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12/25/2023

All About Football...and Yamamoto...

Add-on posted Tuesday a.m.

NFL

--In late games Sunday after I posted, Jason Sanders was the star of the game for Miami (11-4), five field goals, three from beyond 50, and the 29-yard game-winner against Dallas (10-5), 22-21, the Cowboys falling behind the Eagles in the NFC East, pending Eagles-Giants.

Dak Prescott was OK, 20/32, 253, 2-0, 107.9, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks with 3:27 to play to put the Cowboys up 20-19, but Tua took Miami 64 yards to put the team in range for Sanders.

And Dak did have a deadly fumble inside the Miami one-yard line on Dallas’ first possession, the end of a 15-play, 73-yard drive.

--Tampa Bay (8-7) took control of the NFC South with their fourth win a row behind Baker Mayfield, 30-12 over Jacksonville (8-7), which suffered its fourth straight loss, Trevor Lawrence with three turnovers and then leaving in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury.  Lawrence had been in concussion protocol all week before being cleared.

But Mayfield has been terrific, a cool story, 9 touchdowns, one interception during the 4-game streak, and that’s his key, limiting turnovers.

--Monday, Raiders (7-8) interim head coach Antonio Pierce further enhanced his chances of getting the full-time gig, totally outcoaching Andy Reid and the Chiefs (9-6), 20-14, as Patrick Mahomes totally sucked, 27/44, 235, 1-1, 73.6, continuing his poor level of play this season, given his standards, the worst of his career.

And as the CBS studio crew said after, Phil Simms in particular with some blistering criticism, it isn’t just his mediocre (at best) group of wide receivers who are at fault.

The Raiders have little on offense, but picked up two defensive touchdowns in seven seconds to take a 17-7 halftime lead.  Zamir White was Oakland’s offense, 22 carries for 145 yards.

But it was the intensity of the Vegas defense that had to so impress owner Mark Davis.

One more on the game.  Isiah Pacheco is an idiot, losing his helmet twice (can’t happen) and the second time, with the helmet off, getting bashed in the head by an opponent’s knee, out with a concussion.  Sorry to be so harsh, but it’s a fact.

--The magical run of Tommy DeVito, aka Tommy Cutlets, is over, DeVito benched in the Giants’ 33-25 loss to the Eagles (11-4) in Philly.  Two straight sub-par efforts, two Giants losses, and we’ll see what coach Brian Daboll does the final two games.  DeVito should get to start both to give the Giants a final look at what they have, but he’s not ready for stardom.  The Giants need to be sure he’s a good backup before the draft.  After all, Daniel Jones isn’t likely to be ready until a few weeks into next season.

For the Eagles, they moved into the second playoff slot, with the Cardinals and Giants, again, the final two games.  Jalen Hurts threw for 301 yards and rushed for an NFL record 15th touchdown.

[For the record, Tyrod Taylor got the Giants in position to potentially tie the Eagles but on the final play of the game, he was picked off in the end zone.]

--Monday night, in the biggie, Baltimore staked its claim to the top seed in the AFC East, and Lamar Jackson staked his claim to the MVP award as the Ravens (12-3) defeated the 49ers (11-4) in San Francisco, 33-19.  Jackson was 23/35, 235, 2-0, 105.9, plus 45 yards on seven carries, as the presumed MVP entering the week, Brock Purdy, threw four interceptions!  The kid has nine interceptions in San Fran’s four losses, just two in their eleven wins.

As I wrote last time, we’ve gone in the span of just weeks from Jalen Hurts as league MVP, to Dak Prescott, to Brock Purdy, and now, perhaps, Lamar Jackson.

Meanwhile, Baltimore can wrap up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye with a win over the Dolphins on Sunday.

Saturday, we have an important game for Dallas, as they host Detroit.

And don’t forget Thursday’s Prime feature…Jets at Cleveland!  New York is likely to accumulate six yards total offense against the Brownies’ ‘D’.  No word yet on whether Zach Wilson will be available for the Jets, but as I go to post, he’s questionable…still in concussion protocol as of Monday.

--NFL Playoff Picture

AFC

1. Baltimore 12-3
2. Miami 11-4
3. Kansas City 9-6
4. Jacksonville 8-7
5. Cleveland 10-5
6. Buffalo 9-6
7. Indianapolis 8-7

8. Houston 8-7
9. Pittsburgh 8-7
10. Cincinnati 8-7

NFC

1. San Francisco 11-4
2. Philadelphia 11-4
3. Detroit 11-4
4. Tampa Bay 8-7
5. Dallas 10-5
6. Los Angeles 8-7
7. Seattle 8-7

4 teams at 7-8

--As a Michael Badgley fan, the kicker on the Lions, I didn’t realize he was elevated a second time for Sunday’s game against the Vikings off the practice squad, having won a weekslong competition with kicker Riley Patterson, meaning he has one more elevation remaining before Detroit has to sign him beyond Week 17.

The former Summit High School star did miss his first extra point Sunday, blocked, after 80 consecutive XPs the last three seasons.

But should the playoff bound Lions need a 54-yarder to win the NFC championship, Badgley hasn’t made one beyond 53 since his rookie year, 2018.  

I also have to get down for the record that Detroit clinched its first division title since 1993.  Goodness gracious.  They haven’t won a postseason game since 1991.

--I also didn’t acknowledge for the Jets the performance of Breece Hall, 95 yards rushing, 96 receiving, Hall with 1,269 yards from scrimmage this season, which isn’t all bad considering he has no offensive line.

--One college football note.  Florida State quarterback Tate Rodemaker entered the transfer portal so the Seminoles will be starting third-string Brock Glenn in the Orange Bowl against Georgia.  Good seats will be available for this one.  And it could be 35-0 at the half.

Then again, this is where sometimes kids like Glenn step up and grab the opportunity.

College Basketball

--New AP Poll (records thru Sunday)

1. Purdue (46) 11-1
2. Kansas (5) 11-1
3. Houston (9) 12-0
4. Arizona 9-2
5. UConn 11-2
6. Tennessee 9-3
7. Florida Atlantic 10-2…up 7
8. Kentucky 9-2
9. North Carolina 8-3…I don’t get this ranking
10. Marquette 10-3
11. Illinois 9-2
12. Oklahoma 10-1
13. Gonzaga 9-3
14. BYU 11-1
15. Colorado State 11-1
16. Duke 8-3
17. Baylor 10-2
18. Clemson 10-1
19. Memphis 10-2
20. James Madison 12-0…outside of Michigan State in the opener, haven’t played anyone
21. Texas 9-2
22. Creighton 9-3
23. Wisconsin 9-3
24. Mississippi 12-0
25. Providence 11-2

Wake Forest opens ACC play against Virginia Tech next Saturday.  Gotta beat the Hokies and then Boston College Jan. 2 to build a ton of confidence for the rest of the conference schedule.  I swear, I think with the arrival of Efton Reid, and soon Damari Monsanto, that this team is flying under the radar…but they have to win these two games.  So says moi.

NBA

--Yippee…the Knicks proved they can beat the Bucks, a huge ‘W’ on Christmas Day at the Garden, 129-122, four Knickerbockers with 20 points, led by Jalen Brunson’s 38.

But having watched most of this one, I can’t help but add that Giannis is so freakin’ good (32 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists), that you wonder why, seriously, he doesn’t get the ball down low every single possession.  You can’t stop him.  Or you then double- and triple-team him and he passes off for the easy bucket.  The guy is so tremendous.

Anyway, Knicks are 17-12, surviving without Mitchell Robinson thus far, while the Bucks are 22-8 and headed to the Eastern Conference finals for sure.

--But the Celtics (23-6) staked their claim for best team in the NBA at this point, 126-115 winners in Los Angeles against the Lakers (16-15).

Meanwhile, Minnesota is 22-6!  Holy Saint Paul!

MLB

--Catcher/DH Mitch Garver signed a two-year $24 million contract with Seattle, giving them a big righty bat.  Garver had 19 home runs in just 296 at-bats for the World Champion Rangers, an .870 OPS.  He missed two months due to a left knee injury.

The 32-year-old had 31 homers in just 311 ABs, .995 OPS, in 2019 with the Twins.  This is a nice move for the Mariners.

--Lastly, folks, the way the holidays have lined up on the calendar is, frankly, a royal pain in the butt for me…but I think I will post the next Bar Chat Sunday, after the first NFL games.

Whenever I do, I’ll have my yearend Bar Chat Awards

-----

[Posted Sunday p.m., prior to late NFL games]

Annual Christmas Special below…brief Add-on up top by Tues. evening. 

NFL Team Quiz: So I was looking for some random stuff and here are four team records of the modern era, 16-game schedule era, except for #1, which is post-1960.  1) Who holds the record for most consecutive winning seasons at 20?  2) Single-season: fewest points allowed at 165.  3) Single-season: most sacks at 72.  4) Single-season: most turnovers committed with 63.  Hint: The team went 2-14.

NFL

--Thursday, the Rams had a nice 30-22 win over New Orleans, greatly enhancing the Rams’ playoff chances at 8-7, after a 3-6 start to the season.

35-year-old Matthew Stafford has been on fire at quarterback for L.A., 24/34, 328, 2-0, 120.7 against the Saints, and with 14 touchdown passes and just one interception his last five.

Receiver Demarcus Robinson has a touchdown reception in four consecutive games.

But receiver Puka Nacua, a rookie and fifth-round selection out of BYU, is in the Rookie of the Year conversation.  Nacua had nine catches for 164 yards and a TD Thursday, and he now has 96 receptions for 1,327 yards and five TDs.

And…the Rams have running back Kyren Williams, who despite missing four games, has 1,057 yards on the season, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

The second-year back out of Mark R.’s Notre Dame has three consecutive 100-yard games, 22-104-1 against the Saints.

And…the Rams have Wake Forest rookie defensive tackle Kobie Turner, who has 6.5 sacks, which has even Aaron Donald raving, Donald with 6.

So this is a roundabout way of saying, watch out for Los Angeles.

--Saturday, Mason Rudolph started his first game in two years for Pittsburgh and looked sharp, plus he had a seemingly motivated George Pickens, Rudolph 17/27, 290, 2-0, 124.0, with Pickens picking up 195 yards and two touchdowns on just four receptions as the Steelers (8-7) handed the Bengals (8-7) a crushing defeat, 34-14.

Pickens showed what he can do when he feels like earning his paycheck, catching scoring strikes of 86 and 66 yards.

Jake Browning’s magical run for the Bengals ended as he threw three interceptions.

Cincinnati was in the playoffs heading into the contest, but has dropped below Pittsburgh, now tenth, as Buffalo took charge of its fate in the night game, pulling out a 24-22 victory over the Chargers (5-10) in Inglewood.  Josh Allen rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another, but it took a Tyler Bass 29-yard field goal to put Buffalo up to stay, the Bills 9-6, just needing to win out.

Allen (15/21, 237, 1-1, 104.7) became the first player in NFL history with four consecutive seasons of 40 combined touchdowns and the second quarterback to reach 50 career rushing scores.

He also had four completions on the 13-play, 64-yard game-winning drive, after L.A.’s Cameron Dicker hit his fifth field goal of the game, a career high, this one from 53, to put the Chargers up 22-21 with 5:26 to play.

--The Jets hosted the Commanders today, Aaron Rodgers activated off of injured reserve Wednesday, but he won’t be available to play the rest of the way, as he announced Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.”  This is absurd.  But more on the situation down below.

Zach Wilson was out of action as he remained in concussion protocol. Trevor Siemian got the start.

But prior to the game, Jets owner Woody Johnson told the New York Post’s Brian Costello that coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas would be returning for next season, citing the need for continuity, Aaron Rodgers’ expected return, and progress in some areas.  Clearly, this is what Rodgers wants…and it’s what Aaron is getting.

As for the game, as CBS analyst Adam Archuleta put it, he’s never seen an NFL team start out worse than the Commanders did, between dropped passes (one turned into an interception), penalties and a blocked punt.  The Jets raced off to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, taking advantage of the short field, and it was 27-7 at the half.

And then…goodness gracious, Sam Howell was replaced at QB for Washington after a 6/22, 56, 0-2, 1.7 performance.  That 1.7 is just ticks below my GPA at Wake.

Howell was replaced by Jacoby Brissett, who last week engineered two touchdown drives in relief of Howell, and Brissett did it again…three touchdown drives, one aided by a pathetic Siemian interception.

It was freakin’ 28-27 Comanches!  Err, Commanders. The Jets can…not…lose…this…game!

But for once, Saleh used good clock management, kept his timeouts, the Jets ‘D’ finally came up big, and Siemian did just enough to get Greg Zuerlein in position for a game-winning 54-yard field goal…Jets 6-8 after the 30-28 win that was so critical for Saleh in particular, despite the vote of confidence.

--Atlanta (7-8) dealt the Colts (8-7) a huge blow when it comes to Indy’s wild-card hopes, 29-10.

--But the Browns and the amazing Joe Flacco are 10-5, defeating Houston (8-7) 36-22, thus keeping Indy in the 7th and final playoff spot.

