* The Tampa Bay Rays’ executive vice president Andrew Friedman has made it well known that this year’s payroll might very well top the Rays’ all-time high of $72 million. The re-signing of first baseman James Loney and the non-trade–so far–of high-priced pitcher David Price underscore that reality.
But here’s another reality: Even such an all-time-high payroll number would still be about half of what the Boston Red Sox will be paying out this year–and close to a third of what the New York Yankees have typically been shelling out.
* Not that it would surprise Alabama or Auburn fans, but the state of Alabama had the country’s highest percentage of male high school athletes playing, of all things, football last year. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, it was 37 percent.
* For National Hockey League players who were disappointed at being left off of the U.S. Olympic Hockey team–and that includes Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop–there’s a major consolation. They won’t have to go to Sochi, Russia, where Vladimir Putin just might by manning a security gate himself. He has reason for Munich-sequel paranoia. Regional bombings, which have killed more than 30 people recently, were attributed to Chechen separatists who have pledged to disrupt–as only they can–the Olympics.