Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

A few items of interest while wondering if there is a modern day St. Patrick, capable of permanently ridding the sports landscape of snakes like Terrell Owens:

After a slow start to free agency, the New England Patriots have been quite active the last few weeks. What remains to be seen is how effective all those signings will be.

While 27-year old cornerback, Leigh Bodden, has the potential to be a major contributor, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting on 33-year old Shawn Springs or 37-year old Joey Galloway to sway the balance of power in the AFC. Those old hamstrings at the speed positions don’t generally respond well to cold weather, something to keep in mind come December.

You never want to root for injury, but Julio Lugo’s knee injury is a blessing in disguise for the Red Sox, who appeared intent on handing Lugo the starting shortstop job he couldn’t earn over former Lowell Spinner Jed Lowrie. At least now, we’re assured of the better player actually playing.

Theo Epstein has done a great job building a perennial contender, but the Lugo signing has to go down as perhaps his worst move ever. After watching Lugo, who had a nice little run in no-pressure Tampa, bat a pathetic .219 during a pennant drive for the Dodgers in 2006, Epstein decided to bring the shortstop into the Beantown pressure cooker for a measly $36-million over 4-years.

The only other organization to so richly reward employee incompetence is AIG.

Good to see Mike Lowell back at the hot corner. However, we should all hold our breath hoping Dustin Pedroia is right about his strained oblique being “nothing serious.” I can’t think of many teams that would survive the loss of a reigning league MVP, especially not a team with as many offensive question marks as Boston’s Boys of Summer.

Josh Beckett is going to win the American League Cy Young Award he should have won two years ago.

You may have noticed those “March Mayhem” ads in the paper and online, promoting our annual NCAA Basketball Tournament contest, with a chance to win as much as $1-million. If you haven’t already done so, get online and sign up ASAP…a million bucks goes a long way in this economy!

Of course when you do sign up, make sure to do so as part of our SunBlog Madness group for a chance to win a host of great local prizes as well. Here’s how to enter:

Go to the top of this page and click on the “March Mayhem” link near the top of the page. (You could also access the link through lowellsun.com, but I’m pushing for a commission check on each new visit to the sports blog, so cut a pathetic sports writer a break, would you?)

Once on the March Mayhem site, select the “Join Private Groups” option and enter the following:

Username: SunBlog Madness
Password: lowellsun

Voila…you’re entered! Make your selections before the games get underway Thursday (be sure to fill out your brackets completely), then sit back and watch the Mayhem begin. The top three finishers in our private group will win the following:

First Prize: 2 vouchers for a family of 4 to Cocoa Keys water resort
Second Prize: 1 voucher to Cocoa Keys water resort and 4 Lowell Spinners tickets
Third Prize: 1 voucher to Cocoa Keys water resort and 2 Red Sox t-shirts

Not to mention, the winner gets a year’s worth of bragging rights over all other contestants in our local group. And if you were with us in ’07 and ’08, you know how spirited the trash talking gets on the chat board!

So what are you waiting for? Hop online now, fill out your entry and join in the fun. Who knows, you just might end up with (insert Dr. Evil pinky in tooth here)…..1 million dollars!