Nate writes:
The Yankees have offered Jeter $45 million over three years — or $15 million per year. . . But that doesn’t mean that the process won’t be frustrating for Jeter, or that there won’t be a few hurt feelings along the way. . . .
$45 million, huh? Even after taxes, that’s a lot of money!
Don't you mean "even BEFORE taxes, that's a lot of money"?
If not, I am missing something (perhaps a chunk of my cerebrum)
I interpreted it to mean, "even after the taxes are paid on the $45 M, that's a lot of money!"
I think you're missing the chunk that reads between the lines.
Unless you're missing the English-As-Mother-Tongue chunk in which case that idiom probably doesn't make sense either.
Off-topic, but I read this and thought of you. It seems like the sort of claims and publication tailor-made for you to critique:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_d…
Seems a bit wacky to me, but who knows, maybe there's something there. If someone is seriously interested in looking at this sort of thing, I'd suggest gathering information on a large number of factors and fitting a hierarchical model.