Boy, it's been a while, and I've let a lot of solid stories fall by the wayside. I'll try to address, in brief, as many of them as I can:

-At the World Juniors, many felt that the fans' booing of Team USA went over the top (myself included), specifically when the crowd began chanting, "U.S. sucks." The booing of Jack Johnson, who tried to feed Canadian forward Steve Downie his elbow after a goal was scored, was totally justified; the rest, however, was over the top. Yes, Johnson became a symbol for his whole team, who had been expected to dominate the tournament, but these fans made it about an entire country, which is akin to booing a national anthem. It's a good thing that Vancouver has already been chosen to host the 2010 Olympics, because if the IOC had seen this before they made their selection, Vancouver would have been out of the running. (Congratulations to Brent Sutter and Team Canada, by the way.)

-Don Cherry has begun to support Sidney Crosby in the face of Ilya Kovalchuk's taunting the other day, with the Coach's Corner host claiming that he admires Crosby's no-quit attitude: "I'm starting to like Crosby more and more because he doesn't back down." It didn't get any better on Saturday night for Sid, however, as he took many more penalties, including a diving call and an Unsportsmanlike for gesturing to the referee from the penalty box. What Sidney Crosby needs to keep in mind is that though there are many people out there who want to see him fail - Kovalchuk apparently included - there are scores more who want him to succeed, and to be the player they have been in awe of for months now. His reported maturity is a big part of that; he conducts himself well in interviews and in the dressing room, but his on-ice antics of the last few days have laid a severe beating on that reputation (he also needs to learn that it's very easy to read someone's lips when they're saying "F*** You"). Sidney needs to relax out there on the ice and stay focused, both to help his team and to give the fans - the ones who support him - what they came to see.

-Speaking of Crosby, does anyone else find it ridiculous that Crosby-bashing has become the coolest thing since pre-faded jeans? As I write this, he's tied for 12th in league scoring, and is tops in rookie scoring, with 48 points to Ovechkin's 47, yet some people manage to convince themselves that he is an average hockey player at best. The kid scores, makes insane plays look easy, hits, stands up for himself, and wears an "A" on his sweater, and he's only 18 years old. If this was the average NHLer, there would be 20 more teams in the league, tickets would sell themselves, hockey would become more popular than soccer, and people in California and Florida would move to Canada just to soak in the pure hockey atmosphere.

-The Ottawa Senators are playing .500 hockey since the beginning of December, going 9-9-0. Many fans are quick to blame this on injuries, as Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Martin Havlat are all currently hurt. Havlat will be out for the remainder of the season, but Alfredsson and Spezza will return shortly; more importantly, they haven't all been injured since December 1. Perhaps GM John Muckler should be looking at the Leafs team his fans all despise so much for inspiration - missing many key components at different points during the season (think Sundin's injury in game one, and the recent injuries to Allison, Lindros, Steen, Colaiacovo and Antropov, which saw the lineup occupied by players like Belak, Wilm, Czerkawski, and Pohl), they have still put together a record that is good enough for sixth place in the East, and have seven wins in their last eight games.

-Elisha Cuthbert, former star of 24, The Girl Next Door and Popular Mechanics for Kids (don't act like you didn't watch it), would seem to be dating that brainless mouthpiece Sean Avery. Apparently she has no respect - no respect, I tell ya - for her legions of fans who prefer not to spend their time making others wish they were mute, unlike her new boyfriend. Elisha? We're through. And stop sending me chocolate; I mean it this time.