Aretha shows Cracker Barrel some respect

Aretha Franklin reportedly made a plate worth a little more money at Lakeville's Cracker Barrel on Thursday.

It wasn't the plate the Queen of Soul ate from when she delighted everybody by stopping for comfort food as her luxury coach arrived in the Twin Cities the day before her sold-out performance at Mystic Lake on Friday.

"She [Franklin] signed a plate for one of my managers," another manager, who did not wish to attach a name to this, told me last week. Monday, when I called to talk to the owner of the plate, he/she was running an errand.

"Employees loved it, I guess," wrote e-mailer Tim, who has a relative employed at this Cracker Barrel. "She was with a group of ladies and they sat at the first table right inside."

Let Lynx replace Wolves?With the NBA's 2011 season possibly DOA, wouldn't WNBA players make natural replacements?

I'm as ready for a second season of the WNBA as these women probably are to earn something closer to NBA money.

A second helping during the traditional basketball season could enhance the brand that requires no magnification at this point in Minnesota, home of the WNBA Champion Lynx.

Oh yes, and there should be a trip to the White House. Photos of Seimone Augustus posting up President Obama or Maya Moore dropping a three-pointer on the commander-in-chief would go a long way toward silencing that chatter about the White House basketball court being a boys-only playground.

And then there are marketing opportunities to exploit!

• Moore already has a shoe deal with the Jordan Brand, a Nike affiliate. With a personality as big as most any room she enters, she should see local and national commercial offers rolling in any minute. And after her WNBA days end, I can see a huge broadcasting career for Moore.

• Coach Cheryl Reeve should be able to make a bunch of money (between Gophers, Twins and Vikings) as a team sports consultant without even leaving the metro.

• Note to Revlon: Taj McWilliams-Franklin's pre-game ritual consists of sitting calmly at her locker and painting her nails. Taj, who also designs fashion, certainly would have more credibility in the nail-polish world than Justin Bieber.

• As for Candice Wiggins, NY's Fashion Week should have already called.

For a taste of the Lynx' personalities, check out www.startribune.com/video/127290948.html. .

Khloe vs. Kris"Have you had any STDs before?" Khloe Kardashian asked Kris Humphries.

Gulp here.

That's an excellent question for the subject of "Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event" to ask, but it was just another wildly inappropriate, coarse comment coming from Kim's sister.

Apparently Khloe harbors great resentment due to Kris' inquiring into whether her marriage to Lamar Odom was real or made for reality TV. And this little STD query wasn't even the motivation when Kim huffed around pretending Khloe was not going to be invited to the marriage ceremony.

In another truly absurd utterance, Khloe questioned the speed with which Kris and Kim headed to the altar. Kim knew her NBA player months before they got engaged while a courtship of about a month told Khloe that her NBA player was the one.

According to my information, the Humphries of Minnesota do not care much for Khloe and it's easy to see why. The good news: Khloe and Kris are evenly matched for skirmishes. The Minnesota boy can dish the indignation.

Knobby throws wild (again)Looks as though Chuck Knoblauch took a fight with his wife to Twitter.

There are not a lot of chuckles, or printable words, in Deadspin.com's account of a hostile, racist, misogynistic profanity-laced tweet Knobby appears to have typed out about Cheri Olvera, his wife of not even a year.