Free at last

Everyone, this is Nate. I've managed to escape from the clutches of my kidnappers.

I'm trying to get home, but I'm not sure where I am. While being held hostage I met this guy named Moe Green, and he said I was in some place called Leutonia. I did pretty good in school, but I've never heard of a country called Leutonia.

WIsh me luck.

CAN SOMEONE COME AND GET HIM?

Okay, you win. Forget about trading Crosby. We don't care about the Polka Stars that much.

But we really need someone to take Nate Saxon off our hands. We really don't want to harm him, but he keeps demanding that we bring him more chicken wings, and we've already used up all the poultry in our village.

Can someone please come to take Nate Saxon home?

Please?

Sincerely,

The Leutonian Liberation Front

ISN'T ANYONE LISTENING?

Okay, we were under the impression that Nate Saxon had some influence over the life of Sidney Crosby. He certainly blogged about Crosby enough.

We are beginning to think we were wrong.

Even if Nate Saxon has nothing to do with Crosby, we are standing firm to our demand that Crosby be traded to the Polka Stars - the national team of Leutonia - before we release Nate Saxon.

Doesn't anyone care what happens to Nate Saxon?

Sincerely,

The Leutonian Liberation Front

THIS IS NOT A JOKE

It occurs to us that some of you may have assumed that our claim that we have kidnapped Nate Saxon was a joke. Well, never assume. You know what happens when you assume, right? You make an ass out of u and me.

So believe us when we say that we will not release Nate Saxon until Sidney Crosby is traded to the Polka Stars.

Sincerely,

The Leutonian Liberation Front

THESE ARE OUR DEMANDS

This website has been hacked by the Leutonian Liberation Front. We have kidnapped Nate Saxon and will not release him until the Pittsburgh Penguins agree to trade Sidney Crosby to the Leutonian National hockey team, the Polka Stars.

HA HA HA HA HA. Merry Christmas!

The Crosby Count

Sidney pulled himself out of a slight slump the other night in the game against Boston. He had a nice jump to his step and potted a goal and assisted on two others.

Not to mention the fight.

Sid squared off against Andrew Ference - the instigator of the scrap - and fared quite nicely, thank you very much.

The Pens took that game in a shootout, but lost to the Islanders the next night. Crosby picked up a helper in that game, and got another helper in today's matinee against Boston again, a game the Pens won.

Now, Sid gets a nice holiday break. He's off until Thursday, December 27, when the Pens host Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.

Rest well, Sid. Happy Christmas.


CROSBY COUNT
Games played: 36
Goals: 16
Assists: 32
Total points: 48


LUNCH: Overly sweet Chinese foot from the mall while doing some last-minute shopping.

Get ready for Boxing Day

I know it's only December 20, but that doesn't mean you can't start thinking about the biggest shopping day of the year.

Besides, if you're like me, you've waited to make that big purchase until the big sales hit on Boxing Day.

Future Shop has this great system in place where they let online shoppers get in on the Boxing Day Sale two days early.

That's right, you can get Boxing Day savings at futureshop.ca starting at 8 a.m. on Monday night. That's Christmas Eve.

And in order to make the online shopping experience more pleasant for you, while you're buying a new TV or digital camera, enjoying a mug of egg nog, and waiting for Santa, Future Shop has come up with "Five tips to prepare for online Boxing Day shopping." I'll paraphrase here. If you want the full details, get them here.

- Update your account information
- Sign up for Verified by Visa
- Take an early peek at the deals (all the better to make your list!)
- Don't give up (back orders on some items will be accepted)
- Queue up the best deals (wait for the system while you are checking out; refreshing your screen will cause you to lose your place

What's on your wish list for Boxing Day? Let me know in the comments.


LUNCH: Noodles from a mall cafeteria. What can I say? I was doing some Christmas shopping.

They did not just do that

In a move that is sure to - in my opinion - doom the Eskimos for the next four years, the Edmonton CFL football club has signed quarterback Ricky Ray to a three-year contract, with an option for a fourth.

Amazingly, the club is keeping Danny Maciocia doing double-duty as head coach and director of football operations.

The people who took the blame for the dismal Eskimos season were the secondary coaching staff.

