Has a nice ring to it

Pats owner Robert Kraft stopped by Junior Seau's San Diego restaurant before last night's game, and presented the future Hall of Famer with his AFC Championship ring. An integral part of the Pats defense in '06 and '07, Seau still looks like he could stuff the run. The legendary linebacker has been busy the past few days. No. 55 was also feted by his alma mater, the University of Southern California.

Mayer enjoys Berklee stay

Berklee alum John Mayer (far right) returned to his alma mater for a few days last week, and made quite an impression. The singer produced a demo with 12 Berklee songwriters and also led a master class. . . . What recession? Mohegan Sun opened its new Casino of the Wind over the weekend, and among the drinks served at the event was something called the Windfall Cocktail. Described as a "luxurious libation," the drink was garnished with a Tiffany diamond and pink sapphire celebration band. The cost? A mere $6,200. Guests included Lindsay Price, Maria Menounos, Cheryl Hines, Rex Lee, Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, and James Denton.

Reality check

Aubrey O'Day's 15 minutes of fame apparently aren't up yet. O'Day, a member of Diddy's dreadful girl group Danity Kane, hosted a party Saturday at Ed Kane's club The Estate, and she showed up sans rumored boyfriend Donnie Wahlberg. "I'm sure y'all watch 'Making the Band'," O'Day shouted into the mike. "I'm sure y'all saw me get kicked out of Danity Kane, but stay tuned for more drama." She then sang along to the group's hit singles "Damaged" and "Showstopper," and dished on her recent rendezvous with rapper Kanye West.

The race is on

Fan Pier developer Joe Fallon checked in from Alicante, Spain, where he watched Saturday's start of the Volvo Ocean Race, widely regarded as the world's most extreme nautical adventure. Eight racing teams comprising 88 of the world's savviest sailors embarked on the first of the race's 10 laborious legs. The US team, Puma Ocean Racing, set sail to the Dropkick Murphys tune "I'm Shipping up to Boston." (The race arrives at the Fan Pier next May.) Covering close to 37,000 nautical miles, the VOR takes more than nine months to complete and competitors must contend with severe weather, including ice, rain, sleet, and mountainous seas. Also attending Saturday's opening ceremony were race CEO Knut Frostad, King of Spain Juan Carlos, members of UB40, and rocker Bryan Adams.

Peter Manso is finally coming clean about his complicated relationship with Norman Mailer. Next month, Simon & Schuster is reissuing Manso's kiss-and-tell bio "Mailer: His Life and Times," and the revised edition includes an excruciating afterward detailing the writers' friendship and subsequent falling out. "It's written in blood because I cared very deeply about Norman," Manso told us. Manso and Mailer were friends for many years, even living together in a house they co-owned in Provincetown. But Manso's 1985 biography upset Mailer, who felt betrayed. "I was a great advocate of Norman's," says Manso, who lives in Truro. "But then there's Norman's opportunism and selfishness and little . . . boy spoiledness." Manso is trying to write a book about the murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington, but over the summer he was indicted on felony gun charges, which has delayed the book. (He's charged with owning firearms without the proper license.) "It's severely disrupted the progress of the Worthington book," Manso said. "It should be done already."

Mark Wahlberg didn't think much of Andy Samberg's imitation of him on "Saturday Night Live." "I didn't think it was as funny as I'd hoped," the Dorchester-bred actor told MTV, referring to last week's "SNL" skit, "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals." In the bit, which is posted online now, Samberg approaches a dog, a donkey, a chicken, and a goat, and says inane things like: "Say hi to your mother for me." Wahlberg (inset) insists that isn't something he ever says, or at least it wasn't. "But that's my new catchphrase now." Wahlberg, who's promoting his new movie "Max Payne," said he doesn't regularly watch "SNL," but he's met Samberg. "I met him in Canada when he was shooting that movie 'Hot Rod,' and I liked 'Hot Rod'," Wahlberg said. " 'Hot Rod' was funnier than that skit, I thought."

Boston Ballet's benefit gala lived up to its billing as "A Night of Stars." Making their way from the Wang to Avila Friday were New York City Ballet stars Albert Evans and Maria Kowroski, who had a bite with Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen, while dancers Sarah Wroth and Pavel Gurevich sipped wine with former board chair Richard Davis, his wife Maryann, and Boston Ballet administrator Margaret Tracey and her husband, Russell Kaiser, a ballet master at the New York City Ballet. Also enjoying the soiree were Erica Cornejo and Carlos Molina, Lorna Feijoo and Nelson Madrigal, and fellow dancers Yury Yanowsky, Kathleen Breen Combes, Larissa Ponomarenko and her husband, choreographer Viktor Plotnikov. Wroth dished on how dancers cope with stage fright: "Backstage at the Wang Center, there's a TV set . . . and it's tuned into the Boston Red Sox," she said, laughing. "We checked the score to calm our nerves. It's left backstage in case anyone needs to escape from the stress."

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