Flacco threw for 368 yards and 3 touchdowns, Amari Cooper with 11 receptions for a staggering 265 yards, a franchise record, and 2 touchdowns. 

--The Seahawks are in the 7th playoff slot in the NFC, 20-17 winners over the Titans as Geno Smith returned for Seattle to throw two touchdown passes.  Rams have the 6th spot.

[I’ll cover it all in my Tuesday Add-on, the playoff situation.]

--Detroit is 11-4 after defeating the Vikings (7-8) 30-24. Summit’s Michael Badgley is back kicking for the Lions after they cut him in preseason (days after talking to me at the local high school field).

--The Giants are facing a banged up Eagles team in Philadelphia on Christmas Day, Philly needing a win to quell the questions surrounding the team during its three-game losing streak, as well as to keep pace with Dallas.

--Back to the Jets and Aaron Rodgers….

Nancy Armour / USA TODAY

“In an NFL season marked by unpredictability, one certainty has emerged: Aaron Rodgers is as good a self-promoter as he is a quarterback.  Maybe better.

“The four-time NFL MVP was never going to make it back this season.  No matter the number of times he was seen throwing on the sideline or how many optimistic updates he gave, it wasn’t going to happen. The man had surgery to repair his shredded Achilles a mere 14 weeks ago.  The fastest, most amazing recovery from such an injury by an elite athlete was five months.  You do the math.

“But Rodgers was committed.  To keeping himself in the spotlight.

“Once one of the more thoughtful and humble players in the NFL, Rodgers has made a late-career shift into carnival barker extraordinaire. He got hoodwinked by junk science during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and somehow thought that made him an enlightened renegade.  He spouted that nonsense and styled himself as a free speech warrior when he was criticized for it.

“A tip for Rodgers: Free speech does not mean what you think it does.  It means the government cannot silence you or take measures to limit your ability to promote your lunatic theories. It does not mean society cannot ridicule you for your arrogance and ignorance.

“Also, if you’re going to claim you’re being canceled, it might be better to not do it during your weekly appearance on a national TV show.  A role for which you are paid handsomely, I might add….

“So it is no surprise that Rodgers would turn Achilles recovery into an NFL reality show. The surprise is how many people bought the shtick.

“ ‘If I was 100% today, I’d be definitely pushing to play. But the fact is, I’m not,’ Rodgers acknowledged Tuesday on ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’  ‘I’ve been working hard to get closer to that but I’m still 14 weeks tomorrow from my surgery, and being medically cleared as 100% healed is just not realistic.’

“Of course it’s not.  It never was.

“But now he’s saddled the Jets with the con, too. In order for Rodgers to keep practicing with the team, which doesn’t seem like a necessity for a guy who coach Robert Saleh said has no chance of playing, the Jets had to add him to the 53-man roster Wednesday.  To do that, they had to cut fullback Nick Bawden*….

“It was clear from his comments Saleh never expected Rodgers to come back this season.  It was equally clear he doesn’t want to irritate his QB, who has been known to hold a grudge.

“ ‘It’s all part of his rehab. There will be days he’ll be out there, days when he’s not,’ Saleh said of activating Rodgers.  ‘We just have the roster flexibility. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford to do this.’

“Do they really, though?  Or did the Jets make the decision back in September that it was in their best interest to placate Rodgers and whatever notions he has and the hell with what’s best for the team? ….

“Rodgers dangling the idea (of a return) was even a possibility, though, ensured people would still be watching his every move and listening for each new update. It allowed him to take potshots at, well, pretty much everyone and further his own narrative as a truth seeker and iconoclast.

“It was good theater, if you want to call it that, but it was never realistic. Which is besides the point.  Rodgers managed to keep himself relevant this entire season despite being on the field for all of four plays.”

*Bawden played in every game and made $774,118 of his $940k salary, so he loses about $135k with the move.  If he’s picked up, he’ll earn some of that back on the practice squad.  But a real bush-league move by both Rodgers and the Jets.

--We note the passing of former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Ed Budde, who helped the franchise win its first Super Bowl back in 1970.  He was 83.

Budde was an All-American at Michigan State under coach Duffy Daugherty.  He was the fourth overall pick of the Eagles in the 1963 NFL draft and the eighth pick of the Chiefs in the AFL draft, and ended up choosing K.C., coached by Hank Stram.

Budde was a five-time AFL All-Star and was selected to two Pro Bowls once the league merged with the NFL.

Budde’s son, Brad Budde, was an All-American offensive lineman at Southern Cal before he was drafted by the Chiefs with the 11th overall pick in 1980.  They remain the only father-son duo to be first-round picks by the same NFL franchise.

College Football

--I am so bored with the goings on within conferences these days…as in wake me up in three years when we finally have things shaken out with a superconference for the Power Four (after the departure of the Pac-12) and a separate commissioner for college football.

But in the meantime, I have to care, just a little, with Florida State’s move to sue the ACC on Friday, challenging a contract that ties the school to the league while creating a potential path for FSU to leave the conference without paying more than $500 million in penalties.  The move on the part of Florida State’s board of trustees came after the ACC sued the same board arguing it has breached that contract.

As noted by Glynn A. Hill of the Washington Post: “In (a 38-page lawsuit), the university said the ACC has mismanaged its media rights and previous member schools from joining other conferences through ‘draconian’ withdrawal penalties.  FSU accused the ACC of restraint of trade, breach of contract and failure to perform.

“ ‘Through chronic fiduciary mismanagement and bad faith, the ACC has persistently undermined its members’ revenue opportunities including by locking them into a deteriorating media rights agreement that will soon result in a vast annual financial gap between the ACC and other Power Five (soon to be Power Four) conferences,’ it said in the complaint.’”

The ACC argues the league’s exit penalties are enforceable because Florida State “knowingly and voluntarily” granted “irrevocable” and “exclusive” TV rights for FSU home games to the ACC through 2036.  “Florida State authorized those privileges through a contract called a grant of rights, which is a legal document that transfers the ownership of media rights from member schools to the conference for a set length of time.” [Glynn Hill]

I mean this makes your head hurt…and it’s Christmas.

Florida State joined the ACC in 1991 and has been the most vocal member in the conference over the past year-plus, raising concerns over the league’s growing revenue gap in relation to the Big Ten and SEC.

The Big Ten with its new media rights agreement is expected to pay each school around $70 million a year, while the SEC could raise its per-school payouts to similar levels when Texas and Oklahoma officially join the league next year.

The ACC’s annual allotments have steadily risen, and it offered an average distribution of $39.4 million to its members for the 2021-22 school year.  For comparison, the Big Ten ($58.8 million), the SEC ($49.9 million) and Big 12 ($42 million to $44.9 million) distributed more money to their schools during that same period, according to USA TODAY.  The Pac-12 was last among the Power Five conferences at $37 million.”

Well, us ACC fans have known for awhile that FSU wants to bolt, so just do it!  Clemson, too.

FSU estimates, though, it would pay a total exit fee of $572 million. That sum includes the ACC’s $130 million withdrawal fee, plus an additional $442 million related to the university’s forfeiture of media rights and unreimbursed broadcast fees.

If a judge rules in the school’s favor, FSU would be free to depart the conference without penalty.  A judgment in favor of the ACC could see FSU stay in the league or pay the financial penalty to leave.  Or, most likely, both sides would reach a compromise.

FSU does argue that the ACC “continued to erode its media rights position by rushing to admit three new schools with weak media rights values.”  [SMU, Stanford and Cal.]

Here’s my bottom line.  I am, and always will be a fan of my alma mater, Wake Forest, no matter who we play and where we are.  We’re never going to be in a position to win a college football championship, but we proved this spring we are capable of winning the College World Series, and we should be able to get into the occasional Sweet Sixteen in hoops.  And we take pride in golf and soccer.

These are just games, regardless.  But I’m more of a fan today at this late stage in my life than I ever was.  I watch every single football and basketball game no matter who the opponent is, and I went out to Omaha for the CWS.

So, again, just wake me when the conference realignment game is finally complete.  My school will be wherever the money gods put us.

--On the field Saturday, Duke finishes the season 8-5 with a nice 17-10 win over Troy (11-3) in the Birmingham Bowl.  The Blue Devils impressively have won five bowl games in a row (though not five years in a row).

This week, Duke, having lost quarterback Riley Leonard to Notre Dame, replaced him with highly touted Texas QB Maalik Murphy, who started two games in place of the injured Quinn Ewers and was lined up to replace him if Ewers had gone to the NFL next year (a decision to be made after the CFP).  Murphy also would have been Ewers’ backup in the looming game against Washington.

After entering the portal, Murphy opted for Duke it seems because he has an old relationship with new coach Manny Diaz.  This could be the sleeper portal move of the year.

As I wrote the other week, Murphy’s departure opened things up for Arch Manning, including, if needed, in the CFP.

--Air Force finished the season 9-4 after defeating James Madison (11-3) 31-21  in the Armed Forces Bowl, Emmanuel Michel rushing 35 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns for the Falcons.

--J. Mac’s Coastal Carolina (8-5) defeated San Jose State (7-6) in the Hawaii Bowl. The Chants have a very impressive dance team.

--Everyone has a different ranking for the 2024 recruiting classes, but 247Sports had the following….

1. Georgia…4 5-stars; 20 4-stars
2. Alabama…3 5-stars; 17 4-stars
3. Miami…2 5-stars; 11 4-stars…14 3-stars, no one in the top five with more than 5
4. Ohio State…5 5-stars, 12 4-stars
5. Texas…4 5-stars; 15 4-stars

Wake Forest was No. 51.

Give Coach Prime credit.  Last season his transfer class was No. 1 for 2023, and this year, Rivals.com and 247Sports rank Colorado’s No. 1 again, 16 new transfers despite the late-season turmoil and questions about whether he would even return.

And he signed the nation’s No. 1 high school offensive lineman, Jordan Seaton.

--Oregon State and Washington State agreed a few weeks ago to join the Mountain West Conference for the 2024 season in football, and now the two are going to join the West Coast Conference for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 for basketball.

The WCC features Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.

As for baseball – in which the Beavers are a national power – both OSU and Wash State are moving forward as independents.

Both schools are making the best of a bad situation.  I have no idea what is happening to some minor sports, though in the case of golf and track and field, you are competing in multi-school competitions, across multiple conferences, to begin with.

MLB

--The Mets and Yankees lost out in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes, the apparent next Japanese superstar headed to play ball with Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles, the Dodgers having spent $1 billion on the two in the span of ten days.

The 25-year-old righthander signed for 12 years and $325 million - $1 million more than Gerrit Cole’s nine-year deal with the Yanks, plus the Dodgers had to shell out another $50 million in a posting fee to his Japanese club.

Unlike Ohtani’s massive deferral, Yamamoto will get a $50 million signing bonus and not have any of his annual $27.08 million salary deferred.

According to local reports, the Mets came in at $325 million, the Yankees $300 million.

--So the Mets, owner Steve Cohen saying the organization did everything possible to ink Yamamoto, turn to Plan B, as do the Yankees, and I’m one who likes what new president of baseball operations David Stearns is doing thus far…signing players with major league experience, especially for the bullpen, and he pulled off a little trade the other day with the Brewers for two major leaguers, outfielder Tyrone Taylor and pitcher Adrian Houser that flew under the radar.  We gave up an injured prospect who can’t pitch next season.

As Stearns and Cohen have put it, ‘we’re building a major league roster.’  Some of these guys will be playing in AAA.  Good, that’s called depth.  That said, we do desperately need at least one more proven starting hurler. 

Alas, the Mets’ record payroll last year, $374.7 million, cost them a record luxury tax as well, $100.7 million.

Ain’t my money, the Editor said to his Uncle Stevie.

--Jesse Yomtov of USA TODAY had a 2024 MLB mock draft and whaddya know, Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz was No. 1.

JJ Wetherholt, SS/2B, West Virginia was second; Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida, was third.

Wake actually has five in the first 30.  Huh.  Maybe we’ll still be pretty good, after losing 11 to the draft last June, including first-rounders Rhett Lowder (Reds) and Brock Wilken (Brewers).

The No.1 overall pick in the 2023 draft was Paul Skenes, P, LSU, taken by the Pirates.  Skenes is reportedly dating Livvy Dunne.  Oh baby. 

But look back at this four-year stretch for overall No. 1 picks:

2012: Carlos Correa, Astros
2011: Gerrit Cole, Pirates
2010: Bryce Harper, Nationals
2009: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

College Basketball

--So, last Tuesday, looking ahead to the week, I noted some games on Saturday of interest, and totally blew off Wednesday, not expecting fireworks.

But that’s what we got, boys and girls.  Here I was earmarking Saturday’s St. John’s-UConn game, and instead, Seton Hall (8-4) pulled off an upset of 5 UConn (10-2) at the Prudential Center (Newark), 75-60, as Kadary Richmond had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 8 steals.  The 15-point victory was The Hall’s largest ever over an AP top-5 opponent.

“Obviously, just really stunned by just how unprepared I had these guys for a tough, physical conference game,” Huskies coach and former Seton Hall guard Dan Hurley said.  “Credit Shaheen [Holloway], credit Seton Hall.”

