Forget about putting Ted Strickland on the ticket in order to win Ohio. That's much too narrow-minded.

Want a winning strategy for Obama?

Put John Edwards on the ticket. Edwards brings Southern charm and gritty, blue-collar empathy to balance out Obama's appeal among the latte-sippers, the college kids, and the African Americans.

Now all we have to do is convince Edwards that it isn't demeaning to run for VP a second time.....

The whole game came down to one play, which was a microcosm of the Cavaliers' season.

Down by one with about a minute to play, the Cavs brought the ball past half court. Szerbiak was open, but he didn't want the responsibility, so he passed to a teammate, who got it to LeBron.

James drove to the hoop, but missed the layup.

That was a metaphor for the whole season.

You win championships with a superstar and a good supporting cast. The Bulls learned that when they surrounded Michael Jordan with four other guys, any one of whom could be the go-to guy at crunch time.

Will the Cavaliers' front office be busy in the off-season?

'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

And while you're at it, guys, get some new uniforms. Those gold and red uniforms are cheesy-looking.

The Bush years have been very hard on everyone, except brainwashed right-wingers and Rush Limbaugh dittoheads.

We've made the last 8 years somewhat bearable by continually making jokes at Bush and Cheney's expense, but having a president who is a bad joke takes a toll on the country. Cynicism and apathy grow rampant when there is a lack of genuine leadership.

We're coming up on an election in November. Will we really be stupid enough to elect another Republican (McCain) who promises to give us a continuation of the Bush years? Will the voters once again fall for Karl Rove's sleazy machinations?

Stay tuned.....

LW: It's not clear from your letter what you're being asked to do.

Are they requiring you to club a steer or a pig on the head with a sledge hammer?

Or are you merely required to watch while procedures like that are carried out?

I suspect it's the latter.

You've come too far and have way to much to offer animals to fail now. Suck it up. Do what you have to do to get through it. It won't last forever.

Steve Almond: Great article. Home ownership is both necessary to certify your status as a middle-class American and a gigantic pain in the ass.

My wife takes home ownership much more seriously than I do and is always finding stuff we "need" to do. Just last month, we "needed" to re-seal our driveway. It was never very clear why. (To prevent cracks in the driveway? Who cares if your driveway has cracks?)

My daughter put a hole in the wall of our computer room two months ago when she was practicing kick boxing. So far, we've been able to selectively ignore the hole. We'll fix it someday....maybe in 2 years, if I'm lucky.

I visit the homes of friends whose homes are showpieces.....always spotless with nothing out of place. And I wonder: Is it worth it to be so anal about your house? Aren't there more important things to be concerned about? Like your golf game? Or a new guitar?

Oh, well. For those folks who buy "fixer upper" houses and then proceed to spend all their weekends and many of their evenings working on home repair "projects," I wish them well.

Perhaps in my next lifetime I'll be an apartment dweller and know the true peace of doing absolutely nothing on the weekends.

Ah, bliss.......

I very clearly remember, in the 2 or 3 days before Katrina, watching the disaster approach. It was like watching in slow motion. All the weather people were saying that if this storm hits New Orleans, it will be a disaster unlike any we've ever seen.

And we all saw it happen, all across the country....all across the world...in slow motion, as Katrina moved toward New Orleans.

And yet, Bush and his team of venal incompetents did nothing.

Even after this storm hit New Orleans, and the levee broke and the city filled up with water, they did nothing for days.

The storm struck on Monday. On Tuesday, Bush was still sticking to his regular schedule, defending his war in Iraq.

We all saw this disaster coming, and then we watched, horrified, while it happened.

Yet Bush was blissfully unaware, even as late as Friday when he said to his inept head of FEMA, "Brownie, you're doin' a heckuva job."

In actuality, Brown had done nothing. He later was forced to resign in disgrace.

And yet, people voted for Bush in '04.........

I had heard reports of Kobe Bryant's new maturity and likeability, and I was kind of sorry to hear it since, as a lifelong Laker hater, it sounded like it would be harder to root against the Lakers and brand them as the team from the Evil Empire.

But I was heartened to hear that Kobe is still behaving like a controlling, manipulative asshole.

Thank you Curt Schilling and King Kaufman, for that report.

Go Celtics!