but like Randy Carlyle with the Maple Leafs this season, i

GREEN BAY - The San Francisco 49ers have gotten the best of the Green Bay Packers in three meetings since the start of the 2012, including a postseason victory in last seasons playoffs. Enter the great equalizer: winter at Lambeau Field. Winter is coming for the wild-carding Niners, who visit the NFC North champion Packers on Sunday afternoon. You can watch all the action on CTV beginning at 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. These two clubs have seen plenty of each other over the past two seasons. San Francisco snapped an eight-game slide in Green Bay with a 30-22 win in Week 1 of last season, though the temperature was hardly a factor given the game took place on Sept. 9. "You just have to block it out," said 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick of adjusting to the cold weather. Kaepernick took over as the starter for San Francisco midway through the 2012 campaign and helped his club get the better of the visiting Packers in last seasons divisional contest en route to a Super Bowl appearance and loss to the Baltimore Ravens. San Francisco opened its 12-4 campaign with a 34-28 victory over Green Bay, with Kaepernick outgunning Aaron Rodgers in a game that featured 879 yards of total net offense. After torching the Packers with his legs during the playoffs, Kaepernick did it with his arm back in Week 1 with 412 passing yards and three touchdowns to zero interceptions. In his Niners debut after coming over from a Ravens team that beat San Francisco in last seasons Super Bowl, Anquan Boldin had 13 receptions for 208 yards with a touchdown. Rodgers threw for 333 yards with three touchdowns, getting picked off once. Rodgers ended this season with a 104.9 passer rating, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to surpass a 100 rating in five straight seasons. A broken collarbone sidelined him for seven straight weeks but he returned to lead Green Bay to a season-ending victory over the Chicago Bears to secure the Packers third straight division title. Rodgers shook off some early rust to march Green Bay 87 yards for a game- winning drive, converting three times on fourth down. That included a 48-yard touchdown throw to Randall Cobb on 4th-and-8 with 38 seconds to play. "I looked outside to make sure we had a big play there," Rodgers said. "From the throw I missed Andrew Quarless on earlier in the drive, I knew I had to get a little bit on it to make sure I didnt way underthrow him. When that ball came down and he got into the end zone it was just pandemonium." The former MVP finished the game 25-for-39 for 318 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Packers, who won three of their last four games to finish the season 8-7-1. Cobb, who had been out since fracturing his right tibia on Oct. 13 against Baltimore, caught both touchdown passes by Rodgers, while Jordy Nelson had 10 grabs for 161 yards. Despite having an inferior record to the Niners, the Packers will play host this weekend and are making no apologies for doing so. "Everybodys record right now is the same. Were in the tournament. Theres 12 teams with a chance to the win championship," said Rodgers. "Thats how were looking at it. We won our division to give us the right to host a home playoff game and were going to try and make the most of it." San Francisco, in the playoffs for a third straight season, has won the NFC West in the previous two campaigns before getting unseated by the 13-3 Seattle Seahawks. The Niners had a chance to win the division in Week 17 and did its part by besting Arizona 23-20, but the Seahawks bested the Rams to lock up first place. "Players, coaches dont control who you play, where you play, when you play. The thing you control is how you play," San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh said. Boldin made nine catches for 149 yards and a touchdown against his former Cardinals team and Kaepernick threw for 310 yards with a pair of scores. San Francisco, though, needed Phil Dawsons 40-yard field goal as time expired to win its sixth straight game. Including the playoffs, the Packers have won 13 of their last 17 versus the Niners and San Francisco is 11-23 all-time in Green Bay. Vapormax Clearance Sale . During halftime, Love told The Associated Press he would receive treatment Saturday night and hoped to play Monday night against Houston. "I knew that my quad was bothering me pretty bad so I went out there and tried to move around a little bit and it just wasnt quite right," Love said. Nike Air Max Plus Just Do It Orange . "You hate when they score," he said with some distaste at the thought. "You take pride in it. http://www.airvapormaxcanada.com/ . Dwyane Wade followed a few days later. Vapormax Canada .com) - The San Francisco Giants delivered plenty of big hits to tie the World Series. Vapormax 95 Sale . 