Meanwhile, 21 Duke (8-3) topped 10 Baylor (9-2), 78-73; 11 North Carolina (8-3) handed 7 Oklahoma (10-1) its first loss, 81-69; and Villanova (8-4) upset 12 Creighton (9-3) on the road, 68-66 in overtime, as Eric Dixon made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in overtime to finish off a 32-point night.  Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman had a chance to tie it with seven seconds left but missed the front end of a one-and-one, and then a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

A good night for the ACC, and the Big East looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Then yesterday I watched essentially all of the two games I had initially highlighted, FAU-Arizona, UConn-St. John’s, and college basketball fans were treated to two terrific, entertaining affairs.

14 FAU pulled off its biggest regular-season win in program history with a thrilling 96-95 double overtime victory over No. 4 Arizona in Las Vegas.  The Owls’ Johnell Davis showed America his full arsenal, the 6-4 guard with 35 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. 

For the Wildcats, North Carolina transfer Caleb Love garnered all the attention, and he had 26 points, including some clutch field goals down the stretch, but he was 8 of 25 from the field, and missed a final 3-pointer at the buzzer.

You will not find a better regular-season game all year, and this will help FAU’s seeding come March, bigly.

In the nightcap, St. John’s and Rick Pitino fell short, losing to UConn (11-2) in Hartford, 69-65, the Huskies without rising star Donovan Clingan, the 7’2” sophomore out for a month with a foot issue, which worrisomely seems to be a recurring injury (I can’t help but think of Sam Bowie, though in his case it was both leg and foot issues).

The Johnnies (8-4) certainly looked pretty good under Pitino, and as he said after, “We are coming.”  But Chris Ledlum missed two free throws that would have tied it at 67-67 with 0:17 to play, and that ended up being the ballgame.

Two other games of note in the Big East. Seton Hall, after its terrific upset of UConn on Wednesday, laid a huge egg against Xavier (7-6) yesterday, falling 74-54, the Pirates now 8-5.

Providence improved to 11-2 after an 85-75 overtime win over Butler (10-3), Butler choosing not to foul in a critical situation at the end of regulation that proved costly.

--Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. had a career-high 10 assists in MSU’s 99-55 win over Stony Brook on Thursday.  Then he went home for the holidays in Illinois and was shot in the leg, suffering a non-life-threatening injury, but undergoing surgery, the nature of which wasn’t clear.  Fears posted on social media from the hospital that he was OK.

But the thing is, Fears was one of two people shot at 4 a.m. in the Marycrest subdivision on the west side of Joliet.

Well, we all know the drill, sports fans.  Nothing good ever happens after midnight, let alone freakin’ 4:00 a.m.!

Fears was averaging 3.5 points and 3.3 assists in 15 minutes per game for the Spartans.

NBA

--Thursday night, the Pistons lost their 25th straight, 119-111 to Utah.  So then they went to Brooklyn Saturday to take on the Nets, one short of the NBA single-season record, held by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers, who share the record at 26.  The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28, a skid that started in the 2014-15 season and carried over into 2015-16.

And make it 26, the Pistons falling 126-115.  Detroit can break the record back home on Tuesday, again against the Nets.

--My Knicks received more awful news from their doctors who say center Mitchell Robinson will be out all season, not just eight to 10 weeks, following ankle surgery, so the Knicks have applied for a disabled player exception worth $7.8 million.

As I noted last week, Robinson is a critical piece, and his main replacement, Isaiah Hartenstein, is one of the best backup centers in the league, if not THE best, but he can’t go 38+ minutes a game.

What really sucks is that these Knicks are pretty good.  But as we saw Saturday afternoon at the Garden, they can’t beat Milwaukee, now 22-7 following a 130-111 beatdown of the Knickerbockers (16-12).  New York is 0-3 against the Bucks and the two square off again tomorrow, Christmas Day, also at the Garden.  This will be interesting to see how both teams respond, playing in the early, noon time slot.

--One guy I’ve really come to dislike more than ever is Ja Morant, and he wasn’t even playing for months.  Some of his statements regarding his suspension and then comeback are flat-out idiotic.

But he can play some hoops, scoring 27 of his 34 points in the second half, including the game winner, in his first game back, a 115-113 Grizzlies win over the Pelicans in New Orleans, who booed him vociferously.

Memphis then beat Indiana on Thursday, 116-103, Morant with 20.

Saturday night they took on the Hawks in Atlanta and the Grizzlies are now 3-0 with the return of Morant, 125-119, Ja with 30 points and 11 assists, Desmond Bane 37 for Memphis, now 9-19, but a totally different team with Morant’s return and no reason why they can’t make the playoffs.

The Hawks, on the other hand, blow…12-17, after starting the season 3-1.

NHL

--The Rangers (22-8-1) had a rough loss Friday night at the Garden, 4-3 to the Oilers (15-15-1), Edmonton scoring all four goals in the third period.

I bring it up because Edmonton is back playing the way everyone expects them to after a brutal 5-12-1 start, superstar Connor McDavid up to 44 points in 29 games, after his 153-point 2022-23 season.

At least the Rangers rebounded Saturday to beat the Sabres in overtime, 4-3.

The NHL takes a 3-day break before resuming play Wednesday.

--Washington’s Alex Ovechkin finally broke his 14-game scoring drought on Thursday, his sixth of the season in 30 games, bringing him to 828 to Wayne Gretzky’s 894.

Premier League

--The busy holiday schedule continued as, Friday, Aston Villa managed only a home 1-1 draw vs. last-place Sheffield.

Saturday, West Ham beat Manchester United 2-0; Tottenham won its third straight, ending Everton’s 4-game streak, 2-1; and in a biggie; Liverpool blew a 5-on-2 rush in the 72nd minute and came away with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal, keeping the Gunners in first place.

With Christmas Day off, and then a big slate for Boxing Day and the rest of the week…the standings…17/18 of 38 played….

1. Arsenal…18 – 40
2. Liverpool…18 – 39
3. Aston Villa…18 – 39
4. Tottenham…18 – 36
5. Manchester City…17 – 34
6. West Ham…18 – 30

--Separately, a ruling from the European Court of Justice said on Thursday, UEFA and FIFA contravened EU law by preventing the formation of a Super League, in a landmark ruling that could change the way soccer is run.

The European clubs that proposed forming the breakaway league, which sparked widespread protests among angry fans, had been threatened with sanctions by UEFA if they went ahead with the plan, leading to nine clubs pulling out.  In its ruling, the EU’s top court said that FIFA and UEFA abused their dominant position by forbidding clubs to compete in a European Super League (ESL), although that project may still not be approved as the court did not rule on it specifically.

UEFA has organized pan-European competitions for nearly 70 years and sees the ESL project as a significant threat to the lucrative Champions League, for which teams qualify on merit.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and nine other leading European clubs announced the breakaway plan in April 2021.  But the move collapsed within 48 hours after an outcry from fans, governments and players forced Manchester United, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid to pull out.

Nothing is going to happen on the issue for a long time to come.  Discussions will start up again, but like with college football realignment, wake me when it’s over.

Stuff

--Mikaela Shiffrin picked up a second place in a slalom Thursday at Courchevel, France, losing to rival Petra Vlhova. 

--Laura Lynch, a founding member of the Dixie Chicks, was killed in a head-on car crash outside El Paso, Texas, Friday afternoon.

The driver of the other vehicle, who survived, was trying to overtake another on a highway.

Lynch co-founded the Dixie Chicks alongside Robin Lynn Macy, Martie Erwin and Emily Erwin back in 1990.

Lynch left the group in 1993 and little was known about her life after.  She married a guy who won a big sum in a lottery and it is believed they had one daughter.  RIP.

Top 3 songs for the week 12/26/64:  #1 “I Feel Fine” (The Beatles)  #2 “Come See About Me” (The Supremes)  #3 “Mr. Lonely” (Bobby Vinton)…and…#4 “She’s A Woman” (The Beatles)  #5 “She’s Not There” (The Zombies)  #6 “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (Little Anthony and The Imperials)  #7 “Ringo” (Lorne Greene)  #8 “Dance, Dance, Dance” (The Beach Boys)  #9 “The Jerk” (The Larks)  #10 “Time Is On My Side” (The Rolling Stones… ‘A’ week…tough not to be when you have the Beatles, Supremes, Beach Boys, and Stones…plus the Zombies and Little Anthony…)

NFL Team Quiz Answers: 1) Most consecutive winning seasons…Dallas Cowboys, 20, 1966-85 (winning two Super Bowls).  2) Fewest points allowed: Baltimore, 165, 2000 (won the Super Bowl, yielding just 23 points in four playoff games). 3) Most sacks, season: Chicago, 72, 1984 (Richard Dent 17.5, Dan Hampton 11.5, Steve McMichael 10…but they would win the Super Bowl the following season, 1985).  4) Most turnovers, season: San Francisco, 63, 1978.  The 49ers went 2-14, Steve DeBerg and Scott Bull at QB, with only 9 TD passes and 36 interceptions (Bruce Threadgill and Freddie Solomon responsible for 3 of the 36).

Brief Add-on up top by Tues. evening.

-----

And now, our annual Christmas special...best read with the children Christmas Eve.

Apollo 8...55 years go....

Growing up, one of the more dramatic memories as a kid was staying up Christmas Eve 1968 to follow the remarkable voyage of Apollo 8. 

If ever a nation needed a pick me up, it was America in ’68, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, with the ongoing war in Vietnam and the dramatic Tet Offensive, and after LBJ’s sudden withdrawal from the presidential race, the turbulent Democratic Convention, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Yes, we were ready for a little space adventure.

Apollo 8 would be the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Commanded by Frank Borman, with James Lovell, Jr. and William Anders, it was launched on December 21 and on Christmas Eve the three began their orbit. What made it all even more dramatic was the first go round to the dark side of the moon, when all communication was lost for 45 minutes until they reemerged at the other side. It was the middle of the night for us viewers, at least in the Eastern time zone, and I remember that Apollo was sending back spectacular photos of Earth, including “Earthrise,” the first ever seen by humans and probably the most iconic photo in history.

Borman described the moon as “a vast, lonely and forbidding sight,” and Lovell called Earth, “a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.” The crew members then took turns reading from the Book of Genesis / Creation:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

James Lovell would later say, “Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.” And Borman concluded with, “Merry Christmas. God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth.”

---

Ron White, author of “American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant,” had a piece in the New York Daily News (Dec. 2017) on the story of how Christmas became a national holidayPresident Grant signing a proclamation on June 24, 1870 making it so.

“The Pilgrims who first came to a new England did not celebrate Christmas. Their memories of Christmas in the old England they left behind were of a season of decadence and debauchery. Nearly two centuries later, in the first year of the new United States, Congress met in session on December 25, 1789 – certainly not a holiday.

“In the early decades of the 19th century Americans began to reimagine Christmas, turning it into church- and family-centered celebrations.  Charles Dickens published ‘A Christmas Carol’ in 1843. Carol singing, tree decorations and gift-giving became regular parts of Christmas. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast, a German immigrant, popularized a jolly Santa Claus in his drawings.

“During the Civil War, Christmas meant a day of rest as well as memories of festivities back home. Robert Gould Shaw, who would receive fame as commander of the 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment organized in the North, wrote, ‘It is Christmas morning and I hope for a happy and merry one for you all.’

“Grant, victorious Union Civil War general, emerged from the war with a passion to reunite the nation.  If he had become a practitioner of a ‘hard war’ during the four-year-long conflict, as the war reached its climax he grew into an advocate of a ‘soft peace.’  He demonstrated his belief at the Confederate surrender at Appomattox when he offered Robert E. Lee a magnanimous peace.

“Grant’s decision to declare Christmas a legal public holiday reveals two sides of this self-effacing American leader. First, although he is not portrayed as a religious person in biographies, a closer look will reveal a quiet man who did not wear his faith on his sleeve, but displayed his Methodist commitment to social justice.  Raised in Ohio in a devout Methodist family, he married Julia Dent, whose grandfather was a Methodist minister.

“His private faith became more public in his presidency. The Washington National Cathedral, whose construction began in 1907, is often thought to be the first national church in the nation’s capital, but Grant played a decisive role in the declaration of the actual first national church in Washington four decades earlier.

“By the Civil War, Methodism had become the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.  In the early 1850s, Methodists made plans to build the first national church in Washington. When it became clear that Grant would be elected President in 1868, Methodists accelerated plans to complete their national church.

“On Feb. 28, four days before Grant’s inauguration as President, he sat in the front pew as the Metropolitan Methodist Church was dedicated.  Grant would serve as a trustee, while Julia chaired the national committee to retire the debt of the church.

“Second, Grant’s commitment to making Christmas a legal holiday needs to be understood as part of his drive to unite the North and the South after the war. Grant began his presidency in 1869 as what was called Reconstruction was unraveling.

“The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution were enacted to guarantee the civil and political rights of newly emancipated African-Americans.  But ex-Confederate generals and Southern newspaper editors, aided by the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, determined to quickly replace slavery with what would become Jim Crow segregation. In Grant’s finest moment as President, he would take on the Klan with the power of the federal government, even as his own Republican party retreated from its Reconstruction commitments.

