As usual, Tim Tebow will be the most talked about and scrutinized player leading up to his next game.

This time, the former Florida quarterback will be auditioning for NFL teams all week at the Senior Bowl, to be played Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.

Tebow says he's going to follow the advice of Gators coach Urban Meyer to just be himself.

"I'm just going to be me. I'm going to be excited, I'm going to be passionate, I'm going to have fun," Tebow said. "I'm going to love playing the game out there, just like I always have. Hopefully the coaching staffs and the owners and general managers will just like me."

Tebow said he wants to be an NFL quarterback, not show what he can do at H-back or tight end. Those are potential fallback positions with draft analysts citing issues with his mechanics, and the transition from Florida's spread, shotgun offense.

Tebow is open to making changes, saying he's a very coachable player.

SAILING

GIRL, 16, ON SOLO TREK

A 16-year-old has set out to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

Abby Sunderland of Thousand Oaks sailed into the sunny Pacific Ocean on Saturday after being delayed a few days by a series of violent storms in California.

Her boat-builder father, Laurence, along with other family members and fiends cheered at the Del Rey Yacht Club as they watched the 40-foot craft called Wild Eyes depart.

She plans to be at sea for five or six months. She will be alone but able to communicate via satellite telephone and a blog (at www.abbysunderland.com).

The current record holder is 17-year-old Mike Perham of Britain, who took the mark last year from Abby's then-17-year-old brother Zac.

AUTO RACING

HAMLIN TEARS ACL

Denny Hamlin has a torn knee ligament and won't have surgery to repair it until after the upcoming NASCAR season.

Hamlin says he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee playing basketball on Friday. The injury was first reported by ESPN.com after Hamlin pulled out of a skills competition for NASCAR drivers hosted by the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Hamlin had surgery in December on his right knee, and the new injury is unrelated.

Hamlin is the popular preseason pick to unseat four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson this year. He won two of the final 10 races last year, including the season finale.

The NASCAR season begins next month at Daytona International Speedway.

CYCLING

GERMAN WINS TOUR

Andre Greipel of Germany won the Tour Down Under for the second time in three years yesterday, finishing fifth in the sixth and final stage of the ProTour event captured by Chris Sutton at Adelaide, Australia.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong placed 77th out of 129 riders in the stage to finish 25th overall, 1 minute, 3 seconds down on Greipel's accumulated time of 18 hours, 47 minutes, 5 seconds.

Armstrong improved on his 29th-place showing in last year's Tour, his first race back from a 3 1/2-year retirement.

Greipel protected his 11-second overall lead over Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain.