Sarni's Scrolls: Time Moves Swiftly

Time named Taylor Swift its Person of the Year for 2023.

The magazine picked Lionel Messi its Athlete of the Year.

I applaud both obvious choices.

Time wrote:

■ "Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light. No one else on the planet can move so many people so well."

■ "Lionel Messi this year managed to do what once seemed impossible, when he signed with Inter Miami: turning the US into a soccer country."

Messi lead a field of prolific athletes in 2023. Pat Mahomes, Novak Djokovic, Max Verstappen, Mikeala Shiffrin would all have been good choices.

I still don't know why Sports Illustrated picked Deion Sanders.

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The hits keep coming for the NFL:

■ Sunday afternoon: 49ers-Eagles, 27.686M, Fox.

■ Sunday night: Chiefs-Packers, 23.568M, NBC

■ Monday night: Bengals-Jaguars, 16.445M, ABC/ESPN

Meanwhile, NBA In-Season Tournament's puny ratings for Monday games:

■ Celtics-Pacers, 1.063M, TNT

■ Pelicans-Kings, 741K, TNT

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Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has a musical side.

During Monday's game between Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars, Tagovailoa made an appearance on "The ManningCast" with Peyton and Eli Manning... busted out a guitar and played "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton.

That led country music star Darius Rucker, a diehard Dolphins fan, to say he was interested in having a jam session with Tua.

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If you think the players don't care about the NBA In-Season Tournament, you weren't watching the Suns-Lakers quarterfinal on Tuesday night.

Los Angeles won a hard-fought 106-103 decision to advance to Thursday's Final Four in Las Vegas.

"You've got some of the most alpha male competitors in the world, and if you give us an opportunity to play for something meaningful or an incentive, then you get what you're getting," said LeBron James, who led the Lakers with 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and five steals.

"The in-season tournament is what it is, and we have an opportunity to play on a big stage, be on a national television, represent our families, our communities, where we come from."

The semifinals:

■ 5 -- Pacers at Bucks (-4.5), ESPN

■ 9 -- Pelicans at Lakers (-2.5), TNT

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ETC.

■ The Cleveland Guardians won Tuesday's MLB draft lottery with the ninth-best odds (2%) and will pick first for the first time ever. The Rockies, A's, White Sox and Royals round out the top five. ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel projects West Virginia 2B JJ Wetherholt as the No. 1 pick.

■ The USWNT finished 2023 without suffering a single loss in regulation, but it took a 2-1 comeback win over China in Frisco, Texas on Tuesday night to keep the streak alive. Hometown star Jaedyn Shaw and Sam Coffey scored.

■ Bettors: The Patriots-Steelers Thursday Night Football game has the lowest Over/Under (30) in three decades.

■ The ACC was forced to resort to drawing names out of a hat to determine bowls for Notre Dame (Sun), Miami (Pinstripe) and North Carolina (Duke's Mayo).

■ Day 1 of the Winter Transfer Portal (FBS, FCS, Div. II) had 1,127 entrants, 44% increase from a year ago (780)... Alabama QB Tyler Buchner entered the portal... for lacrosse, the sport he was originally recruited to play.

■ The NHL Draft will be held at the Las Vegas Sphere, June 28-29.

■ The Los Angeles Clippers' $1.2 billion Intuit Dome, scheduled to open in 2024, will have 18,000 seats, a 38,000 square-foot halo scoreboard, outdoor plaza... and twice as many toilets as any other NBA arena.

■ The Houston Rockets have a luxury suite dedicated to basketball sneakers culture.

■ "Deadspin" wants to eliminate the chest pass from the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway contest. Good point.

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■ Xochitl Gomez, the 17-year-old Marvel star, won the Mirrorball Trophy with partner Val Chmerkovskiy on the Dancing With The Stars " season 32 finale on Tuesday.

■ "Grand Theft Auto VI", scheduled for 2025, will feature a female lead. The trailer, set to Tom Petty's "Love Is A Long Road," already has 60 million views.

■ "NFL Live" host Laura Rutledge on her cool Instagram: Pork tenderloin with shallot and Dijon cream sauce she made for dinner. With audio of the sizzling pan. Awesome.

■ Ryan Murphy's "Feud" will return with "Capote vs. the Swans," the story of Truman Capote and his inner circle of rich women in the 1970s.

■ Uber is rolling out delivery robots dressed up as reindeer for the holiday season.

■ Hearst Communications ("Popular Mechanics," "Cosmopolitan " "Esquire") has acquired Puzzmo, an indie virtual puzzle platform. Games are big business for media companies.

■ Apple renewed "Foundation" for Season 3... Fox renewed "So You Think You Can Dance" for Season 18 with new judges and a documentary-style format.

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THEY SAID IT

■ "Colleges and universities need to be more flexible and the NCAA needs to be more flexible, too." -- NCAA president Charlie Baker, announcing his proposal that would allow schools to enter into name, image and likeness (NIL) deals directly with students.

■ "My first-grader, my fifth-grader and my preschooler... they are all Noles and they are big-time fans and they do the tomahawk chop and they were not happy. We are going to set aside $1 million and let the chips fall where they may." -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who wants to sue the CFP committee for leaving FSU out of the College Football Playoff.

■ "I'm not a cold weather person. I'm finally thawing out." -- Former Olympic skier Lindsay Vonn, who now lives in Miami, to "People."

■ "Dreams don't happen overnight." --Colorado football coach Deion Sanders after a 4-8 season.

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JC