“In this tumultuous year, where bitterness and acrimony seem more regnant than peace and joy, we may well ask: Does Christmas as a public holiday unite or divide?  We live in a religious culture quite different than Grant’s world.  Yet his public passion to unite North and South in making Christmas a national holiday can inform and inspire attempts to hold up light amid darkness at the end of 2017.”

---

“Silent night, holy night”

Michael E. Ruane / Washington Post

“On Christmas Eve in 1818, two men with a small guitar entered a church in Oberndorf, Austria, and prepared to sing a new Christmas carol.

“Times had been bad in Oberndorf, where many people worked on the water, manning the salt barges that plied the Salzach River.  The upheaval in central Europe caused by the Napoleonic Wars had just ended.

“And only two years before, the dreadfully dark summer of 1816 – later blamed on ash from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia – had caused famine and deprivation.

“But in that fall of 1816, a young Catholic priest, Joseph Mohr, had written a six-verse Christmas poem that began ‘Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht’ - Silent Night, Holy Night – about the Nativity of a curly-haired Jesus.

“Two years later, Father Mohr enlisted a friend, Franz Xaver Gruber, a local schoolteacher and musician, to come up with a melody for the poem that could be played for Christmas on the guitar. (Legend has it that the church organ had been damaged by mice or water and was on the blink.)

“Gruber’s composition is thought to have taken him about a day to compose.

“As the two men put the words to music that day 200 years ago in Oberndorf’s St. Nicholas Church, they voiced for the first time what is probably history’s most enduring and beloved Christmas carol.

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright...

“The carol spread quickly across Europe.  It was brought to the United States, where, some accounts say, it was first performed on Christmas Day, 1839, in the churchyard of New York’s Trinity Church, Wall Street, by a troupe of traveling Austrians, the Ranier Singers.

“The carol was translated into English in the 1850s by an Episcopal priest at Trinity, John Freeman Young.  He published it in a book of Christmas carols in 1859.   He translated the first, third and sixth verses....

“Young dispensed with Jesus’ curly hair, but added the folksy ‘yon’ and called the child ‘tender and mild.’”

Mohr’s six-string guitar survived and is said to be on display in the Silent Night Museum in Hallein, Austria, on the Salzach river, about 20 miles south of Oberndorf.

Rough translation of the original first verse in German:

Silent night! Holy night!
Everything is asleep.  Only the faithful holy
couple are awake, alone.
Lovely boy with curly hair.
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace.

And Episcopal priest John Freeman Young smoothed it into the classic:

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace.

---

St. Nicholas was a Greek bishop, known as the patron of children (as well as brewers and sailors, among others), and a man who likely died in A.D. 343 in Myra, a small town now called Demre in modern-day Turkey.  Though the year of his death is disputed, the day is not – December 6, now celebrated as St. Nicholas Day.

His remains are venerated worldwide, even as nobody knows for certain where he rests in peace – or more accurately, in pieces.  In the early and medieval Christian tradition, the mortal remains of popular saints were scattered among various churches in numerous places to be displayed as sacred relics.

Dating and DNA tests may allow scientists to piece together which relics are actually from the same man.  In 2017 Oxford University scholars announced a first step in that direction: A radiocarbon study that shows a bone long thought to be a St. Nicholas relic and housed in St. Martha of Bethany Church in Morton Grove, Illinois, does in fact date to the time of the saint’s death.

---

Michael Gartland / New York Post

NORAD’s tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh began with a wrong number.

“Right before Christmas in 1955, Sears ran an ad offering millions of toy-hungry girls and boys the chance to talk to the big man himself. In Colorado Springs, the retailer published the local phone number to the North Pole as ME2-6681.

“There was only one problem: The number was one digit off.

“And that wrong number rang on the desk of a high-ranking officer in a bunker at the Continental Air Defense Command – the predecessor of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which has the less-than-festive mission of detecting and defending the continent against nuclear attack.”

Col. Harry Shoup took the first call on the command’s red phone. In an interview with the Post, Shoup’s daughter, Terri Van Keuren, recalled:

“ ‘The phone rang, and he picked up.  ‘This is Colonel Shoup, commander of this combat station. Who is this?’”

Silence on the other end. Shoup repeated himself, then “a meek little boy’s voice came over the line.

“ ‘Is this Santa Claus?’ he murmured.

“Worried there had been some kind of security breach, Shoup again demanded the caller’s name. He heard crying, and another query came through the tears.

“ ‘Is this one of Santa’s elves?’

“Shoup recognized he was in a moment that could destroy the little boy’s faith in Santa.

“ ‘Yes, I am,’ he said. ‘Have you been a good boy?’

After the two talked a while, Shoup asked to speak with the boy’s mother.

“ ‘He asked her: ‘Do you have any idea who you’ve called?’’ Van Keuren said. ‘She told him to take a look at that day’s newspaper.’”

So the calls flooded in and Shoup directed his men to answer as Santa.

Weeks later, Shoup, on vacation, dropped in on his men and spotted a sleigh on the huge plexiglass map of North America in the room. A subordinate was afraid he had just lost his job.

Instead, Shoup said, “There’s something good we could do with this.”

And so Col. Shoup called a local radio station with the news the command center was tracking Santa’s sleigh. Ever since then, NORAD has been tracking Santa.

---

Speaking of Santa and reindeer, Edward Kosner had a piece in the Wall Street Journal (11/18/16) on the story of Rudolph, “among other things, the first real addition to American Christmas lore since the first decades of the 19th century. That’s when Washington Irving transformed churchy St. Nicholas into a clay-pipe-puffing, rotund charmer and Clement Clark Moore equipped him with eight flying reindeer and an automatically replenishing, toy-filled sleigh. Gene Autry, the singing cowpoke, made the song into a hit in 1949, and since then it’s been recorded by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Destiny’s Child to the Temptations and Burl Ives, not to mention Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and the Cadillacs, the doo-wop group revered for ‘Speedo.’”

So the legend of Rudolph has been deconstructed in a new book by Ronald D. Lankford Jr., who has written books about popular music.  In “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: An American Hero,” Lankford digs up far more than you would think was available, “a parable of American commerce cloaked in benevolence,” as Edward Kosner put it.

“The Rudolph creation story begins in Chicago in January 1939, when Robert May, a nerdy 33-year-old adman at Montgomery Ward – with its bursting catalog and more than 600 stores, a retail colossus second only to Sears, Roebuck – was assigned by his boss to dream up a Christmas giveaway, perhaps an illustrated story like the one about Ferdinand the bashful bull....(so) May came up with an awkward young reindeer mocked by his fellows whose oddity – an incandescent nose – enables him to save the day when a befogged Santa asks him to lead the team for global toy delivery.

“According to the legend, May read his poetic text to his daughter, who loved it. The Ward hierarchy didn’t; some worried that the red nose would remind too many parents of drunks.  But one exec stood up for Rudolph, and the corporation wound up giving away 2.4 million copies of a 32-page illustrated pamphlet to kids brought to Ward stores by mom and dad.  Seven years later, after the end of World War II, another 3.6 million copies were handed out.  With an entrepreneurial corporate boost, Rudolph was launched.

“May’s ‘Rudolph’ was a work for hire owned by Ward, but the company’s chairman gave the adman the copyright in 1947, and May made the most of it....In 1949, May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote the song that has enthralled or tormented people ever since.  He paid $5 to the singer Guy Mitchell to make a demo and sent it to several crooners.  At the end of a session to lay down two 45-rpm Christmas records, Gene Autry devoted 10 minutes to ‘Rudolph’ and made it the B-side of one of the discs.  It eventually sold 2.5 million copies, his greatest hit.

“The legend only grew.  In 1964, another corporate angel, RCA, swooped in and produced a stop-motion animated ‘Rudolph’ special that was shown on TV every Christmas.”

Lankford argues that Rudolph “appeals to Americans because the story is actually an inspirational Horatio Alger tale of pluck and luck leading to unlikely success.  And he ponders whether Rudolph should be thought of as true folklore or as ‘fakelore,’ like Paul Bunyan, or even ‘fakelure’ – a commercial come-on.  In the end, it hardly matters.

Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history.”

Kosner: “And so he has.”

---

A Visit from St. Nicholas

By Clement C. Moore [Well, he really stole it, but that’s a story for another day. This is the original version.]

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap;
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof -
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

---

The story of Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” as told by Ronnie Spector in her book “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness…or…My Life as a Fabulous Ronette”.

“One record that did feature all three Ronettes – and just about everyone else who worked for Phil – was Phil’s Christmas album, A Christmas Gift for You. Phil is Jewish, but for some reason he always loved Christmas. Every year he would spend weeks designing his own special Christmas card, which he would send to everyone in the business. In 1963 he took that idea one step further and recorded an entire album of Christmas music, with contributions from all the acts on his Philles label. All of the groups got to do three or four songs each. The Ronettes did ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,’ ‘Sleigh Ride,’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman.’

“We worked on that one forever. Phil started recording it in the summer, and he didn’t leave the studio for about two months. We’d start recording early in the evening, and we’d work until late into the night, sometimes even into the next morning. And everybody sang on everyone else’s songs, so all of Phil’s acts really were like one big, happy family for that one album.

“While he was recording it, Phil told everyone that this Christmas album was going to be the masterpiece of his career. And he meant it. We all knew how important this project was to Phil when he walked into the studio on the last day of recording and announced that he was going to add a vocal himself. The final song on the record is a spoken message from Phil, where he thanks all the kids for buying his records and then wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, while we all sing a chorus of ‘Silent Night’ in the background. A lot of people thought the song was corny. But if you knew Phil like I did, it was very touching.

“But then I always did have a soft spot for Phil’s voice. There was something about his phrasing and diction that drove me crazy. It was so cool, so calm, so serene. Phil wasn’t a singer, but when he spoke he put me in a romantic mood like no singer could. He was the only guy I ever met who could talk me into an orgasm. 

“Of course, he wasn’t doing that back then. Not yet, anyway. Phil and I were still just sweethearts in those days. We spent lots of time together, and we were very romantic, but we still hadn’t slept together. Maybe that’s why we were so romantic.

“A Christmas Gift for You finally came out in November of 1963. But in spite of all the work we put into it, the album was one of Phil’s biggest flops. It was reissued as The Phil Spector Christmas Album in the early seventies, and nowadays people talk about it like it’s one of the greatest albums in rock and roll history. But nobody bought it when it first came out.

“President Kennedy had been shot a few days before it was released, and after that people were too depressed to even look at a rock and roll record. And they stayed that way until well into the New Year of 1964, when – thank God – four long-haired English guys finally got them to go back into the record stores.”

---

Fr. Alfred Delp

[From “The Little Blue Book”]

Alfred Delp was born in 1907 in Mannheim, Germany.  The son of a Catholic mother and Protestant father, he was raised Lutheran, but became a Catholic at age 14.

He entered the Society of Jesus in 1926, and was ordained in 1937.  The rise of Nazism in Germany prevented him from continuing his studies.  He worked at a Jesuit publication until it was suppressed in 1941.  He then became rector of St. Georg (sic) Church in Munich, where he helped Jews escape to Switzerland.  Fr. Delp joined an anti-Nazi group which hoped to build a new Christian order, based on Christian virtues and practices, after the fall of the Third Reich.

Following a failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, Delp was among the dissidents arrested.  He was tortured and threatened with execution, but the Nazis couldn’t connect him to the plot.  They eventually offered to release Delp if he would renounce the Jesuits and leave the order.  The priest refused.  Fr. Delp was hanged on February 2, 1945.  He was 37 years old.

---

The Gospel According to Luke

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

---

Political commentator Pat Buchanan (The Atlantic, December 2015).  The question was: “What is the greatest comeback of all time?”

Betrayed, scourged, crucified on a cross between two thieves, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead and sent his apostles to preach his doctrines to the world, out of which came Christianity and Western civilization. Then he ascended into heaven.  His name is known to more people than that of any other man who walked the Earth, and the empire that crucified him is gone.

---

Those of us who are older remember here in the New York area the advent of WPIX’s “The Yule Log,” 1966, which looped 17 seconds of jittery 16mm film, treating apartment-dwelling New Yorkers who yearned for the joys of cozying up to a crackling fire, the first TV-screen-sized “fire,” with flames shot at the mayor’s mansion beneath a pair of stockings. 

I’ll never forget seeing it for the first time.  Those of us who had a house kind of laughed, but then it made total sense, and you found yourself just turning it on in those early years.  It was really kind of ingenious.

In 1970, WPIX introduced an upgrade, looping seven minutes of higher-quality 35mm film.  That version ran annually through 1989 and was revived in 2001.

---

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

A famous letter from Virginia O’Hanlon to the editorial board of the New York Sun, first printed in 1897:

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor -

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

....

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

---

World War I – Christmas Truce

By December 1914, the war had been picking up in intensity for five months. Ironically, the feeling during the initial phases was that everyone would be home by Christmas, though little did they know it would be Christmas 1918.

