the mad sports man

last day of january. where did it go? wow january flew by.  seems like we just rang in 2012.  weather has been pretty good, even with the week long cold snap we had.  nhl all star game happened two days ago (team chara 12 team alfreddson 9), nfl playoffs happening with the super bowl on sunday, the world junior hockey championships.  that was pretty fun.  not long before super bowl 46, the daytona 500 and more hockey.  and major league baseball begins with players reporting to spring training in florida and arizona.  wow baseball season in a couple months.  but thats another entry at a later date.

nhl all star break its now the nhl all star break.  a break is needed with this statistician.  there was one game last night and it felt like the break started then.  the nhl all star game is sunday and they get back at it on tuesday.  its going to be a nice break.

mid week thoughts can't believe next week is february.  didn't we just ring in 2012?  it's also been nice here weather wise.  we had our cold week already and now it's back to above average temps.  still makes me wonder whether we will get hit with another cold snap and more snow.  and to my australian friends happy australian day.

nfl championship sunday in the evening game the new york giants beat the san francisco 20-17 in overtime in what looked like (i was working i couldn't tell) a wet game.  looked like a good one as well.  earlier, the new england patriots hung on to beat the baltimore ravens 23-20.  looked like a good one as well.  so it will be the giants vs the patriots for super bowl 46 in two weeks from today in a grematch from super bowl 42 in which the giants won

nfl divisional part two in the day game, baltimore won a close one over houston 20-13.  looked like a good one.  they will go tonew england to play the patriots in the AFC championship game.  kickoff is 1pm.  meanwhile in green bay the gians surprised the packers 37-20.  the giants will go to san francisco to face the 49ers in the NFC championship game at 4:30pm.  both games are going to be good ones.

nfl divisional part one plus winter arrives.  finally in the afternoon game, the san francisco 49ers beat the new orleans saints in a close one 36-32.  last two and a half minutes the lead was traded four times.  san fran won it with 10 seconds left.  in the night game it wasn't much of a game as new england patriots blew out the denver broncos 45-10.  they will host either houston or baltimore, while san francisco will play either the n.y. giants or green bay (giant go to san fran if they win or green bay will host if they win)  the giants and packers play the late game while houston and baltimore play the early game. it finally happened.  winter arrived.  finally.  snow is accumulating and the wind is blowing.  supposed to get 5-7 cm overnight and it's supposed to get cold as well.  highs in the low -20s.  it was bound to happen.  and its here.

nfl wild card day two the denver broncos upset the pittsburgh steelers 29-23 in overtime.  tim tebow threw one pass in overtime and it was the game winner.  they will play the new england patriots saturday night.  meanwhile, the new york giants also upset the atlanta falcons 24-2 to go to the divisional round. they will play the green bay packers sunday afternoon.  the remaining games have the new orleans saints going to san francisco to play the 49ers saturday afternoon and the houston texans playing the ravens in baltimore sunday morning.

nfl wild card day one + milestone in the opener, houston beat cincinnati 31-10 in their first playoff game.  way to sstart the playoffs.  in the night game, detroit had a 14-10 halftime lead, but the new orleans saints took over the game and won 45-28.  the remaining wild card games are tomorrow featuring atlanta at new york in the early game and pittsburgh at denver in the afternoon game.  this will decide the divisional games the milestone:  jarome iginla of the calgary flames scored his 500th career goal in a 3-1 win against the minnesota wild

sweden gets golden in overtime sweden has just beaten russia 1-0 that was decided in overtime on a goal by mika zibanejad.  sweden outshot 58-17 in the game.  russia goalie andrei makarov kept his team in it.  sweden's last gold was way back in 1981.  a lengthy drought over.  congrats to sweden on their win and a great game by both teams.  next year the world juniors will be in Ufa, Russia.  Ufa is about two hours east of Moscow.

canada gets bronzed canada just beat finland to win the bronze at the world juniors.  they definitely showd up to play after the heartbreak loss to russia.  mark visentin gets the shut out and made an amazing behind the back glove save.  canada has now medaled in 14 consecutive years (they finished 8th in 1998)  and has medalled in every tournament that has been held in canada.  next up at 6pm, sweden vs russia for gold.

world junior semi final tuesday russia held off a furious canada comeback and hung on to win 6-5.  russia was leading at one point 6-1, but hung on.  meanwhile sweden was trailing finland 0-2 before coming back to tie it with more than a minute left in the third, then winning in the shootout 3-2.  russia will play sweden for gold thursday night and canada will plat finland for bronze thursday afternoon.

world junior quarter final day in the afternoon game, finland beat slovakia 8-5 in what turned out to be a bit of a shootout.  finland will play sweden in one semi final game at 3pm.  the evening game had russia beat the czechs 2-1 in overtime.  that must have been a good one.  russia will play canada in the other semi final game at 7pm.  that will be a rematch from the gold medal game last year.  canada wil be looking for redemtion there.  slovakia and the czech rep will play for 5th and 6th.

nfl season done, playoff matchups set with the n.y. giants knocking out the dallas cowboys, they got into the playoffs where they will host the atlanta falcons on the 8th.  the other playoff matchup on the 8th has the pittsburgh steelers going to denver to face the broncos.  the saturday matchups has the cincinnati bengals going to houston to face the texans while the detroit lions travel to new orleans to face the saints.  the green bay packers, the san francisco 49ers, the new england patriots and the baltimore ravens have the first round bye and will await the winners of the wild card games.  gonna be a good weekend next weekend.

HAPPY NEW YEAR happy new year to everyone.  2012 is here and don't forget, it's a leap year this year.  cheers!