Free Agent Flacco Can Bank on Lucrative Contract

Random thoughts while wondering — not whether the Chicago Bears should go after Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco — but why the Baltimore Ravens quarterback who is a free agent would even consider signing with the Bears. Oh, yeah. Money. And the odds of the Bears being willing to shell out anything approaching a tempting offer with Jay Cutler under contract? Don’t look for Vegas to make book on Flacco joining the Bears.

A reminder from Victoria’s Secret that Valentine’s Day is Feb. 14.

* Speaking of Las Vegas and odds and the NFL (which is sooo opposed to gambling — except when it generates interest in its endeavors), the fine folks at Bovada (www.Bovada.lv, Twitter: @BovadaLV) have their 2014 Super Bowl odds. And most folks won’t find it odd that the Bears are not favored, although they do have the 11th-best odds. Denver is favored at 7/1. At 15/2: New England, San Francisco; 10/1: Green Bay; 12/1: Baltimore, Seattle; 14/1: Houston; 18/1: Atlanta, New Orleans, Pittsburgh; 20/1: Bears, New York Giants. The longest odds to win belong to Jacksonville at 150/1.

* The Chicago Bulls lost to the Indiana Pacers 111-101 Monday (Feb. 4), thereby ending a streak of winning 41 consecutive contests when they score 100 or more points. And so ends a streak that spoke more to low-scoring games than to statistical superiority.

* Bulls guard Marco Belinelli injured his right ankle against Indiana. Keeping the team on pace to lead the league in injured guards.

* The Chicago Cubs and Northwestern University are to hold a press conference Tuesday to announce a partnership in which NU reportedly would some sports — including soccer, women’s softball and football — at Wrigley Field. The football game is expected to be in 2014, the centennial of the ballpark and the 106th year without a Cubs World Series championship. JUst guessing that Northwestern wins a Big Ten Conference football title before the Cubs capture a World Series.

* Speaking of baseball, Comcast SportsNet ran a segment on the White Sox firing manager Tony La Russa as manager in 1986, the one season when television announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson went from the broadcast booth to being the team’s general manager. Speaking of that move during the segment, Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf remarked: “It was something Hawk wanted to do. It didn’t work out. Everybody realizes that as a general manager, he’s a great broadcaster.” From this vantage point, it seems safe to say there’s no baseball owner who is a better quote than Reinsdorf.

OK, so the Bulls lost. On the bright side (well, for some of us), there is leftover video from the team’s last home game — including the Luvabulls and a halftime performance by the cast of “Million Dollar Quartet”:

OK, a few of the Super Bowl ads that this space didn’t run Monday but still merit further review. First up is Tide’s commercial with a Joe Montana theme:

Bud Light offered a series of voodoo-themed offerings. Here’s one:

And a behind-the-scenes look:

Oh, and did we forget to include Beyonce providing the halftime entertainment at the Super Bowl? Here you go:

We now return to our regularly scheduled non-gratuitous video featuring females in bikinis (or other attire):

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