Syd the Kid…Strange Dude?
Is Sydney Crosby a weird cat? Coming off the heels of his strange attack on the crotch of Boris Valabik with his gloves still on while Valatik was engaged with another Pens player, comes his most recent attempt to be a tough guy, an unprecedented “battle” with Brett Mclean of the Panthers.
After a face off in the Panther’s end vs. Mclean (Mclean won the draw), Crosby shook off his gloves, grabbed a confused and startled Mclean and began shaking him the way an irate mother would shake her 2 year old in the grocery store.
After finally pulling Mclean’s jersey over his head, Crosby landed a couple of….”punches”, before dragging Mclean to the ice.
After the game, a still dazed and confused Mclean told the media that he heard Crosby say something before the puck was dropped, but he didn’t understand what he had said. Then after winning the draw, he was shocked to find himself on the opposite end of a good old shake down.
Needless to say, Crosby’s latest attempts to be a tough guy have been disturbing at best, and downright weird at worst.

Hartsburg Era Has To Come To an End
Coming off the heels of a 1-6-1 road trip, the Senators lost to the New York Rangers 2-0 in the comfy confines of Scotiabank Place (if you’ve been there, you know how comfy they are).
It is officially time for the Craig Hartburg experiment to come to an end in Ottawa.
Even Hartsburg wishes it would come to an end. In a phone interview yesterday with a local Ottawa radio station, Hartsburg sounded like a man alone in his living room, standing on a stool, with a rope around his neck! He has literally thrown in the towel. Who can blame him? He has tried everything to get this quircky group of pre madonnas and ego maniacs to give an honest effort at least, to absolutely no avail.
The Senators have looked horrible all season, and it gets worse and worse with each passing day.
It’s not Hartsburg’s fault. No doubt he is a good coach and a good man. But for some reason he cannot get through to this group of overpaid underachievers. Who knows if anyone can?
This team needs to be completely overhauled and rebuilt. But first, put poor Craig out of his misery. Take this wounded dog out back and shoot him. Then he can return to junior hockey where his style of coaching seems to fit best.
As for this group of Senators, they should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. They are a disgrace to the sport.

Cardinals Rolling over Panthers
The Arizona Cardinals love to prove people wrong don`t they. For the second straight week they are beating up on a team that everyone predicted would beat up on them. Last week it was the Falcons, this week it`s the Carolina Panthers.
The Cards are dominating the Panthers in every aspect of the game and making it look very easy. Leading 27-7 halfway thru the 3rd quarter, the Cards are threatening again, intercepting Jake Delhomme and now have a first down at the Panthers 30 yard line.
The Cards look fast, strong, unified, and determined to play in the NFC championship game, where they`ll be expected to lose once again. Personally, I`m becoming a believer.

AFC Championship…Ravens at San Diego!
Just so you know..if the Chargers somehow find a way to beat Pittsburgh tomorrow, they will host Baltimore in the AFC championship. A team that was 4-8 just over a month ago, could see the road to the super bowl go through their home stadium! Have you ever seen a year where an 11-5 team didn`t make the playoffs (Patriots), a 12-4 team travelled the first week as a wildcard (Colts), and an 8-8 team, that had been dead in the water at 4-8, hosted the conference championship. Well, if you don`t want to see it, cheer for the black and gold tomorrow.

Philly to Beat the G-Men Tomorrow
Always take the team playing the best football heading into, and through the playoffs. That’s the Eagles.
The Eagles have been the best team in football the past month. The Giants have really struggled since losing/banishing Plaxico Burress.

Steelers too Battle Tested to Lose at Home
As mentioned before in this blog, the Steelers went 12-4 against the toughest schedule played by any NFL team since 1976 (Giants). This season the Steelers played the Ravens (twice), Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Colts, Chargers, Patriots, and Titans. That’s 9 games vs teams with a combined record of 85-42!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa???????????
Take the Steelers at home, over a Chargers team that managed to salvage what had been a very dissapointing season.

Will the Chargers Fire Turner?
Assuming the Chargers lose, will San Diego management part ways with Norv Turner. As mentioned before, the Mike Shanahan firing in Denver changes everything. You have to think San Diego would be tempted to make a run at Shanahan.
Also, Shanahan loves sticking it to teams that fire him (i.e. Raiders). You can bet that he would be enticed by the prospect of playing the Broncos twice a season.
Keeping that in mind, I am shocked that the rebuilding K.C. Chiefs have not fired Herm Edwards, in favour of taking a run at Shanahan. It would seem like a natural fit. A team that Shanahan could build from the ground up, and a chance to play the Raiders and Broncos twice a year to appease his vindictive personality.

Tim Tebow
Usually it is nauseating to hear broadcasters talk about one player the entire game (see Brett Favre as a Packer), but in the case of Tim Tebow, I dont think so. Thom Brenneman must have mentioned about 100 times during the national championship game about how wonderful of a young man Tebow is blah blah blah. But you know what..he is an incredible young man.
This is a guy who spends his summer travelling overseas in impoverished lands, helping people in whatever way he can. He goes to prisons and gives motivational speeches to inmates. Finally, he may be one of the greatest college football players of all time…and he still has 1 year of eligibility left. If Tebow returns for his senior season, which I think he should, he may become the most legendary college football player of all time.Especially if he leads Florida to another national championship (USC may have something to say about this in 09). The craziest thing about this Florida team, you could argue that Tebow is the 2nd toughest guy on the squad….Percy Harvin racked up 180 yards on a bum ankle in the championship game vs the Sooners…that guy is TOUGH!

Nick Harris Saying Tebow Would be the 4th Best QB in Big 12
Alot of people scoffed at Oklahoma Sooner Nick Harris for saying that Tim Tebow would be the 4th best qb in the Big 12 if he played in the conference. But before you call Harris crazy, think about it. This year the Big 12 had Colt Mckoy (Texas), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma), Graham Harrell (Texas Tech), Chase Daniel (Mizzou), and Todd Reesing (Kansas). All of these qb’s, with the exception of Reesing who is prob. too short, may end up as better NFL prospects/players than Tebow. So the statement is really not that far off. Furthermore, I’d be willing to guess that none of the Big 12 coaches who have the above mentioned qb’s on their roster, would rather have Tebow.

X Outscores Acadia 24-5 in OT
X vs Acadia was on TV tonight and it was a great game. It went to overtime with the score notched at 85 points apiece. In overtime, the X-Men outscored the Axemen 24-5 in the 5 minute period to win 109-90. 24-5 in overtime! Wow!
The X-Women are 7-1 and tied for 1st place with 18 points, very surprising.
Acadia women are now 0-8 and tied with UPEI for last place. I guess coaching in the AUS isn’t as easy as it seems, eh Bev?
Dal men are ranked for the first time in YEARS. Coming off their ranking they had impressive wins over Acadia and UNB.
Don’t look now but here come the Dal women that everyone expected to be the best team in the conference.
Congrats to the SMU women on getting their 2nd win at UPEI. If Acadia and UPEI keep it up, the rebuilding Huskies may actually make the playoffs as a 6th seed.
Love the SMU men’s team. Coming off their huge win over X on thursday, they lay a fat egg at UPEI, losing 77-71. But come March, they’ll be the toughest team in the AUS to beat.