Ronaldinho going to the English Premier League is becoming more of a possibility, though it's still that long shot with the fancy name (Ronaldinho's Regret, 50/1 in the eighth) - the one your date forces you to bet on, loses your money, planting the first seeds of that major blowout you'll have on the drive home. That's why I don't bet on horses. That's why I don't think Ronaldinho's going to Blackburn.
The BBC, however, is becoming convinced that this story has legs, and with good reason. The chairwoman for Venky's, the poultry farming company that bought Blackburn this fall, confirmed to BBC Radio that the club has met with Ronaldinho's manager (brother Roberto de Assís Moreira), tabling an offer that would pay the Milan attacker £20 million over three years, should he move to Lancashire.
"To be precise [it is] 7.6m euros (£6.5m) for the first year and about 8.5m euros (£7.2m) for the second and third years," confirmed [chairwoman Anuradha] Desai.
Even if you squint, rub your eyes, raid the DayQuil at the local pharmacy and drink everything Tom is distilling in his bathtub, it's hard to imagine Ronaldinho with Rovers. True, the leading goal scorer in English Premier League history once adorned Blacburn's kit, and the club not only has a (limited) history as league champions but of financially fueling success. But 1995 seems so long ago, and the best way to convince a prominent Brazilian to sign on for three Lancashire winters would be to lie - tell him it's a suburb of London.
So things don't quite add up, but that's the transfer window for you. As long as you don't attached to any, the rumors can be fun. Ronaldinho spending three frozen winters in North West England? Not one of the more amusing, but it's still one of the world's handful of most prominent players.
The former World Player of the Year is still being heavily linked with moves back to Brazil, with reports linking him to all of Palmeiras, Flamengo, and his first club, Grêmio.
Up for a dose of the other kind of football? Check out SB Nation's first round 2011 NFL mock draft, updated for all the bowl season's developments.