The end of the football season will feature two of the oldest franchises in the NFL.
The Green Bay Packers won the NFC title, beating Chicago handily and the Pittsburgh Steelers captured the AFC title with a five-point win over the New York Jets.
Both Super Bowl teams feature solid defences and strong quarterbacks, the Packers slinging out Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers leaning on Big Ben Roethlisberger.
It should be an excellent finale to the season, with interesting historical overtones. The Packers franchise won the first two Super Bowls and the Steelers franchise, with six has won the most in NFL history.
For me, the interesting point here is that two teams from small-market cities are battling for the NFL title. If the same scenario occurred in Major League Baseball, likely both teams would have been out of the running early in their seasons. Take a look at the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates if you don't beleive me.
This is definitely something that shouldn't be forgotten by both the NFL players and owners as they start the process of negotiating a new collective agreement.
This weekend's NHL all-star game features a new twist this season. This is really nothing new, as the league has re-vamped the mid season format numerous times. The new format has two captains, Thunder Bay's Eric Staal and Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom, picking players like they might have done back in their pond-hockey days.
Will this generate more interest in the game? It remains to be seen, but in my opinion, the NHL all-star game is only interesting if you are watching it live.
And, the Ontario women's curling championships are on this week. Thunder Bay has a 30 per cent chance of having a team advance through the provincials to get to nationals, with Krista McCarville, Ashley Kallos and Marlo Dahl competing in the 10-rink field. McCarville is the two-time defending champion and has won four of the last five provincial titles.
