SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Jim Harbaugh pirouetted in frustration following a personal foul on Dan Skuta. He got hit with his own unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for arguing following a catch by Vernon Davis that went to review before being ruled a touchdown. And that was just last Sunday. Harbaugh has been at his emotional best -- or, to some, worst -- with his cartoon-like faces and quirky sideline antics in leading San Francisco back to the NFC championship game for the third time in as many years since taking over as 49ers head coach in January 2011. On Davis TD during Sundays 23-10 win at Carolina, Harbaugh ran well onto the field during the play. "I think Harbaugh gets away with murder myself," former Seahawks coach and ex-49ers assistant Mike Holmgren said. "If I ever did that it would be a penalty." Harbaugh should be as charged up as ever come Sunday, when he faces off once more against the rival Seattle Seahawks in an NFC championship game featuring that familiar coaching sideshow with Pete Carroll. This time, theres a Super Bowl berth on the line. But if you ask Harbaugh, "Whats your deal?" is so five years ago. Enough already, he insists, keep it about the players. "That might have been something four or five years ago," Harbaugh said. "But, I havent seen it as of late. And, it would be as irrelevant now as it would have been then when people made a bigger deal out of it. So, irrelevant, irrelevant." Sorry, not this week. Theres no avoiding such chatter. Harbaugh has to expect that infamous phrase to come up often. It dates back to their college days coaching in the Pac-10 Conference. In 2009, Harbaugh and No. 25 Stanford ran up the score on 11th-ranked USC in a surprising 55-21 rout, even attempting a 2-point conversion with the game way out of reach -- prompting Carrolls infamous "Whats your deal?" when they met afterward at midfield. Whatever their past or perceived differences, Harbaugh knows what to expect every time a Carroll-coached team takes the field. The Seahawks ended San Franciscos two-year reign as NFC West champion. "Its hard to get to this position," Harbaugh said. "Talking about a year of preparation and planning and off-season and training camp and games. And they did it better than anybody did it this entire season. So, a great task, great challenge ahead of us." The 49ers have already accomplished plenty this post-season by winning in the bitter cold of Green Bay and at Carolina. Harbaugh is the first coach in the Super Bowl era to reach the NFC championship in each of his first three years. Place kicker Phil Dawson wanted to be part of the winning vibe after 14 mostly disappointing years with Cleveland. Nose tackle Glenn Dorsey left Kansas City to join a team with Harbaugh at the helm. Even if Dorseys first impressions of the coach left him shaking his head. "I noticed what everybody else noticed: a coach going crazy on the sideline having fun," Dorsey recalled. "Always pumped up and always getting his team hyped. He works hard, even now being on the inside seeing him every day and how he goes about doing his job, the enthusiasm that he has and the motivational stuff that he has, the knowledge that he has. Hes a great coach." Dawson appreciates how Harbaugh takes chances in the kicking game based on his trust in the veteran -- and it certainly didnt hurt that Dawson converted a franchise-record 27 straight field goals until the streak ended in the regular-season finale at Arizona. The 50-year-old Harbaugh, a 15-year NFL quarterback himself, regularly moves around the team plane to visit with players about football and life. He shares meals with rookies and veterans alike on occasion in the team cafeteria. "Hes the kind of coach you want to win for," Dawson said. "Theres a special satisfaction with having a relationship with the head coach. Being a place kicker, on a lot of teams the head coach never even speaks to the kicker. Hes around, he gets it, hes been there. Hes sat in those seats. I think its probably one of the biggest reasons hes successful is his ability to communicate with the guys and relate to them on their level and be able to instil whatever it is hes trying to instil in a way that guys will receive it." Pittsburgh Steelers Mike Wagner Jersey . 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"Ill probably drink one and go to sleep," the Australian veteran said. The two players set up a Sunday showdown between former HSBC champions after finishing off their third rounds with identical birdies over three of the last five holes Saturday to separate themselves slightly from the rest of the crowded leaderboard. Pittsburgh Steelers Merril Hoge Jersey . Fifth-seeded Cilic gained his fourth title in Zagreb and became the third Croat overall to win at least 10 career titles. Cilic also lifted his career record in Zagreb to 22-4, winning 20 of his last 21 matches at the event. TORONTO – Change was on the mind, but Brendan Shanahan wasnt looking explicitly for a new assistant general manager. The Maple Leafs president was combing the hockey world, trying to pick out the innovative thinkers, the rising stars, the great minds. One name kept coming up: Kyle Dubas, formerly the 28-year-old general manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and now assistant general manager to Dave Nonis in Toronto. Such was the latest shift in direction of the newly minted Shanahan era, one that has seen a coaching staff plundered, a roster reconstructed, a July 1st pass quietly (and prudently) by, and now a management team altered – Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle fired Tuesday. “I like to surround myself with people that challenge ideas, that think differently,” Shanahan said. “The more I got to know Kyle the more I realized that this was somebody that obviously was an extreme talent.” Through extensive conversations with Dubas over the past few weeks, Shanahan, who accumulated nearly 700 goals and three Stanley Cups as a player, kept coming away with fresh thoughts and perspectives about the game. In Dubas, he appears to have found someone willing to think differently, a rising front office prodigy known for his openness to new ideas, including analytics. “I just found him intriguing,” said Shanahan, standing alongside Dubas at an introductory press conference from the Air Canada Centre. “I was learning things I didnt know and just wanted to learn more.” “Ive got the impression in talking to Brendan and talking to Dave that theyre certainly open to any and all ideas. That was one of the things that was most enticing about the situation here for me,” said Dubas, particularly enthused to work alongside Nonis, himself once a young assistant general manager in Vancouver. In just three short years in Sault Ste. Marie, Dubas – hired at age 25, mind you – helped steer the Greyhounds from the playoff wilderness to a West division title. He was once a teenage scout for his hometown junior team and later the youngest player agent to be certified by the NHLPA. Rising fast through the hockey ranks, he is known to be thoughtful, respectful and innovative in his thinking, a breath of fresh air to a game thats often remained engrained in old habits. Though not an all-out stats guru as portrayed in some corners, hes shown a willingness to consider the merits of analytics, employing them where suitable to help his team in the Sault. The Maple Leafs, previously led by noted analytics opponent Brian Burke, have been slow to adjust to the “Money-Puck revolution,” which has crept louder and louder into the game in recent years. And if not a voice for that community, Dubas should, at the very least, open up Nonis, Randy Carlyle and the entire group in Toronto to some different ideas. “Its really about learning as much as I can and getting as much information as I can,” Dubas said. “I havent run the team in Sault St. Marie based solely on statistics, its been a good size part of what weve integrated in, but the rest of it is just hockey. Its evaluating players, scouting reports, dealing with the personalities on the team, trying to hire the best scouts and people. And certainly the analytics, Ive found it to be a major help to me personally iin the way that I view the game and just create a better level of certainty to decisions.dddddddddddd” “Information is power,” Shanahan added. “Its about eliminating some of the noise and seeing what information works best for you, your team, and the direction you and your team want to go with. “Hes obviously got a great appreciation and understanding of analytics, but hes also married that to the complexities and instincts you have to have when youre putting a product on the ice. Hes not just talked about it, but hes done it.” Todd Reynolds, formerly a colleague in the agent business, says Dubas is not some analytics guru, but rather a well-rounded hockey mind on the rise. “I dont think its all about analytics like people have wanted to make it out to be today,” he told TSN.ca. “Hes not a computer nerd. Hes not sitting there crunching numbers and bringing sheets of paper into the GMs office with recommendations. Hes much more complete than that.” Reynolds firm, Uptown Sports Management, hired Dubas fresh out of the Brock University sports management program. They had known him to be “mature beyond his years” from past dealings with the Greyhounds organization. Dubas, they believed, was sensible, trustworthy and related well to people senior to him. “It really wasnt as much of a stretch or a leap of faith on our part as people thought it was at the time,” Reynolds said. “He held his own. [His age] was used against him at times – as you can imagine our business is competitive, the industry is – and people would say ‘Really, youre thinking about going with him? The kids 20-year-old. So it was used against him successfully at times, at other times he overcame it. “We encouraged him ‘just continue doing what youre doing and people wont talk about your age theyll talk about your track record.” And so they werent surprised at the Burlington headquarters of Uptown Sports to learn a few years down the road that Dubas had earned the GM job in hockey-mad Sault Ste. Marie – as one of the youngest GMs in OHL history – nor taken aback on this day when he rose to the NHL. “We all knew this was coming,” Reynolds said. Shanahan claims he never set out to hire an assistant general manager, but planned on assessing the various levels of the organization over the offseason and instilling change from there. He expected more hires to the management team, likely needing a replacement for Loiselle as it pertained to contract negotiations, the CBA, and the cap, and someone to assume Poulins duties, which included management of the Marlies. Tuesdays proceedings were ultimately another step in the remaking of the Leafs in Shanahans vision. That vision started to take shape with the early May firings of the coaching staff and the retaining of Carlyle. It continued with the selection of William Nylander at the draft, varied roster pursuits in and around July 1st – quiet for Toronto standards – and a pair of new hires (and voices) to surround Carlyle, including the youthful Steve Spott. In Dubas meanwhile, Shahanan will look for a different voice, a fresher perspective that may have been lacking. “Im just an assistant GM,” said Dubas. “Ill do what Im asked and go from there.” Cheap Buffalo Sabres GearWholesale Calgary Flames JerseysCheap Adidas Colorado Avalanche JerseysMontreal Canadiens Outlet StoreWholesale New Jersey Devils JerseysAdidas Arizona Coyotes JerseysCheap Adidas Boston Bruins JerseysCheap Adidas Carolina Hurricanes JerseysChicago Blackhawks Shop Free ShippingWholesale Columbus Blue Jackets JerseysDallas Stars Shop Free ShippingCheap Adidas Detroit Red Wings JerseysAnaheim Ducks Jerseys ChinaWholesale Edmonton Oilers JerseysFlorida Panthers Shop Free ShippingWholesale Los Angeles Kings JerseysMinnesota Wild Outlet StoreCheap Adidas Nashville Predators JerseysCheap Adidas New York Islanders JerseysNew York Rangers Winter Classic JerseysCheap Adidas Ottawa Senators JerseysCheap Adidas Philadelphia Flyers JerseysWholesale Pittsburgh Penguins JerseysCheap Adidas San Jose Sharks JerseysSt. Louis Blues Winter Classic JerseysWholesale Tampa Bay Lightning JerseysToronto Maple Leafs Outlet StoreVancouver Canucks Outlet StoreCheap Adidas Vegas Golden Knights JerseysCheap Adidas Washington Capitals JerseysCheap Adidas Winnipeg Jets Jerseys ' ' '