Jose Canseco is a knucklehead. You know that, we know that.

But if anybody needed affirmation about this point, it came this week when he lost his $2.8 million home in Encino, Calif., to foreclosure. He simply moved out of the house and allowed his mortgage to lapse.

“He made a mathematical decision and just let it go,” attorney Gregory Emerson told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The newspaper explained: “The house already had at least one lien placed on it, from the Internal Revenue Service, and a judgment stemming from a 2005 court ruling in which Mr. Canseco and his brother Ozzie were found liable for a 2001 brawl in a Miami Beach nightclub. Together, the liens and judgment totaled some $1.3 million, according to Mr. Emerson and Tina Cameron, Mr. Canseco’s real-estate agent.”

It seems the big guy is broke. How could that be? Canseco’s explains that baseball’s massive contracts aren’t really so huge.

“OK, let’s say it’s $35 million,” he told “Inside Edition. “People have to understand that $35 million, you’re paying the government 41 percent. That leaves you with about $17 or $18 million, not even. Then you’re taking care of your whole family.”

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while Kerry Wood shakes off his latest blown save for the Cubs:

• Why would Roger Clemens woo one of John Daly’s ex-wives? Did he go after Tonya Harding too?
• After the resurgent Tigers swept the Yankees, why didn’t Hank Steinbrenner blow a gasket? Where is his outrage, his indignation?
• Now that the Avalanche have packed it in against Red Wings, will Peter Forsberg re-retire for good?

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoSports.com: “(Alfonso) Soriano said he plans to continue that silly hop thing that landed him on the disabled list, but plans to be more selective at the plate. I’d make that trade. But here’s my problem: If Soriano shows more plate discipline and earns more walks, does the guy who has suffered disabling quad and calf injuries in the last year, not to mention a hamstring issue, still have the kind of speed that takes advantage of those walks? I guess the good news is that he has only one more quad, hamstring and calf to hurt.”

Mark Kriegel, FoxSports.com: “How about Atlanta? This is the best thing to happen to the Hawks since Tree Rollins bit Danny Ainge.”

Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Champion Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard, who has posed in Playboy, said the way to make competitive swimming more popular is to make it more ‘risqué.’ OK. Two words: Swimsuits optional.”

Bill Simmons, ESPN.com: “Maybe the Suns didn’t win a championship, but we’ll remember them 100 times more fondly than the brutally efficient and hopelessly bland Spurs, who taught everyone over the years that the regular season doesn’t matter, transformed the NBA playoffs into a flopathon, revived the vile and fan-unfriendly Hack-A-Shaq strategy and did everything short of sending Bruce Bowen out on the court with a chainsaw and a taser. If the Spurs were the Team of the Decade, no wonder ratings dwindled until the league’s big comeback this season. The real shame is that all the mugging, acting, eye-rolling, flopping, rule-bending and hysterical shrugging obscured what should have been remembered as a throwback sports team, a shrewdly assembled roster of well-coached guys who played beautifully together, didn’t care about credit and revolved around the best power forward who ever played. Instead, we’ll remember them as the team that turned the NBA playoffs into the World Cup. Congratulations, fellas.”

Frank Fitzpatrick, Philadelphia Inquirer: “With his Nero haircut and Nehru clothes, Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau looks as if he’s auditioning for a role in the next Austin Powers movie.”

Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times: “I realize Cubdom is rooting for him more than a late-innings beer vendor. I understand he’s an inspirational presence, having survived 11 disabled-list trips and coming within a day of retiring last year. There would be no better sight at Wrigley than watching Wood close out the World Series, the personification of 21st-century Cubbie woe bringing home the unthinkable dream. But the former Kid K has become Kid BS, as in blown save, botching his third of seven opportunities in a ghastly 4-3 loss to the Brewers.”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “Why, you ask, did the agreement between the NFL and former Patriots video man Matt Walsh take so long? Well, the league insisted on some unusual provisions, I’m told. For the next five years, for instance, Walsh is forbidden from having any contact with Michael Moore.”

Jerry Greene, Orlando Sentinel: “Much as I love it, this year’s Kentucky Derby probably shouldn’t be the Run for the Roses because it doesn’t look like many of the 20 entries can run. But one of them will still win and it’s our job to find him (or her with a filly in the race). Loved Big Brown’s win in the Florida Derby, but he’s the likely favorite, and favorites only win the Derby 38 percent of the time — so throw him out. That’s why I’m going with Colonel John even if he never has run on dirt after five races on California’s phony dirt, Polytrack. But his trainer, Eoin Harty, says: ‘Dirt is not an issue.’ How’s that for a sports quote?”

MEGAPHONE

“I feel very comfortable. I’m fine.”

Struggling Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano.