Except for the final score, last night's Rays-Yankees game at the Trop was a great time. Mostly because of the A.L. championship replica rings given to the sellout crowd on the way in.

They came in one standard size, and I felt like Cinderella when it slipped perfectly onto my stubby finger. They're heavy, too, especially when tyyyyyping wooooords with a lllllloooot of right-hannnnnd key stroooookkkes.

Spent a lot of time scoping out Yankees fans (sometimes you smell them before seeing them) and offering $10 for a free ring they don't want to wear. Early Father's Day shopping, you know.

Didn't get any takers at that price but one Noo Yawker spat back: "Twenty bucks." Sold.

Now, counting Princess Di's unselfishness (and the fact that she wouldn't be able to lift her hand wearing the ring she got), I have two for the best fathers I know: mine and my buddy T-Bone, who raised a couple of great kids in Porterhouse and Ribeye.

On a whim this morning, I checked eBay to see how many Rays rings are being cashed in. Dozens, so far, ranging from around $30 to $100, so those Yankees fans weren't Trumps when it came to business acumen.

Now I've got to watch a DVD screener of The Informers, another tale of 1980s debauchery from novelist Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho), then get to a morning screening of Sugar, the story of a Dominican baseball player coping in America. Both open in limited release next week.

This afternoon I'm talking to Will Packer, a St. Petersburg native vaulting to the top of African-American movie producers after Stomp the Yard and now Obsessed, starring Beyonce Knowles and  opening April 24.

Should've looked ahead at the Rays schedule to notice they're playing today at 4 p.m., and I won't be done with Will until around 5. Priorities, people. (But maybe I'll get there by the fourth inning.)