the mad sports man

all star vacation in a midst of the all star break. five days (started yesterday) of no hockey. its a needed break. in the meantime, gotta kick the cold. with off days today and tomorrow. rest is needed and essential. and the nfl probowl is on sunday as well. count down to super bowl is on.

conference championship sunday this afternoon, the green bay packers beat the chicago bears 21-14 in the NFC championship game in chicago. i saw bits and pieces of it so i dont know how much of a battle it really was. the packers are making their 5th trip to the super bowl. meanwhile in pittsburgh, the steelers lead the new york jets 24-3 at halftime. so far all pittsburgh. update after the game. update: pittsburgh 24 new york 19. steelers face packers in super bowl XLV. steelers 3rd trip in six years and 8th trip to the super bowl overall

nfl divisional playoff part two the new york jets just knocked out the new england patriots 28-21 and will go to pittsburgh to play the steelers next sunday at 4:30pm. earlier the chicago bears beat out the seattle seahawks 35-24 and will face the green bay packers in chicago next sunday at 1:00pm.

nfl divisional playoff part one earlier the pittsburgh steelers, trailing 21-7 at halftime, came back and beat the baltimore ravens 31-24. they will play either the patriots or the jets, who play tomorrow. right now the falcons and packers are underway in atlanta, with the score tied at 14 all. update later. update: green bay 48 atlanta 21. green bay plays either chicago or seattle, who play sunday.

ravens fly to divisional while green bay packs up eagles the baltimore ravens beat the kansas city chiefs 30-7 and will play pittsburgh steelers in one AFC divisional. meanwhile the green bay packers hung on to beat the philadelphia eagles 21-16 and will face the atlanta falcons in the NFC divisional game. so, the AFC matchups are the steelers vs ravens in pittsburgh on saturday and the patriots vs jets on sunday. in the NFC, its the pacers vs falcons on saturday and the seahawks vs bears on sunday.

seahawks stun saints, colts vs jets underway the seattle seahawks stunned the new orleans saints 41-36 in a pretty good game. seattle exposed a soft new orleans defence. qb matt hasselback was key throwing four touchdowns. meanwhile the indianapolis colts and new york jets are tied at 7 (jets just tied it). there is 9:48 left in the 3rd quarter. update later. update: ny jets 17 indy 16. jets go to new england to play the patriots

russia wins world junior hockey gold trailing 0-3 after two periods, the russians kick started a comeback with two goals in 11 seconds in a five goal third period, giving the russinas a 5-3 win and their 4th title. it was a stunning comeback for russia as it was a stunning melt down by canada, as they sat back and let russia back into it. congrats to russia

semi final monday lst night canada advanced to the gold medal game with a 4-1 win over the u.s. canada outshot them 43-21. the u.s. goalie stood on his head stopping everything otherwise it would have been a blowout. the earlier semi final game had russia beat sweden in the shootout 4-3. so it will be canada vs russia for gold and sweden and the u.s. for bronze. both games are tomorrow

end of nfl regular season ends. next stop - playoff time the seattle seahawks became the last team to get in by beating the st. louis rams for the nfc west division. they will face the new orleans saints on saturday. the other nfc wild card game has the green bay packers in philadelphia to play the eagles on sunday. the chicago bears and atlanta falcons have the byes into the divisional round. in the afc, the new york jets go to indianapolis to face the colts on saturday and the baltimore ravens face the chiefs in kansas city on sunday. the new england patriots and pittsburgh steelers have the byes into the divisional round.

2011 nhl winter classic eric fehr had two goals and semyon varlamov stopped 32 shots as the washington capitals beat the pittsburgh penguins 3-1 in the fourth annual new years day outdoor game. there was some rain during the game. was a great game. next outdoor game is feb 20 between calgary and montreal in the second heritage classic game. montreal and edmonton was in the first one in november of 2003. great way to cap off new years day

HAPPY NEW YEAR happy 2011 to all. hopefully 2011 will be better than 2010. cheers to all. off to the tune of auld lang syne.