By JIM SOUHAN, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Ricky Rubio is an aberration not because of his exotic hair, nationality, endearing accent or teen-idol charm. Rubio is an aberration for reasons as fundamental and useful as a bounce pass.

They didn't lose for Luck, and they didn't win with Ponder. Slugging their way to a victory that mattered only in the hearts and minds of those wearing purple, the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday eradicated the possibility of drafting Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck while introducing an unexpected challenger to the slippery throne upon which all of their recent quarterbacks have squirmed.

If ever a Minnesota Timberwolves draft pick was destined to disappoint, it was Ricky Rubio, the mystery wrapped in an enigma topped by a bird's nest.

While fans obsess over his reputed passing skills or Barcelona Invasion haircut, empirical evidence described a young, skinny, European backup point guard with an erratic shot who spent two years avoiding Minnesota winters.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and nowhere in sports are people given absolute power the way coaches are when running lucrative college sports programs.

Bud Selig, commissioner for life, ushered in or pushed for a few sensible changes for baseball this week. He announced that the American and National Leagues would, by 2013, feature the same number of teams: 15.

Houston will be shifted to the AL West, creating a natural rivalry with the Texas Rangers. And interleague play eventually will occur throughout the season.

MINNEAPOLIS - Last time the Green Bay Packers visited the Metrodome, they beat the Minnesota Vikings by 28 points. That game ended Brad Childress' tenure and signaled the end of the competitive portion of Brett Favre's career.

The Packers return to the Dome on Sunday to face a team that has changed coaches and quarterbacks and yet not improved at all in the intervening 11 months.

This is what a football apocalypse looks like: Fans jeering, players screaming on the sideline, coaches making irrational decisions, players committing destructive penalties, and a proud group of veterans collapsing in the second half for the third consecutive week while their owners beg for a new stadium.

We should appreciate Jim Thome's 600th home run almost as much for what it wasn't as for what it was, and what it was was one of the rarest feats in sports history, celebrated with a tastefulness and reserve as unique as the achievement itself.

Two easily swallowed myths got flattened like a tackling dummy Tuesday afternoon, when the Minnesota Vikings released left tackle Bryant McKinnie.

-- Myth No. 1: Leslie Frazier, a soft-spoken man, would become a player-friendly leader who would coax rather than command the Vikings in his first year as their full-fledged head coach.

MANKATO, Minn. - Up here in Minnesota, our football franchise has become the Mystic Lake Casino of NFL quarterbacks, bringing you the biggest names of the '80s and '90s today.

While other franchises roll the dice on unproven talent, the Vikings would rather comfort you with the football equivalents of Stevie Nicks and Foreigner.