Hmmm. What are your thoughts on all this? Do you also hate Ricky Ray, he with the soap opera star name? Let me know in the comments.


LUNCH: BLT. Mmmmm, bacon.

Helluva day in the NFL

Brett Favre is now the career leader in yards passing for NFL quarterbacks. Not to mention the fact that he's led the Green Bay Packers to a first-round playoff bye. This team seems at times like they are running on adrenaline and excitement, but they sure are fun to watch.

The New England Patriots, in the meantime, doubled up on the New York Jets 20-10 to keep their undefeated season alive. It was a game notable more for the bad blood between the teams - and the bad weather on the day - than for the game itself.

But the Pats got the job done. It's what they do.

Now, only two games to go. The final game of the regular season is against the wildly inconsistent New York Giants (who dropped one to the Redskins and lost tight-end Jeremy Shockey in the process).

Next week's game could be the one the Patriots need to be prepared for. It's against the Miami Dolphins.

Don't laugh. The Dolphins won their first of the season yesterday and have nothing to lose. If the Patriots get the least bit complacent they could stumble.

But with a head coach like Bill Belichick, this is not likely.

I'm still predicting a 16-0 season for the New England Patriots.

The Crosby Count

Well, I've been on the road for a bit, trying to visit as many clients as I can before the end of the year, so it's high time we checked in on the status of our boy, Sid the Kid.

He's slumped a bit, dropping to sixth on the total points list, but he'll make that back soon enough. The road trip that brought he and the Penguins to western Canada took a bit out of him, I think.

They're back on the road, too, playing the Rangers tomorrow and the Bruins on Thursday. But then he's back home for a nice extended four-game stretch over Christmas, so I expect to see him up the output then.

We have faith in the Kid.

CROSBY COUNT
Games played: 32
Goals: 15
Assists: 28
Total points: 43


LUNCH: Bowl of chicken noodle soup with big, fat, thick noodles. Salty, too, which I like.

Sale extended!

The Future Shop friends and family sale that I wrote about on Friday has been extended.

Now you can take advantage of the deals until 10 a.m. ET, 7 a.m. PT on Tuesday, but only at the online store, futureshop.ca.

Check out the deals over here.

What are you going after? A new iPod? A fancy television? Let me know in the comments.


LUNCH: Roast beef sandwich, deli style

The Crosby Count

Well, Crosby didn't generate many points on the road trip into western Canada, but he led the Penguins to a sweep.

His 3-assist third period against the Oilers started the tour off nicely, and while he was kept off the score sheet in Calgary and Vancouver, the Penguins took both of those games in shootouts. Both shootouts, it should be noted, were won by Penguins defenceman Kris Letang.

The game against Vancouver - which I just finished watching - damn near ended up with a poetic, epic finish. With only a couple of minutes left in overtime, Sid got a jump on a loose puck and was tripped up by Miller while on a breakaway, which led to a penalty shot.

So we've suddenly got two franchise players - Crosby and Roberto Luongo - going head-to-head with the game on the line. Sid made a great move, but Luo did him one better, by keeping his eye on the puck and never letting up on the play. It was a great moment.

For the record, Luo stopped Sid a second time during the shootout.

Anyhow, I'm sure the Pens are counting this road trip a success.

Side note: Is it me or did Dany Sabourin play pretty good?

CROSBY COUNT
Games played: 29
Goals: 14
Assists: 26
Total points: 40


LUNCH: Eggs, toast, and breakfast sausages; more like a late breakfast (I think it's called brunch in some places)

Fun for friends and family

Wanna be my brother? Sister? Aunt? Nephew?

Every once in a while, Future Shop holds a sale for friends and family. The nice thing about this sale is that, as far as Future Shop is concerned, we are all friends and family.

The next sale takes place this weekend. It comes and goes in a hurry, though, so plan on making some time to stop by the store nearest you this Sunday evening (in B.C., Alta., Sask., Ont., N.S., Nfld., PEI) or Monday evening (Man., Que., N.B.).

You'll be getting a minimum of 10% off most items available at the stores during this sale, including televisions, high-def players, speakers, and receivers.

