Gang green?

Since I've beaten up on the New York Jets quite a bit the last month or two, here's one for the Jets fans: what do the New England Patriots and Zsa Zsa Gabor's leg have in common?  Both were owned by Gang Green.

Going into last weekend, the AFC was a 4 point fav in the Super Bowl.  It is now down to AFC -1. Updated Super Bowl odds from The Hilton: Pittsburgh 2-1, New York Jets 7-2, Green Bay 8-5, Chicago 9-2.

So the Toronto Blue Jays told Russell Martin they'd match whatever the New York Yankees offered to bring him to his homeland.  He still chose New York.  The Jays were in hard on Brian Fuentes.  He chose Oakland.  More than a few second place finishes for Toronto, which, of course, is a vast improvement.  Oh, the Jays did sign Jon Rauch yesterday, but I wrote the previous bit before that happened and didn't feel it worth ditching over that mere detail.

For signing former Tampa Bay Ray Rafael Soriano last week, the Rays will get the Yankees first-round pick, adding more to Tampa Bay's huge haul of picks for this summer's draft, which is thought to be the deepest in years. The Rays will have nine picks before the start of the second round.  Of course, it bears mentioning that the baseball draft remains a crap shoot.  After all, Tim Beckham, who was a No. 1 pick for the Rays, is struggling mightily, and Tampa Bay, who do drafting perhaps better than anyone, passed on San Francisco Giant Buster Posey to take Beckham.

ESPN's Buster Olney says the St. Louis Cardinals have about a month to sign Albert Pujols to an extension.  After that he's going to be intent on exploring free agency.  Betting his agent wishes the Yankees and Boston Red Sox didn't have first base already tied up.  Pujols is said to be after A-Rod money, and the Cards don't seem willing to oblige.

Toronto boy and reigning NL MVP Joey Votto signed a three-year extension with Cincinnati worth $38 million.  Good for Votto, good for the Reds.

Don't let the "Brett Favre has filed his retirement papers" fool you too much - he can ask to be reinstated, and has before.   But, he is shilling "Thanks for the memories" memorabilia on his website, and in what is likely a bid to suck up to the Packers fans, he's picking them to win the Super Bowl.

1,023.  That's the number of league managers that have been sacked since Sir Alex Ferguson took over as Manchester United boss in 1986. Mindblowing.

Those voodoo dolls of mine are in fine form - LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Ringo Bosh all missed practice yesterday with injuries. Maybe they just needed some time to "chill".

If you're wondering what every happened to former first rounder of the Toronto Raptors, Rafael Araujo, here he is, shattering a backboard this past weekend.