1 player in the world. So Duval gutted it out Thursday at the Byron Nelson Championship despite the pain from a muscle issue in his right elbow, a day after his stepson had to drive him because he couldnt even use that arm.Ive often wondered how to truly judge managers, especially the ones who are getting their first shot at a big league job. How much slack should we cut them? How long before you write them off? How long before you say theyve truly arrived? For the purpose of this article, I decided to look at the first five seasons in the careers of five different managers, To make this a little more interesting, Im not going to put names to their records until a little later. For now, Ill just call them managers A, B, C, D and E. Lets start with A. He got his first managerial job in the MLB at age 37. Over his first five years, he was 63 games in total under .500 at 344-407. Manager B was also a star player and got his big league start as a skipper at 36. His teams had two winning records over his first eight years. Over his first five years, his clubs had three seasons of 95 or more losses and compiled a record of 286-420. At 43, Manager C started his first MLB managerial gig. His record over his first five years wasnt very pretty, either, checking in at 348-414. Each of these gentlemen managed two different teams over those five-year spans, as well. Makes you think that maybe they should have started planning for a future outside of baseball. Managers D and E are both still managing. D got his first job at 38 and over the five seasons, guided his teams to a cumulative record of 383-427. Are we sensing a pattern here? E got his first chance at managing in the MLB at 42 and, lo and behold, he was the only one of the quintet to hit .500 in his first fuve seasons at 305-305. Were the first four managers washouts? Hardly. Was Manager E on the road to success? That remains to be seen. Maybe now, its time for the big reveal. Manager A is Bobby Cox. He managed 29 years in the Bigs, four with the Toronto Blue Jays and 25 with the Atlanta Braves. He led the Jays to their first AL East title in 1985 and the Braves to their one and only World Series title in Atlanta in 1995. He finished his managerial career with 2,504 victories versus 2001 defeats. Manager B is Joe Torre, who now works in the commissioners office. Like Cox, he managed for 29 years and had the bulk of his success with the New York Yankees, winning four World Series crowns in four tries. Manager C is Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel, who, like Torre, didnt strike gold until he arrived with the Yankees.dddddddddddd He won seven World Series in the pinstripes, including a record five straight. His teams reached the World Series nine times. Manager D is Cleveland Indians bench boss Terry Francona, whos still in the thick of the Wild Card race. He started with the Philadelphia Phillies, but found his niche in Boston winning World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 with the Red Sox, breaking the Curse of the Bambino forever. Manager E is the Blue Jays own John Gibbons. He is the only one of this group of five to even reach .500 in his first five years as a manager in the Big. Three of the other four have made it to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and Francona is well on his way to getting there, as well. I am in no way stating that John Gibbons will follow that same path, but the first five years of the other four at least gives you pause for some sober thought. Gibys record in his second term with the Jays is 152-165, but with a week to go in the 2014 season, the Blue Jays at least have four more wins than they did a year ago. Will John Gibbons be back as manager in 2015? I have a hunch he will, but like Randy Carlyle with the Maple Leafs this season, it figures to be his make-or-break year. - The Kansas City Royals have an excellent chance this week of making it back to the postseason for the first time since 1985, when they won their one and only World Series title in seven games over their state rival St. Louis Cardinals. The Royals played their final home game of the regular season Sunday and pushed their attendance to 1.9 million for the season. It was their highest total since 1981, a span of 33 years. The Cardinals, on the other hand, finished their home season Sunday with an average attendance of 43,712at Busch Stadium, pushing their total attendance to 3,540,649. That is the second-highest total in franchise history next to 2007. Its no wonder St. Louis is considered one of the crown jewel franchises in baseball. - I dont know whether Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve is going to be the American Leagues MVP, but hes got to be right up there in the voting when its all said and done, Altuve, through Sunday, is leading the Majors with a .345 average and has 220 hits, the most by a second baseman since Charlie Gehringers 227 with Detroit in 1936. ' ' '