Or, better yet, slip on over to the online store, futureshop.ca. Online bargains become effective on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET (that's 3 p.m. for the cowboys and cowgirls and 2 p.m. for the wet coasters) and are available right through noon ET on Monday.

The deals online are even better, with some offers - like MP3 and iPod accessories - only available on the Web.

Here's a list of all the savings being offered.

And now that you're part of the family don't forget to send me a card on my birthday.

Canada's best ambassadors

There was a great double header on TSN tonight. First, Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns were in Toronto to take on the Raptors. That game was followed by Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in Edmonton to play the Oilers.

Nash and Crosby are both icons in their respective sports, and deservedly so. They both dominate play and, more importantly, they make their teammates better.

Nash - who has been taking some slack lately for saying he won't play in the Olympics even if Canada qualifies - didn't exactly put on a show tonight, but he certainly showed that he is a big reason that the Suns will again contend this year.

It's too bad that the Raptors, which actually look like a basketball team to watch, were missing their two biggies Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani, because if those two had been in the lineup, the Raptors would have made a better game of it.

As it was, a 45-point third quarter by the Suns was enough to put the Raptors down. Still, it was a great game, and it's always nice to see Nash playing in Canada.

Final score: Suns 136, Raptors 123.

The second half of the double-header had Sidney Crosby leading the Penguins on the team's first western Canada road trip since he entered the league three years ago.

In all these years, Crosby has never played hockey out west, except for an appearance at the Macs Midget tournament in Calgary. That's one reason there has been such a media circus in Edmonton for the past couple of days.

Crosby told media on Tuesday that trying to do too much was not a good strategy, and that he was going to just try and enjoy the game.

He couldn't have enjoyed the first couple of periods, because he didn't play so hot, and heading into the third, was spending more time on the bench than he's used to.

That did something, as Crosby assisted on three of Pittsburgh's four goals in the third period, and giving the Pens the win over the Oil. Talk about putting on a show.


Final score: Penguins 4, Oilers 2.


LUNCH: A tasty bowl of French Canadian pea soup

Celtic sneaks through to Round of 16

The Celtics were up against AC Milan today in the last game of group match play in the UEFA Champions League. They needed to come out of the game with a point to guarantee a spot in the next round, but a goal by Filippo Inzaghi on a beautiful play by Kaka put a stop to that.

Thankfully, Benefica beat Shakhtar Donetsk, so Celtic is through anyway.

UEFA Champions League action is on hold, now, until February 19.

As for the other Scottish football club, the Rangers need to beat Olympique Lyonnais next week to advance from their group. The Rangers are tied with Lyon at the moment.

Who are you rooting for in the Champions League? Let us know in the comments.

That was close

It came down to the last play of the game, but Tom Brady and his New England Patriots managed to hold on to keep their undefeated season alive.

But I never expected that they'd come so close to losing against the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts, yes, but the Ravens?

ESPN's Len Pasquarelli has a great rundown of the Patriots' fortunes during the last two minutes of the game. Despite the complaints of the Ravens, though, who were saying that the officials gave the game to the Patriots, the calls made against the Ravens in that last drive were totally valid.

The Pats probably shouldn't have won this game. But they did. Which is why I think they'll squeak out a 16-0. The gods are smiling on them.

But Sunday's game - Week 13 of the season - is against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That game will not be a cake walk. At least the Pats are at home.

What do you think? Can the Patriots get past the Steelers on Sunday? Give us your opinion in the comments.


LUNCH: clubhouse and chips

Making sense of the Halo story

The video game website 1UP has a great feature that summarizes the entire plot of the Halo franchise. Thus far. 

As they indicate, with three high-speed video games, a half-dozen books, and a couple of comics all telling different parts of the story - at different chronological times, no less - it can be difficult figuring out exactly what the story is all about.

The feature, which you can take a look at here, is a big ol' flowchart that starts "A long damn time ago" and threads the plotline all the way up until the  end of Halo 3, AD 2552. 

The writer, Jeremy Parish, doesn't get into the fine details of the plot or the characters, but does a good job of bullet-pointing the story. 

"No. There is too much. Let me sum up."

Anybody else out there have any problems figuring out the fine plot details of the Halo games?


LUNCH: Butter chicken and lamb vindaloo at an awesome Indian buffet