Super Bowl odds have Indianapolis as the favorites to win it all, while the New York Jets are the longshots. These two will meet in Sunday’s AFC championship game, and the Colts will have a gameplan to slow down the Jets.

The Colts are a 7.5-point favorite at home in this contest, and they’ll use the same gameplan that they used against Baltimore in their 20-3 win: stack the line. They refused to let running back Ray Rice beat them, and the Jets had 169 yards on the ground in their 17-14 upset win in San Diego. The Colts will put eight, maybe nine, players in the box and dare rookie Mark Sanchez to air it out. Sanchez had 20 picks in the regular season, including four games of three or more, and if the Jets have to air it out, they’re in trouble. Offensively, Peyton Manning has had success against New York coach Rex Ryan’s defenses when he was in Baltimore, and they’ll be tough, but the Indy offense has enough weapons to combat the Jets, particularly tight end Dallas Clark. Antonio Gates had a big day for San Diego, and the Colts will look at how the Chargers utilized him.

Bookmaker odds (bookmaker reviews) pick: Colts -7.5

Ten years ago today, Michael Jordan retired, leaving the Chicago Bulls for the second time. Now, we won’t discuss the Washington Wizards-era Jordan, that doesn’t count.

The list of accomplisments is astounding: six NBA titles with matching NBA Finals MVPs, , five MVP awards, 10x NBA First-team, 9x Defensive-team selection as well as a Def. Player of the Year award, three All-Star MVPs in 14 appearances…..I could fill this whole blog with his awards. But this is about Jordan, the influence.

As far back as 1993 with Grant Hill, people having calling up-and-coming ballers “the next Jordan”. Look at today’s game: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and company all grew up watching Jordan and tried to emulate his game. He was also one of the first, if not the first, to become a brand all his own when he joined forces with Nike in 1985.

Now, MJ is the co-owner of a Charlotte team with no NBA betting chance to make the playoffs, and the Bulls would probably take Jordan back at his current age to boost their NBA betting chances. But that’s neither here nor there. Throw up a salute to the best who ever did it, and the man to take the NBA to the next level.