the Beloit list is meaning to say that 18-year-olds don't know a single thing about history. It's just saying, "In their experience, X has always been Y." Yes, you (I forget who wrote this and I'm too lazy to look) knew about the Ice Bowl even though it happened before you were born, but you didn't experience it.

I was born in 1963, and to me the Giants have always played in San Francisco. Of course I know, and knew at 18 -- and at 8 -- that the Giants played in New York prior to 1958, but for me, they've always been in San Francisco. And Ronald Reagan was always a politician, even though I've seen some of his old movies.

The list is more for fun and publicity than anything, I think, but I do think it can provide insights. Where I think it goes off the tracks is when it says things like "They've never played license-plate bingo." Really? How do you know that?

durakje: So i guess "18-4" is just another way to type "16-5"?

'Cause when you start the season 9-8, you have to go 12-5 the rest of the way to finish 21-13. Four playoff wins brings you to 16-5 since that mediocre first half of the season ended. You just can't get this kind of tedious nitpicking anywhere else! 

Oy. OK, first of all, you're stealing my act. Second of all, that's not tedious nitpicking. That's a serious mistake. Thanks for pointing it out. It's been fixed.

You know where I got in trouble? I was too lazy to just do the math. I squinted my eyes and counted the little W's and L's on the Monarchs Web site schedule page. Must have miscounted.

Funny you mentioned Buster's math homework yesterday. It was his first day of public school. He missed it. Sick. So today (Tuesday) is his first. I don't think they'll send home any math homework. But I think I'll be able to handle helping him at least through second grade.

Biff Usually: you can hear the flush. The semi-literate, semi-intelligent rant by pear_lu gets an editor's choice star? Whoever made that choice needs to check the want ads for pizza delivery or something.

Life is complicated, Biff, because ...

Because even in a publication on the downhill slide like Salon is (King Kaufman being one of the few exceptions) that is stupidity and ineptitude of beyond explanation.

... because I'm the one who made pear_lu's letter an editor's choice.

What an editor's choice is or should be is somewhat open to interpretation in the Salon offices -- there's often spirited debate around the champagne fountain or between adjacent massage tables -- but I don't hand out the stars as though they were gold stars complimenting a great letter. I use them to point out the essential letters for readers who are reading "editor's choice only" letters. I figure they're looking for a digest version of the conversation.

Whatever its merits as a letter, pear_lu's letter represented a widely held opinion among this column's readership, judging from e-mail and comments over the years. So I highlighted it and a representative response, one without an unseemly amount of praise for me, King Kaufman. I thought one from each side would get the gist across.