Sarni's Scrolls: NFL Overload
By Jim Sarni
The College Football Playoff semifinals are Monday night. Alabama-Michigan at 5, followed by Texas-Washington.
But I may be tired of football by then.
The NFL has been that good this season.Entering Week 17, eight playoff berths and six division titles are undecided. All 16 games have playoff implications.I'm all in.
This is the wrong year for Jan. 1 to fall on a Monday.Big games
:■ Saturday: Lions (11-4) at Cowboys (10-5), 8, ABC/ESPN
.■ Sunday: Dolphins (11-4) at Ravens (12-3), 1, CBS ... Bengals (8-7) at Chiefs (9-6), 4:25, CBS ... Vikings (7-8) at Packers (7-8), 8:20, NBC
.All that... and then we have to ring in the New Year.
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Amazon couldn't have asked for a better Thursday Night Football finale... the Cleveland Browns clinching a playoff berth in front of their boisterous fans
.The streamer milked the moment by showing the players and fans celebrating the 37-20 victory over the New York Jets.Joe Flacco, the 38-year-old quarterback who is 4-1 in his improbable stint with the Browns, was interviewed on the post-game show, as his wife and five children looked on.
You can just feel the belief," said Flacco, who led the Baltimore Ravens to a Super Bowl championship in 2011. "We have a good team. It's going to be exciting
."■ Ben, Kirk Herbstreit's service dog and TNF mascot, appeared in the broadcast booth in the fourth quarter. Al Michaels adores Ben, but made sure the dog didn't get into his candy corn stash.
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NFL odds to make the playoffs AFCMiami 100%, Baltimore 100%, Cleveland 100%, Kansas City 98%, Buffalo 91%, Jacksonville 73%, Indianapolis 48%, Houston 40%, Cincinnati 19%, Las Vegas 15%, Pittsburgh 12%, Denver 5%.
NFC Philadelphia 100%, Dallas 100%, San Francisco 100%, Detroit 100%, Tampa Bay 84%, Seattle 69%, Los Angeles 65%, Green Bay 32%, Minnesota 28%, New Orleans 13%, Atlanta 12%, Chicago 1%.
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The five NBA games on Christmas Day totaled 14.4 million viewers.
The Raiders-Chiefs game on Christmas Day drew 29.2 million.Is there any doubt that the NFL owns Christmas.
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Three more days of bowls. Thirteen games. But it's potluck. With the transfer portal and the opt-outs, who knows what we'll get.Friday
■ Gator: Clemson vs. Kentucky, Noon, ESPN (Wes Durham, Tim Hasselbeck, Taylor Tannenbaum)
■ Sun: Oregon St. vs. Notre Dame, 2, CBS (Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson, Jenny Dell)■ Liberty: Memphis vs. Iowa St., ESPN (John Schriffen, Rocky Boiman, Dawn Davenport).
■ Cotton: Missouri vs. Ohio St., ESPN (Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvorak, Tom Luginbill).SaturdayPeach: Ole Miss vs. Penn St., Noon, ESPN (Mark Jones, Louis Riddick, Quint Kessenich)
■ Music City: Auburn vs. Maryland, 2, ABC (Taylor Zarzour, Matt Stinchcomb, Alyssa Lang)
■ Orange: Georgia vs. FSU, 4, ESPN (Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer, Katie George)
■ Arizona: Toledo vs. Wyoming, 4:30, Barstool/The CW (Dave Portnoy, Dan Katz, Jake Marsh, Caleb Pressley, Adam Ferrone).Monday
■ ReliaQuest: Wisconsin vs. LSU, Noon, ESPN2 (Brian Custer, Rod Gilmore, Lauren Sisler)
.■ Fiesta: Liberty vs. Oregon, 1, ESPN (Bob Wischusen, Robert Griffin III, Kris Budden).
■ Citrus: Iowa vs. Tennessee, 1, ABC (Dave Flemming, Brock Osweiler, Kayla Burton).
■ Rose: Alabama vs. Michigan, 5, ESPN (Chris Fowler. Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe, Laura Rutledge
).■ Sugar: Texas vs. Washington, 8:45, ESPN (Sean McDonough, Greg McElroy, Molly McGrath, Katie George).
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Sports wagering has rapidly grown across America to 38 states.
But the odds for expansion to additional states appear uncertain in 2024 because of political resistance and the sometimes competing financial interests of existing gambling operators.
But neither appear particularly likely to adopt it in 2024.Voters in California last year overwhelmingly defeated two rival sports betting initiatives following a record $463 million raised by supporters and opponents
.The proposed sale of the Dallas Mavericks to a politically active family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company has raised speculation of a bigger push for legal sports betting in Texas.
But the state Legislature is not in regular session in 2024, and Texas has no means of placing citizen initiatives on the ballot.
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ETC
■ Mikeala Shiffrin won the Giant Slalom, her 92nd career World Cup Alpine victory in Lienz, Austria, on Thursday
■ The Professional Women’s Hockey League debuts on Jan. 1 with New York at Toronto
.■ If the NFL Playoffs started today, all three Florida teams -- the Dolphins, Bucs and Jaguars -- would be in the field
.■ NBC's Rodney Harrison, a safety who played 15 seasons with the Chargers and Patriots, is one of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame
.■ "UnSportsmanLike" guest anchors Courtney Cronin and Michael Rothstein wore t-shirt honoring Jeff Dickerson, beloved ESPN football reporter in the Chicago market for two decades, whopassed away two years ago. Nice touch
.■ Luka Doncic got a Mercedes-EQ electric bike for every Dallas Mavericks player, coach, and support staff member
.■ Mikal Bridges of the Phoenix Suns says he has eaten Chipotle every single day for the last 10 years.
Eight states -- Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New York -- offer flag football as a varsity girls' sport on the high school level.
■ The hockey governing body in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador has banned post-game handshakes in the minor leagues after a string of altercations
.■ At the movies: "The Iron Claw," the story of the legendary Von Erich Brothers who made pro wrestling history in the 80s. Starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harrison Dickinson.
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■ The Las Vegas wedding industry thinks New Year's Eve with the 12/31/23 (1-2-3 1-2-3) specialty date could set a record for ceremonies, topping the 4,492 on 07/07/07.
■ A 21.3-foot statue of Shakira has been erected in her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia
.■ "greedy" by Tate McRae returned to No. 1 on global Spotify with 4,564 million streams. She filmed a video for the song while riding on a Zamboni
.■ Legendary Paris restaurant The Tour d'Argent has reopened with a view of the Notre Dame rebirth and the 2024 Summer Olympics
.■ Hayden Christensen wants to play Darth Vader in more "Star Wars" projects
Many transgender and nonbinary people have turned to video games with robust character creation tools as places where they can safely express themselves.
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THEY SAID IT
■ "Just looking at Miller Moss and what he’s done, I feel like I’m listening to Eminem.” -- Fox's Gus Johnson to Joel Klatt during USC-Louisville Holiday Bowl. When probed why, Johnson started to rap a few lines of the "Lose Yourself" chorus: “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.
”■ Here's the sad part of the story. After the game, he will be devoured, he will die, and he will be his own last meal." -- ESPN's Anish Shroff on the edible Pop-Tarts Bowl Mascot.
■ "Coach [Mike] Norvell coached his butt off, and we can't take nothing away from him. But the real question that you have is, would you leave me out of the college playoffs? Ain't no way in the world. We're box office. You got to see this unless you're crazy. I wish I had the problems that coach Norvell has." -- Colorado coach Deion Sanders
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Jim Sarni, BC Class of '69, is a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He resides in Fort Lauderdale and watches a lot of television.