On Christmas Eve 1914, along the British and German lines, particularly in the Flanders area, the soldiers got into conversation with each other and it was clear to the British that the Germans wanted some sort of Christmas Armistice. Sir Edward Hulse wrote in his diary, “A scout named F. Murker went out and met a German Patrol and was given a glass of whisky and some cigars, and a message was sent back saying that if we didn’t fire at them they would not fire at us.” That night, where five days earlier there had been savage fighting, the guns fell silent.

The following morning German soldiers walked towards the British wire and the Brits went out to meet them. They exchanged caps and souvenirs and food. Then arrangements were made for the British to pick up bodies left on the German side during a recent failed raid.

Christmas Day, fraternization took place along many of the lines, including a few of the French and Belgian ones. Some joined in chasing hares, others, most famously, kicked around a soccer ball. British soldier Bruce Bairnsfather would write, “It all felt most curious: here were these sausage-eating wretches, who had elected to start this infernal European fracas, and in so doing had brought us all into the same muddy pickle as themselves. But there was not an atom of hate on either side that day; and yet, on our side, not for a moment was the will to war and the will to beat them relaxed.”

In the air the war continued and the French Foreign Legionnaires in Alsace were ordered to fight Christmas Day as well. Plus, most of the commanders on both sides were none too pleased. Nothing like the Christmas truce of 1914 would occur in succeeding years (outside of a pocket or two) and by December 26, 1914, the guns were blazing anew.

[Source: “The First World War,” by Martin Gilbert]

---

“May You Always”

From 1959-2002, Harry Harrison was a fixture on New York radio, the last 20+ years at the great oldies station WCBS-FM. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire, which ticked off many of us to no end, but he will forever be remembered for a brilliant greeting titled “May You Always.” Enjoy.

As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss,
And cold hands touch and warm each other against the year ahead,
May I wish you not the biggest and best of life,
But the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.

Sometime during the new year, to keep your heart in practice,
May you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.
May you find a little island of time to read that book and write that letter,
And to visit that lonely friend on the other side of town.
May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it yourself.

May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when they win the lottery.
May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst puns, admiring groans.
May all those who told you so, refrain from saying “I told you so.”

May all the predictions you’ve made for your firstborn’s future come true.
May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high school annual made for you come true.
In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore before you call the lifeguard.
May you keep at least one ideal you can pass along to your kids.

For a change, some rainy day, when you’re a few minutes late,
May your train or bus be waiting for you.
May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice about you.

If you run into an old school chum,
May you both remember each other’s names for introductions.
If you order your steak medium rare, may it be so.
And, if you’re on a diet, may someone tell you, “You’ve lost a little weight,” without knowing you’re on a diet.

May that long and lonely night be brightened by the telephone call that you’ve been waiting for.
When you reach into the coin slot, may you find the coin that you lost on your last wrong number.
When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to laugh at you or feel sorry for you.

And sometime soon, may you be waved to by a celebrity, wagged at by a puppy, run to by a happy child, and counted on by someone you love.
More than this, no one can wish you.

---

Ross Cameron / Sydney Morning Herald…I first read this in December 2009.

[Excerpts]

“Jesus is easily the most influential person in history, and the most universally loved….

“Of his early life, the record is almost blank; we are left with a few fragments….

“He was deeply literate in Jewish scriptures but silent on writings outside that tradition. We may assume he lived his entire life within 160 km of his birthplace – he never describes a foreign custom or place. After a major spiritual moment under the influence of John, he launched into local prominence as an itinerant preacher at age 30. Tradition holds that Jesus was a public figure for three years but modern scholars strongly believe a single year is more likely….

“Riding a wave of fame and popularity, Jesus moved the road show to the heavily garrisoned provincial and religious capital of Jerusalem, entering the city in the lead-up to the most holy day of the Jewish year. The Roman authorities are not known for their tolerance of burgeoning mass movements. Jesus fairly quickly found his way to the agony and humiliation of public torture and execution by order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate – famous for casual brutality. It was a routine event in a typical day in a Roman occupied city.

“History’s great riddle followed. His supporters immediately claimed Jesus rose from the dead. The four biographies of Jesus often contradict each other on minor details but nowhere so much as in the resurrection narratives. The difficulty with dismissing the claim altogether, however, is how otherwise to explain the instant, unprecedented explosion of the Jesus movement across the Mediterranean. The willingness of so many sane first-century beings – many of them witnesses – to suffer death rather than deny the central tenet of their faith, is also cause for reflection….

“We are left to ponder how one year in the life of a seeming nobody could transform the Roman Empire and the entire planet. The reason for the triumph of this nobody is to be found in his first recorded words. ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.’ Jesus is specially kind to the weak and the outcast – to women, the poor, children, a madman in chains and a hated tax collector.

“In the pre-Jesus record, in virtually every human society, vast faceless classes of people were less valued than domestic animals. The world’s second-greatest philosopher, Aristotle, while writing the 101 course of every academic discipline, fervently endorsed the keeping of slaves as natural and desirable to good order. Slavery continued for centuries after Jesus but the impulse to end it was Christian. Beyond the Jewish scriptures, to which Jesus gave a megaphone, no one cared about those on the margins. Jesus establishes the sublime idea that everyone matters.

“Today that single thought has transformed our sense of what it means to be human. Major political parties of the earth, whether left, centrist or right wing (with the possible exception of the Greens) agree the welfare of the whole human race is our common goal. ‘Blessed are the meek’ evolved into ‘All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

“From whatever perspective we come, thinking people ought to be able to agree, the birth of Jesus was a good day for mankind. I suspect I may never quite shake the childlike hunch that there is some uniquely divine imprint on the central individual of the human story. Happy Birthday, Jesus.”

---

[From Army Times]

Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army was in a dire situation during the frigid winter of 1776. His army had been defeated and chased from New York, and forced to set up winter camp for his remaining 5,000 troops at Valley Forge, Pa., only miles from the capital city of Philadelphia. With morale at its lowest point of the war and enlistments coming to an end, Washington desperately needed a victory to secure reenlistments and draw in some new recruits. The outcome of the revolution was at stake.

On Christmas night, Washington’s troops began to gather on the banks of the Delaware River at McKonkey’s Ferry. His plan was to cross the partially frozen river by midnight, march to Trenton and surround the garrison of Hessian troops (Germans fighting for the British) in the city in a predawn attack.

Before the Army had even launched a boat across the river, it began to rain, then hail, then snow. Washington was behind schedule. Remarkably, the force crossed the river without a single casualty. At 4 a.m., Dec. 26, the ill-equipped army began to march toward Trenton, some with rags wrapped around their feet instead of shoes.

Washington had achieved complete surprise with the dangerous crossing. The battle began when the Army encountered a group of unprepared Hessian sentries at about 8 a.m., and by 9:30 the garrison had surrendered. The Army had killed 22, injured 83 and taken 896 prisoners.

By noon, Washington had left Trenton, having lost two men in the battle, and returned to camp at Valley Forge. He had won a major victory, inspiring the needed reenlistments. News of the battle drew new recruits into the beleaguered Continental Army. The revolution would live to fight another day.

---

Smithsonian magazine had a piece on the first known references to building snowmen, or snow sculpture.

In 1494: Snow sculpture gets its Michelangelo – literally.  “One winter, when a great deal of snow fell in Florence,” Giorgio Vasari wrote, Michelangelo created “a statue of snow, which was very beautiful,” in Piero de Medici’s courtyard.

1690: The first known snowmen in the Colonies are built to stand guard at the gates of Schenectady while the human sentinels head to a tavern. That night, French and Indian forces plow through the meager defenses, devastating the town.

1969: Though a creature capable of melting clearly shouldn’t smoke a corncob pipe, the “Frosty the Snowman” animated cartoon – based on the sappy 1950 song first recorded by Gene Autry – serves up the snowman archetype for generations.

---

A number of years ago, Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in the New York Post on the genius of “White Christmas”:

“America’s classic Christmas song was written by a Jewish immigrant.

“Born in Russia with the name Israel Baline, he was the genius songwriter we know as Irving Berlin. He wrote ‘White Christmas’ for the 1942 Hollywood musical ‘Holiday Inn,’ starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

“On set, the movie’s hit number was presumed to be another Berlin composition, the Valentine’s Day song ‘Be Careful, It’s My Heart.’ At first, it was. Then ‘White Christmas’ captured the public’s imagination and hasn’t quite loosed its grip since....

“Some estimates point to sales of all versions of ‘White Christmas’ topping 100 million....

“It is a song built on yearning. In lines at the beginning of the original version that aren’t usually performed, Berlin writes of being out in sunny California during the holiday: ‘There’s never been such a day/in Beverly Hills, L.A./But it’s December the twenty-fourth./And I’m longing to be up North’.

“(Colleague Mark) Steyn thinks that if America had entered World War II a few years earlier, the song might never have taken off. But 1942 was the year that American men were first shipped overseas, and it was released into a wave of homesickness. (Berlin’s daughter) Mary Ellin Barrett says it first caught on with GIs in Great Britain. During the course of the war, it became the most requested song with Armed Forces Radio.

“The irony of the son of a cantor writing the characteristic American Christmas song is obvious. Yet, Berlin’s daughter says, ‘He believed in the great American Christmas.’ As a child on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he loved to look at the little Christmas tree of his Catholic neighbors. He and his Christian wife Ellin (theirs was a scandalous mixed marriage), put on elaborate, joyous Christmases for their daughters. Not until later would they reveal that the day was a painful one for them because they had lost an infant child on Christmas.

“Berlin knew he had something special with ‘White Christmas’ as soon as he wrote it. He supposedly enthused to his secretary, ‘I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written – heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!’ The song evokes the warmth of the hearth and the comforts of our Christmas traditions in a way that hasn’t stopped pulling at heartstrings yet.”

---

Some tidbits related to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” At first, Charles Schulz and his associates didn’t think they’d be able to pull the project off for CBS. Production was crammed into five months and CBS executives were none too pleased with the results. Schulz insisted on the biblical passage, animator Bill Melendez and producer Lee Mendelson weren’t so sure.

The rush to production led to a few mistakes, like Schroeder’s fingers coming off the keyboard while music is playing, and Pig Pen mysteriously disappearing for a second. Plus the barren Christmas tree lost, and then regained, a couple of branches. They just didn’t have time to change it.

Melendez, by the way, wrote the lyrics to “Christmas Time Is Here” in 15 minutes on an envelope, after Vince Guaraldi had come up with the music.  A children’s choir recorded it just four days before the show premiered.

The show was a ratings smash when it premiered Dec. 9, 1965, on CBS.  

Separately, Mendelson recalled speaking to Schulz shortly before he died. “He said, ‘Good grief. That little kid’s never going to kick the football.’”

Linus [From “A Charlie Brown Christmas”]

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them. And they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

---

Merry Christmas, gang!

 

 



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-12/25/2023-      
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Bar Chat

12/25/2023

All About Football...and Yamamoto...

Add-on posted Tuesday a.m.

NFL

--In late games Sunday after I posted, Jason Sanders was the star of the game for Miami (11-4), five field goals, three from beyond 50, and the 29-yard game-winner against Dallas (10-5), 22-21, the Cowboys falling behind the Eagles in the NFC East, pending Eagles-Giants.

Dak Prescott was OK, 20/32, 253, 2-0, 107.9, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks with 3:27 to play to put the Cowboys up 20-19, but Tua took Miami 64 yards to put the team in range for Sanders.

And Dak did have a deadly fumble inside the Miami one-yard line on Dallas’ first possession, the end of a 15-play, 73-yard drive.

--Tampa Bay (8-7) took control of the NFC South with their fourth win a row behind Baker Mayfield, 30-12 over Jacksonville (8-7), which suffered its fourth straight loss, Trevor Lawrence with three turnovers and then leaving in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury.  Lawrence had been in concussion protocol all week before being cleared.

But Mayfield has been terrific, a cool story, 9 touchdowns, one interception during the 4-game streak, and that’s his key, limiting turnovers.

--Monday, Raiders (7-8) interim head coach Antonio Pierce further enhanced his chances of getting the full-time gig, totally outcoaching Andy Reid and the Chiefs (9-6), 20-14, as Patrick Mahomes totally sucked, 27/44, 235, 1-1, 73.6, continuing his poor level of play this season, given his standards, the worst of his career.

And as the CBS studio crew said after, Phil Simms in particular with some blistering criticism, it isn’t just his mediocre (at best) group of wide receivers who are at fault.

The Raiders have little on offense, but picked up two defensive touchdowns in seven seconds to take a 17-7 halftime lead.  Zamir White was Oakland’s offense, 22 carries for 145 yards.

But it was the intensity of the Vegas defense that had to so impress owner Mark Davis.

One more on the game.  Isiah Pacheco is an idiot, losing his helmet twice (can’t happen) and the second time, with the helmet off, getting bashed in the head by an opponent’s knee, out with a concussion.  Sorry to be so harsh, but it’s a fact.

--The magical run of Tommy DeVito, aka Tommy Cutlets, is over, DeVito benched in the Giants’ 33-25 loss to the Eagles (11-4) in Philly.  Two straight sub-par efforts, two Giants losses, and we’ll see what coach Brian Daboll does the final two games.  DeVito should get to start both to give the Giants a final look at what they have, but he’s not ready for stardom.  The Giants need to be sure he’s a good backup before the draft.  After all, Daniel Jones isn’t likely to be ready until a few weeks into next season.

For the Eagles, they moved into the second playoff slot, with the Cardinals and Giants, again, the final two games.  Jalen Hurts threw for 301 yards and rushed for an NFL record 15th touchdown.

[For the record, Tyrod Taylor got the Giants in position to potentially tie the Eagles but on the final play of the game, he was picked off in the end zone.]

--Monday night, in the biggie, Baltimore staked its claim to the top seed in the AFC East, and Lamar Jackson staked his claim to the MVP award as the Ravens (12-3) defeated the 49ers (11-4) in San Francisco, 33-19.  Jackson was 23/35, 235, 2-0, 105.9, plus 45 yards on seven carries, as the presumed MVP entering the week, Brock Purdy, threw four interceptions!  The kid has nine interceptions in San Fran’s four losses, just two in their eleven wins.

As I wrote last time, we’ve gone in the span of just weeks from Jalen Hurts as league MVP, to Dak Prescott, to Brock Purdy, and now, perhaps, Lamar Jackson.

Meanwhile, Baltimore can wrap up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye with a win over the Dolphins on Sunday.

Saturday, we have an important game for Dallas, as they host Detroit.

And don’t forget Thursday’s Prime feature…Jets at Cleveland!  New York is likely to accumulate six yards total offense against the Brownies’ ‘D’.  No word yet on whether Zach Wilson will be available for the Jets, but as I go to post, he’s questionable…still in concussion protocol as of Monday.

--NFL Playoff Picture

AFC

1. Baltimore 12-3
2. Miami 11-4
3. Kansas City 9-6
4. Jacksonville 8-7
5. Cleveland 10-5
6. Buffalo 9-6
7. Indianapolis 8-7

8. Houston 8-7
9. Pittsburgh 8-7
10. Cincinnati 8-7

NFC

1. San Francisco 11-4
2. Philadelphia 11-4
3. Detroit 11-4
4. Tampa Bay 8-7
5. Dallas 10-5
6. Los Angeles 8-7
7. Seattle 8-7

4 teams at 7-8

--As a Michael Badgley fan, the kicker on the Lions, I didn’t realize he was elevated a second time for Sunday’s game against the Vikings off the practice squad, having won a weekslong competition with kicker Riley Patterson, meaning he has one more elevation remaining before Detroit has to sign him beyond Week 17.

The former Summit High School star did miss his first extra point Sunday, blocked, after 80 consecutive XPs the last three seasons.

But should the playoff bound Lions need a 54-yarder to win the NFC championship, Badgley hasn’t made one beyond 53 since his rookie year, 2018.  

I also have to get down for the record that Detroit clinched its first division title since 1993.  Goodness gracious.  They haven’t won a postseason game since 1991.

--I also didn’t acknowledge for the Jets the performance of Breece Hall, 95 yards rushing, 96 receiving, Hall with 1,269 yards from scrimmage this season, which isn’t all bad considering he has no offensive line.

--One college football note.  Florida State quarterback Tate Rodemaker entered the transfer portal so the Seminoles will be starting third-string Brock Glenn in the Orange Bowl against Georgia.  Good seats will be available for this one.  And it could be 35-0 at the half.

Then again, this is where sometimes kids like Glenn step up and grab the opportunity.

College Basketball

--New AP Poll (records thru Sunday)

1. Purdue (46) 11-1
2. Kansas (5) 11-1
3. Houston (9) 12-0
4. Arizona 9-2
5. UConn 11-2
6. Tennessee 9-3
7. Florida Atlantic 10-2…up 7
8. Kentucky 9-2
9. North Carolina 8-3…I don’t get this ranking
10. Marquette 10-3
11. Illinois 9-2
12. Oklahoma 10-1
13. Gonzaga 9-3
14. BYU 11-1
15. Colorado State 11-1
16. Duke 8-3
17. Baylor 10-2
18. Clemson 10-1
19. Memphis 10-2
20. James Madison 12-0…outside of Michigan State in the opener, haven’t played anyone
21. Texas 9-2
22. Creighton 9-3
23. Wisconsin 9-3
24. Mississippi 12-0
25. Providence 11-2

Wake Forest opens ACC play against Virginia Tech next Saturday.  Gotta beat the Hokies and then Boston College Jan. 2 to build a ton of confidence for the rest of the conference schedule.  I swear, I think with the arrival of Efton Reid, and soon Damari Monsanto, that this team is flying under the radar…but they have to win these two games.  So says moi.

NBA

--Yippee…the Knicks proved they can beat the Bucks, a huge ‘W’ on Christmas Day at the Garden, 129-122, four Knickerbockers with 20 points, led by Jalen Brunson’s 38.

But having watched most of this one, I can’t help but add that Giannis is so freakin’ good (32 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists), that you wonder why, seriously, he doesn’t get the ball down low every single possession.  You can’t stop him.  Or you then double- and triple-team him and he passes off for the easy bucket.  The guy is so tremendous.

Anyway, Knicks are 17-12, surviving without Mitchell Robinson thus far, while the Bucks are 22-8 and headed to the Eastern Conference finals for sure.

--But the Celtics (23-6) staked their claim for best team in the NBA at this point, 126-115 winners in Los Angeles against the Lakers (16-15).

Meanwhile, Minnesota is 22-6!  Holy Saint Paul!

MLB

--Catcher/DH Mitch Garver signed a two-year $24 million contract with Seattle, giving them a big righty bat.  Garver had 19 home runs in just 296 at-bats for the World Champion Rangers, an .870 OPS.  He missed two months due to a left knee injury.

The 32-year-old had 31 homers in just 311 ABs, .995 OPS, in 2019 with the Twins.  This is a nice move for the Mariners.

--Lastly, folks, the way the holidays have lined up on the calendar is, frankly, a royal pain in the butt for me…but I think I will post the next Bar Chat Sunday, after the first NFL games.

Whenever I do, I’ll have my yearend Bar Chat Awards

-----

[Posted Sunday p.m., prior to late NFL games]

Annual Christmas Special below…brief Add-on up top by Tues. evening. 

NFL Team Quiz: So I was looking for some random stuff and here are four team records of the modern era, 16-game schedule era, except for #1, which is post-1960.  1) Who holds the record for most consecutive winning seasons at 20?  2) Single-season: fewest points allowed at 165.  3) Single-season: most sacks at 72.  4) Single-season: most turnovers committed with 63.  Hint: The team went 2-14.

NFL

--Thursday, the Rams had a nice 30-22 win over New Orleans, greatly enhancing the Rams’ playoff chances at 8-7, after a 3-6 start to the season.

35-year-old Matthew Stafford has been on fire at quarterback for L.A., 24/34, 328, 2-0, 120.7 against the Saints, and with 14 touchdown passes and just one interception his last five.

Receiver Demarcus Robinson has a touchdown reception in four consecutive games.

But receiver Puka Nacua, a rookie and fifth-round selection out of BYU, is in the Rookie of the Year conversation.  Nacua had nine catches for 164 yards and a TD Thursday, and he now has 96 receptions for 1,327 yards and five TDs.

And…the Rams have running back Kyren Williams, who despite missing four games, has 1,057 yards on the season, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

The second-year back out of Mark R.’s Notre Dame has three consecutive 100-yard games, 22-104-1 against the Saints.

And…the Rams have Wake Forest rookie defensive tackle Kobie Turner, who has 6.5 sacks, which has even Aaron Donald raving, Donald with 6.

So this is a roundabout way of saying, watch out for Los Angeles.

--Saturday, Mason Rudolph started his first game in two years for Pittsburgh and looked sharp, plus he had a seemingly motivated George Pickens, Rudolph 17/27, 290, 2-0, 124.0, with Pickens picking up 195 yards and two touchdowns on just four receptions as the Steelers (8-7) handed the Bengals (8-7) a crushing defeat, 34-14.

Pickens showed what he can do when he feels like earning his paycheck, catching scoring strikes of 86 and 66 yards.

Jake Browning’s magical run for the Bengals ended as he threw three interceptions.

Cincinnati was in the playoffs heading into the contest, but has dropped below Pittsburgh, now tenth, as Buffalo took charge of its fate in the night game, pulling out a 24-22 victory over the Chargers (5-10) in Inglewood.  Josh Allen rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another, but it took a Tyler Bass 29-yard field goal to put Buffalo up to stay, the Bills 9-6, just needing to win out.

Allen (15/21, 237, 1-1, 104.7) became the first player in NFL history with four consecutive seasons of 40 combined touchdowns and the second quarterback to reach 50 career rushing scores.

He also had four completions on the 13-play, 64-yard game-winning drive, after L.A.’s Cameron Dicker hit his fifth field goal of the game, a career high, this one from 53, to put the Chargers up 22-21 with 5:26 to play.

--The Jets hosted the Commanders today, Aaron Rodgers activated off of injured reserve Wednesday, but he won’t be available to play the rest of the way, as he announced Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.”  This is absurd.  But more on the situation down below.

Zach Wilson was out of action as he remained in concussion protocol. Trevor Siemian got the start.

But prior to the game, Jets owner Woody Johnson told the New York Post’s Brian Costello that coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas would be returning for next season, citing the need for continuity, Aaron Rodgers’ expected return, and progress in some areas.  Clearly, this is what Rodgers wants…and it’s what Aaron is getting.

As for the game, as CBS analyst Adam Archuleta put it, he’s never seen an NFL team start out worse than the Commanders did, between dropped passes (one turned into an interception), penalties and a blocked punt.  The Jets raced off to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, taking advantage of the short field, and it was 27-7 at the half.

And then…goodness gracious, Sam Howell was replaced at QB for Washington after a 6/22, 56, 0-2, 1.7 performance.  That 1.7 is just ticks below my GPA at Wake.

Howell was replaced by Jacoby Brissett, who last week engineered two touchdown drives in relief of Howell, and Brissett did it again…three touchdown drives, one aided by a pathetic Siemian interception.

It was freakin’ 28-27 Comanches!  Err, Commanders. The Jets can…not…lose…this…game!

But for once, Saleh used good clock management, kept his timeouts, the Jets ‘D’ finally came up big, and Siemian did just enough to get Greg Zuerlein in position for a game-winning 54-yard field goal…Jets 6-8 after the 30-28 win that was so critical for Saleh in particular, despite the vote of confidence.

--Atlanta (7-8) dealt the Colts (8-7) a huge blow when it comes to Indy’s wild-card hopes, 29-10.

--But the Browns and the amazing Joe Flacco are 10-5, defeating Houston (8-7) 36-22, thus keeping Indy in the 7th and final playoff spot.

Flacco threw for 368 yards and 3 touchdowns, Amari Cooper with 11 receptions for a staggering 265 yards, a franchise record, and 2 touchdowns. 

--The Seahawks are in the 7th playoff slot in the NFC, 20-17 winners over the Titans as Geno Smith returned for Seattle to throw two touchdown passes.  Rams have the 6th spot.

[I’ll cover it all in my Tuesday Add-on, the playoff situation.]

--Detroit is 11-4 after defeating the Vikings (7-8) 30-24. Summit’s Michael Badgley is back kicking for the Lions after they cut him in preseason (days after talking to me at the local high school field).

--The Giants are facing a banged up Eagles team in Philadelphia on Christmas Day, Philly needing a win to quell the questions surrounding the team during its three-game losing streak, as well as to keep pace with Dallas.

--Back to the Jets and Aaron Rodgers….

Nancy Armour / USA TODAY

“In an NFL season marked by unpredictability, one certainty has emerged: Aaron Rodgers is as good a self-promoter as he is a quarterback.  Maybe better.

“The four-time NFL MVP was never going to make it back this season.  No matter the number of times he was seen throwing on the sideline or how many optimistic updates he gave, it wasn’t going to happen. The man had surgery to repair his shredded Achilles a mere 14 weeks ago.  The fastest, most amazing recovery from such an injury by an elite athlete was five months.  You do the math.

“But Rodgers was committed.  To keeping himself in the spotlight.

“Once one of the more thoughtful and humble players in the NFL, Rodgers has made a late-career shift into carnival barker extraordinaire. He got hoodwinked by junk science during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and somehow thought that made him an enlightened renegade.  He spouted that nonsense and styled himself as a free speech warrior when he was criticized for it.

“A tip for Rodgers: Free speech does not mean what you think it does.  It means the government cannot silence you or take measures to limit your ability to promote your lunatic theories. It does not mean society cannot ridicule you for your arrogance and ignorance.

“Also, if you’re going to claim you’re being canceled, it might be better to not do it during your weekly appearance on a national TV show.  A role for which you are paid handsomely, I might add….

“So it is no surprise that Rodgers would turn Achilles recovery into an NFL reality show. The surprise is how many people bought the shtick.

“ ‘If I was 100% today, I’d be definitely pushing to play. But the fact is, I’m not,’ Rodgers acknowledged Tuesday on ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’  ‘I’ve been working hard to get closer to that but I’m still 14 weeks tomorrow from my surgery, and being medically cleared as 100% healed is just not realistic.’

“Of course it’s not.  It never was.

“But now he’s saddled the Jets with the con, too. In order for Rodgers to keep practicing with the team, which doesn’t seem like a necessity for a guy who coach Robert Saleh said has no chance of playing, the Jets had to add him to the 53-man roster Wednesday.  To do that, they had to cut fullback Nick Bawden*….

“It was clear from his comments Saleh never expected Rodgers to come back this season.  It was equally clear he doesn’t want to irritate his QB, who has been known to hold a grudge.

“ ‘It’s all part of his rehab. There will be days he’ll be out there, days when he’s not,’ Saleh said of activating Rodgers.  ‘We just have the roster flexibility. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to afford to do this.’

“Do they really, though?  Or did the Jets make the decision back in September that it was in their best interest to placate Rodgers and whatever notions he has and the hell with what’s best for the team? ….

“Rodgers dangling the idea (of a return) was even a possibility, though, ensured people would still be watching his every move and listening for each new update. It allowed him to take potshots at, well, pretty much everyone and further his own narrative as a truth seeker and iconoclast.

“It was good theater, if you want to call it that, but it was never realistic. Which is besides the point.  Rodgers managed to keep himself relevant this entire season despite being on the field for all of four plays.”

*Bawden played in every game and made $774,118 of his $940k salary, so he loses about $135k with the move.  If he’s picked up, he’ll earn some of that back on the practice squad.  But a real bush-league move by both Rodgers and the Jets.

--We note the passing of former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Ed Budde, who helped the franchise win its first Super Bowl back in 1970.  He was 83.

Budde was an All-American at Michigan State under coach Duffy Daugherty.  He was the fourth overall pick of the Eagles in the 1963 NFL draft and the eighth pick of the Chiefs in the AFL draft, and ended up choosing K.C., coached by Hank Stram.

Budde was a five-time AFL All-Star and was selected to two Pro Bowls once the league merged with the NFL.

Budde’s son, Brad Budde, was an All-American offensive lineman at Southern Cal before he was drafted by the Chiefs with the 11th overall pick in 1980.  They remain the only father-son duo to be first-round picks by the same NFL franchise.

College Football

--I am so bored with the goings on within conferences these days…as in wake me up in three years when we finally have things shaken out with a superconference for the Power Four (after the departure of the Pac-12) and a separate commissioner for college football.

But in the meantime, I have to care, just a little, with Florida State’s move to sue the ACC on Friday, challenging a contract that ties the school to the league while creating a potential path for FSU to leave the conference without paying more than $500 million in penalties.  The move on the part of Florida State’s board of trustees came after the ACC sued the same board arguing it has breached that contract.

As noted by Glynn A. Hill of the Washington Post: “In (a 38-page lawsuit), the university said the ACC has mismanaged its media rights and previous member schools from joining other conferences through ‘draconian’ withdrawal penalties.  FSU accused the ACC of restraint of trade, breach of contract and failure to perform.

“ ‘Through chronic fiduciary mismanagement and bad faith, the ACC has persistently undermined its members’ revenue opportunities including by locking them into a deteriorating media rights agreement that will soon result in a vast annual financial gap between the ACC and other Power Five (soon to be Power Four) conferences,’ it said in the complaint.’”

The ACC argues the league’s exit penalties are enforceable because Florida State “knowingly and voluntarily” granted “irrevocable” and “exclusive” TV rights for FSU home games to the ACC through 2036.  “Florida State authorized those privileges through a contract called a grant of rights, which is a legal document that transfers the ownership of media rights from member schools to the conference for a set length of time.” [Glynn Hill]

I mean this makes your head hurt…and it’s Christmas.

Florida State joined the ACC in 1991 and has been the most vocal member in the conference over the past year-plus, raising concerns over the league’s growing revenue gap in relation to the Big Ten and SEC.

The Big Ten with its new media rights agreement is expected to pay each school around $70 million a year, while the SEC could raise its per-school payouts to similar levels when Texas and Oklahoma officially join the league next year.

The ACC’s annual allotments have steadily risen, and it offered an average distribution of $39.4 million to its members for the 2021-22 school year.  For comparison, the Big Ten ($58.8 million), the SEC ($49.9 million) and Big 12 ($42 million to $44.9 million) distributed more money to their schools during that same period, according to USA TODAY.  The Pac-12 was last among the Power Five conferences at $37 million.”

Well, us ACC fans have known for awhile that FSU wants to bolt, so just do it!  Clemson, too.

FSU estimates, though, it would pay a total exit fee of $572 million. That sum includes the ACC’s $130 million withdrawal fee, plus an additional $442 million related to the university’s forfeiture of media rights and unreimbursed broadcast fees.

If a judge rules in the school’s favor, FSU would be free to depart the conference without penalty.  A judgment in favor of the ACC could see FSU stay in the league or pay the financial penalty to leave.  Or, most likely, both sides would reach a compromise.

FSU does argue that the ACC “continued to erode its media rights position by rushing to admit three new schools with weak media rights values.”  [SMU, Stanford and Cal.]

Here’s my bottom line.  I am, and always will be a fan of my alma mater, Wake Forest, no matter who we play and where we are.  We’re never going to be in a position to win a college football championship, but we proved this spring we are capable of winning the College World Series, and we should be able to get into the occasional Sweet Sixteen in hoops.  And we take pride in golf and soccer.

These are just games, regardless.  But I’m more of a fan today at this late stage in my life than I ever was.  I watch every single football and basketball game no matter who the opponent is, and I went out to Omaha for the CWS.

So, again, just wake me when the conference realignment game is finally complete.  My school will be wherever the money gods put us.

--On the field Saturday, Duke finishes the season 8-5 with a nice 17-10 win over Troy (11-3) in the Birmingham Bowl.  The Blue Devils impressively have won five bowl games in a row (though not five years in a row).

This week, Duke, having lost quarterback Riley Leonard to Notre Dame, replaced him with highly touted Texas QB Maalik Murphy, who started two games in place of the injured Quinn Ewers and was lined up to replace him if Ewers had gone to the NFL next year (a decision to be made after the CFP).  Murphy also would have been Ewers’ backup in the looming game against Washington.

After entering the portal, Murphy opted for Duke it seems because he has an old relationship with new coach Manny Diaz.  This could be the sleeper portal move of the year.

As I wrote the other week, Murphy’s departure opened things up for Arch Manning, including, if needed, in the CFP.

--Air Force finished the season 9-4 after defeating James Madison (11-3) 31-21  in the Armed Forces Bowl, Emmanuel Michel rushing 35 times for 203 yards and two touchdowns for the Falcons.

--J. Mac’s Coastal Carolina (8-5) defeated San Jose State (7-6) in the Hawaii Bowl. The Chants have a very impressive dance team.

--Everyone has a different ranking for the 2024 recruiting classes, but 247Sports had the following….

1. Georgia…4 5-stars; 20 4-stars
2. Alabama…3 5-stars; 17 4-stars
3. Miami…2 5-stars; 11 4-stars…14 3-stars, no one in the top five with more than 5
4. Ohio State…5 5-stars, 12 4-stars
5. Texas…4 5-stars; 15 4-stars

Wake Forest was No. 51.

Give Coach Prime credit.  Last season his transfer class was No. 1 for 2023, and this year, Rivals.com and 247Sports rank Colorado’s No. 1 again, 16 new transfers despite the late-season turmoil and questions about whether he would even return.

And he signed the nation’s No. 1 high school offensive lineman, Jordan Seaton.

--Oregon State and Washington State agreed a few weeks ago to join the Mountain West Conference for the 2024 season in football, and now the two are going to join the West Coast Conference for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 for basketball.

The WCC features Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.

As for baseball – in which the Beavers are a national power – both OSU and Wash State are moving forward as independents.

Both schools are making the best of a bad situation.  I have no idea what is happening to some minor sports, though in the case of golf and track and field, you are competing in multi-school competitions, across multiple conferences, to begin with.

MLB

--The Mets and Yankees lost out in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes, the apparent next Japanese superstar headed to play ball with Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles, the Dodgers having spent $1 billion on the two in the span of ten days.

The 25-year-old righthander signed for 12 years and $325 million - $1 million more than Gerrit Cole’s nine-year deal with the Yanks, plus the Dodgers had to shell out another $50 million in a posting fee to his Japanese club.

Unlike Ohtani’s massive deferral, Yamamoto will get a $50 million signing bonus and not have any of his annual $27.08 million salary deferred.

According to local reports, the Mets came in at $325 million, the Yankees $300 million.

--So the Mets, owner Steve Cohen saying the organization did everything possible to ink Yamamoto, turn to Plan B, as do the Yankees, and I’m one who likes what new president of baseball operations David Stearns is doing thus far…signing players with major league experience, especially for the bullpen, and he pulled off a little trade the other day with the Brewers for two major leaguers, outfielder Tyrone Taylor and pitcher Adrian Houser that flew under the radar.  We gave up an injured prospect who can’t pitch next season.

As Stearns and Cohen have put it, ‘we’re building a major league roster.’  Some of these guys will be playing in AAA.  Good, that’s called depth.  That said, we do desperately need at least one more proven starting hurler. 

Alas, the Mets’ record payroll last year, $374.7 million, cost them a record luxury tax as well, $100.7 million.

Ain’t my money, the Editor said to his Uncle Stevie.

--Jesse Yomtov of USA TODAY had a 2024 MLB mock draft and whaddya know, Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz was No. 1.

JJ Wetherholt, SS/2B, West Virginia was second; Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida, was third.

Wake actually has five in the first 30.  Huh.  Maybe we’ll still be pretty good, after losing 11 to the draft last June, including first-rounders Rhett Lowder (Reds) and Brock Wilken (Brewers).

The No.1 overall pick in the 2023 draft was Paul Skenes, P, LSU, taken by the Pirates.  Skenes is reportedly dating Livvy Dunne.  Oh baby. 

But look back at this four-year stretch for overall No. 1 picks:

2012: Carlos Correa, Astros
2011: Gerrit Cole, Pirates
2010: Bryce Harper, Nationals
2009: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

College Basketball

--So, last Tuesday, looking ahead to the week, I noted some games on Saturday of interest, and totally blew off Wednesday, not expecting fireworks.

But that’s what we got, boys and girls.  Here I was earmarking Saturday’s St. John’s-UConn game, and instead, Seton Hall (8-4) pulled off an upset of 5 UConn (10-2) at the Prudential Center (Newark), 75-60, as Kadary Richmond had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 8 steals.  The 15-point victory was The Hall’s largest ever over an AP top-5 opponent.

“Obviously, just really stunned by just how unprepared I had these guys for a tough, physical conference game,” Huskies coach and former Seton Hall guard Dan Hurley said.  “Credit Shaheen [Holloway], credit Seton Hall.”

Meanwhile, 21 Duke (8-3) topped 10 Baylor (9-2), 78-73; 11 North Carolina (8-3) handed 7 Oklahoma (10-1) its first loss, 81-69; and Villanova (8-4) upset 12 Creighton (9-3) on the road, 68-66 in overtime, as Eric Dixon made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in overtime to finish off a 32-point night.  Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman had a chance to tie it with seven seconds left but missed the front end of a one-and-one, and then a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

A good night for the ACC, and the Big East looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Then yesterday I watched essentially all of the two games I had initially highlighted, FAU-Arizona, UConn-St. John’s, and college basketball fans were treated to two terrific, entertaining affairs.

14 FAU pulled off its biggest regular-season win in program history with a thrilling 96-95 double overtime victory over No. 4 Arizona in Las Vegas.  The Owls’ Johnell Davis showed America his full arsenal, the 6-4 guard with 35 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. 

For the Wildcats, North Carolina transfer Caleb Love garnered all the attention, and he had 26 points, including some clutch field goals down the stretch, but he was 8 of 25 from the field, and missed a final 3-pointer at the buzzer.

You will not find a better regular-season game all year, and this will help FAU’s seeding come March, bigly.

In the nightcap, St. John’s and Rick Pitino fell short, losing to UConn (11-2) in Hartford, 69-65, the Huskies without rising star Donovan Clingan, the 7’2” sophomore out for a month with a foot issue, which worrisomely seems to be a recurring injury (I can’t help but think of Sam Bowie, though in his case it was both leg and foot issues).

The Johnnies (8-4) certainly looked pretty good under Pitino, and as he said after, “We are coming.”  But Chris Ledlum missed two free throws that would have tied it at 67-67 with 0:17 to play, and that ended up being the ballgame.

Two other games of note in the Big East. Seton Hall, after its terrific upset of UConn on Wednesday, laid a huge egg against Xavier (7-6) yesterday, falling 74-54, the Pirates now 8-5.

Providence improved to 11-2 after an 85-75 overtime win over Butler (10-3), Butler choosing not to foul in a critical situation at the end of regulation that proved costly.

--Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. had a career-high 10 assists in MSU’s 99-55 win over Stony Brook on Thursday.  Then he went home for the holidays in Illinois and was shot in the leg, suffering a non-life-threatening injury, but undergoing surgery, the nature of which wasn’t clear.  Fears posted on social media from the hospital that he was OK.

But the thing is, Fears was one of two people shot at 4 a.m. in the Marycrest subdivision on the west side of Joliet.

Well, we all know the drill, sports fans.  Nothing good ever happens after midnight, let alone freakin’ 4:00 a.m.!

Fears was averaging 3.5 points and 3.3 assists in 15 minutes per game for the Spartans.

NBA

--Thursday night, the Pistons lost their 25th straight, 119-111 to Utah.  So then they went to Brooklyn Saturday to take on the Nets, one short of the NBA single-season record, held by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers, who share the record at 26.  The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28, a skid that started in the 2014-15 season and carried over into 2015-16.

And make it 26, the Pistons falling 126-115.  Detroit can break the record back home on Tuesday, again against the Nets.

--My Knicks received more awful news from their doctors who say center Mitchell Robinson will be out all season, not just eight to 10 weeks, following ankle surgery, so the Knicks have applied for a disabled player exception worth $7.8 million.

As I noted last week, Robinson is a critical piece, and his main replacement, Isaiah Hartenstein, is one of the best backup centers in the league, if not THE best, but he can’t go 38+ minutes a game.

What really sucks is that these Knicks are pretty good.  But as we saw Saturday afternoon at the Garden, they can’t beat Milwaukee, now 22-7 following a 130-111 beatdown of the Knickerbockers (16-12).  New York is 0-3 against the Bucks and the two square off again tomorrow, Christmas Day, also at the Garden.  This will be interesting to see how both teams respond, playing in the early, noon time slot.

--One guy I’ve really come to dislike more than ever is Ja Morant, and he wasn’t even playing for months.  Some of his statements regarding his suspension and then comeback are flat-out idiotic.

But he can play some hoops, scoring 27 of his 34 points in the second half, including the game winner, in his first game back, a 115-113 Grizzlies win over the Pelicans in New Orleans, who booed him vociferously.

Memphis then beat Indiana on Thursday, 116-103, Morant with 20.

Saturday night they took on the Hawks in Atlanta and the Grizzlies are now 3-0 with the return of Morant, 125-119, Ja with 30 points and 11 assists, Desmond Bane 37 for Memphis, now 9-19, but a totally different team with Morant’s return and no reason why they can’t make the playoffs.

The Hawks, on the other hand, blow…12-17, after starting the season 3-1.

NHL

--The Rangers (22-8-1) had a rough loss Friday night at the Garden, 4-3 to the Oilers (15-15-1), Edmonton scoring all four goals in the third period.

I bring it up because Edmonton is back playing the way everyone expects them to after a brutal 5-12-1 start, superstar Connor McDavid up to 44 points in 29 games, after his 153-point 2022-23 season.

At least the Rangers rebounded Saturday to beat the Sabres in overtime, 4-3.

The NHL takes a 3-day break before resuming play Wednesday.

--Washington’s Alex Ovechkin finally broke his 14-game scoring drought on Thursday, his sixth of the season in 30 games, bringing him to 828 to Wayne Gretzky’s 894.

Premier League

--The busy holiday schedule continued as, Friday, Aston Villa managed only a home 1-1 draw vs. last-place Sheffield.

Saturday, West Ham beat Manchester United 2-0; Tottenham won its third straight, ending Everton’s 4-game streak, 2-1; and in a biggie; Liverpool blew a 5-on-2 rush in the 72nd minute and came away with a 1-1 draw against Arsenal, keeping the Gunners in first place.

With Christmas Day off, and then a big slate for Boxing Day and the rest of the week…the standings…17/18 of 38 played….

1. Arsenal…18 – 40
2. Liverpool…18 – 39
3. Aston Villa…18 – 39
4. Tottenham…18 – 36
5. Manchester City…17 – 34
6. West Ham…18 – 30

--Separately, a ruling from the European Court of Justice said on Thursday, UEFA and FIFA contravened EU law by preventing the formation of a Super League, in a landmark ruling that could change the way soccer is run.

The European clubs that proposed forming the breakaway league, which sparked widespread protests among angry fans, had been threatened with sanctions by UEFA if they went ahead with the plan, leading to nine clubs pulling out.  In its ruling, the EU’s top court said that FIFA and UEFA abused their dominant position by forbidding clubs to compete in a European Super League (ESL), although that project may still not be approved as the court did not rule on it specifically.

UEFA has organized pan-European competitions for nearly 70 years and sees the ESL project as a significant threat to the lucrative Champions League, for which teams qualify on merit.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and nine other leading European clubs announced the breakaway plan in April 2021.  But the move collapsed within 48 hours after an outcry from fans, governments and players forced Manchester United, Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid to pull out.

Nothing is going to happen on the issue for a long time to come.  Discussions will start up again, but like with college football realignment, wake me when it’s over.

Stuff

--Mikaela Shiffrin picked up a second place in a slalom Thursday at Courchevel, France, losing to rival Petra Vlhova. 

--Laura Lynch, a founding member of the Dixie Chicks, was killed in a head-on car crash outside El Paso, Texas, Friday afternoon.

The driver of the other vehicle, who survived, was trying to overtake another on a highway.

Lynch co-founded the Dixie Chicks alongside Robin Lynn Macy, Martie Erwin and Emily Erwin back in 1990.

Lynch left the group in 1993 and little was known about her life after.  She married a guy who won a big sum in a lottery and it is believed they had one daughter.  RIP.

Top 3 songs for the week 12/26/64:  #1 “I Feel Fine” (The Beatles)  #2 “Come See About Me” (The Supremes)  #3 “Mr. Lonely” (Bobby Vinton)…and…#4 “She’s A Woman” (The Beatles)  #5 “She’s Not There” (The Zombies)  #6 “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (Little Anthony and The Imperials)  #7 “Ringo” (Lorne Greene)  #8 “Dance, Dance, Dance” (The Beach Boys)  #9 “The Jerk” (The Larks)  #10 “Time Is On My Side” (The Rolling Stones… ‘A’ week…tough not to be when you have the Beatles, Supremes, Beach Boys, and Stones…plus the Zombies and Little Anthony…)

NFL Team Quiz Answers: 1) Most consecutive winning seasons…Dallas Cowboys, 20, 1966-85 (winning two Super Bowls).  2) Fewest points allowed: Baltimore, 165, 2000 (won the Super Bowl, yielding just 23 points in four playoff games). 3) Most sacks, season: Chicago, 72, 1984 (Richard Dent 17.5, Dan Hampton 11.5, Steve McMichael 10…but they would win the Super Bowl the following season, 1985).  4) Most turnovers, season: San Francisco, 63, 1978.  The 49ers went 2-14, Steve DeBerg and Scott Bull at QB, with only 9 TD passes and 36 interceptions (Bruce Threadgill and Freddie Solomon responsible for 3 of the 36).

Brief Add-on up top by Tues. evening.

-----

And now, our annual Christmas special...best read with the children Christmas Eve.

Apollo 8...55 years go....

Growing up, one of the more dramatic memories as a kid was staying up Christmas Eve 1968 to follow the remarkable voyage of Apollo 8. 

If ever a nation needed a pick me up, it was America in ’68, after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, with the ongoing war in Vietnam and the dramatic Tet Offensive, and after LBJ’s sudden withdrawal from the presidential race, the turbulent Democratic Convention, and the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Yes, we were ready for a little space adventure.

Apollo 8 would be the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Commanded by Frank Borman, with James Lovell, Jr. and William Anders, it was launched on December 21 and on Christmas Eve the three began their orbit. What made it all even more dramatic was the first go round to the dark side of the moon, when all communication was lost for 45 minutes until they reemerged at the other side. It was the middle of the night for us viewers, at least in the Eastern time zone, and I remember that Apollo was sending back spectacular photos of Earth, including “Earthrise,” the first ever seen by humans and probably the most iconic photo in history.

Borman described the moon as “a vast, lonely and forbidding sight,” and Lovell called Earth, “a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.” The crew members then took turns reading from the Book of Genesis / Creation:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light;” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

James Lovell would later say, “Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.” And Borman concluded with, “Merry Christmas. God bless all of you, all of you on the Good Earth.”

---

Ron White, author of “American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant,” had a piece in the New York Daily News (Dec. 2017) on the story of how Christmas became a national holidayPresident Grant signing a proclamation on June 24, 1870 making it so.

“The Pilgrims who first came to a new England did not celebrate Christmas. Their memories of Christmas in the old England they left behind were of a season of decadence and debauchery. Nearly two centuries later, in the first year of the new United States, Congress met in session on December 25, 1789 – certainly not a holiday.

“In the early decades of the 19th century Americans began to reimagine Christmas, turning it into church- and family-centered celebrations.  Charles Dickens published ‘A Christmas Carol’ in 1843. Carol singing, tree decorations and gift-giving became regular parts of Christmas. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast, a German immigrant, popularized a jolly Santa Claus in his drawings.

“During the Civil War, Christmas meant a day of rest as well as memories of festivities back home. Robert Gould Shaw, who would receive fame as commander of the 54th Massachusetts, the first African-American regiment organized in the North, wrote, ‘It is Christmas morning and I hope for a happy and merry one for you all.’

“Grant, victorious Union Civil War general, emerged from the war with a passion to reunite the nation.  If he had become a practitioner of a ‘hard war’ during the four-year-long conflict, as the war reached its climax he grew into an advocate of a ‘soft peace.’  He demonstrated his belief at the Confederate surrender at Appomattox when he offered Robert E. Lee a magnanimous peace.

“Grant’s decision to declare Christmas a legal public holiday reveals two sides of this self-effacing American leader. First, although he is not portrayed as a religious person in biographies, a closer look will reveal a quiet man who did not wear his faith on his sleeve, but displayed his Methodist commitment to social justice.  Raised in Ohio in a devout Methodist family, he married Julia Dent, whose grandfather was a Methodist minister.

“His private faith became more public in his presidency. The Washington National Cathedral, whose construction began in 1907, is often thought to be the first national church in the nation’s capital, but Grant played a decisive role in the declaration of the actual first national church in Washington four decades earlier.

“By the Civil War, Methodism had become the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.  In the early 1850s, Methodists made plans to build the first national church in Washington. When it became clear that Grant would be elected President in 1868, Methodists accelerated plans to complete their national church.

“On Feb. 28, four days before Grant’s inauguration as President, he sat in the front pew as the Metropolitan Methodist Church was dedicated.  Grant would serve as a trustee, while Julia chaired the national committee to retire the debt of the church.

“Second, Grant’s commitment to making Christmas a legal holiday needs to be understood as part of his drive to unite the North and the South after the war. Grant began his presidency in 1869 as what was called Reconstruction was unraveling.

“The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution were enacted to guarantee the civil and political rights of newly emancipated African-Americans.  But ex-Confederate generals and Southern newspaper editors, aided by the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, determined to quickly replace slavery with what would become Jim Crow segregation. In Grant’s finest moment as President, he would take on the Klan with the power of the federal government, even as his own Republican party retreated from its Reconstruction commitments.

“In this tumultuous year, where bitterness and acrimony seem more regnant than peace and joy, we may well ask: Does Christmas as a public holiday unite or divide?  We live in a religious culture quite different than Grant’s world.  Yet his public passion to unite North and South in making Christmas a national holiday can inform and inspire attempts to hold up light amid darkness at the end of 2017.”

---

“Silent night, holy night”

Michael E. Ruane / Washington Post

“On Christmas Eve in 1818, two men with a small guitar entered a church in Oberndorf, Austria, and prepared to sing a new Christmas carol.

“Times had been bad in Oberndorf, where many people worked on the water, manning the salt barges that plied the Salzach River.  The upheaval in central Europe caused by the Napoleonic Wars had just ended.

“And only two years before, the dreadfully dark summer of 1816 – later blamed on ash from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia – had caused famine and deprivation.

“But in that fall of 1816, a young Catholic priest, Joseph Mohr, had written a six-verse Christmas poem that began ‘Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht’ - Silent Night, Holy Night – about the Nativity of a curly-haired Jesus.

“Two years later, Father Mohr enlisted a friend, Franz Xaver Gruber, a local schoolteacher and musician, to come up with a melody for the poem that could be played for Christmas on the guitar. (Legend has it that the church organ had been damaged by mice or water and was on the blink.)

“Gruber’s composition is thought to have taken him about a day to compose.

“As the two men put the words to music that day 200 years ago in Oberndorf’s St. Nicholas Church, they voiced for the first time what is probably history’s most enduring and beloved Christmas carol.

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright...

“The carol spread quickly across Europe.  It was brought to the United States, where, some accounts say, it was first performed on Christmas Day, 1839, in the churchyard of New York’s Trinity Church, Wall Street, by a troupe of traveling Austrians, the Ranier Singers.

“The carol was translated into English in the 1850s by an Episcopal priest at Trinity, John Freeman Young.  He published it in a book of Christmas carols in 1859.   He translated the first, third and sixth verses....

“Young dispensed with Jesus’ curly hair, but added the folksy ‘yon’ and called the child ‘tender and mild.’”

Mohr’s six-string guitar survived and is said to be on display in the Silent Night Museum in Hallein, Austria, on the Salzach river, about 20 miles south of Oberndorf.

Rough translation of the original first verse in German:

Silent night! Holy night!
Everything is asleep.  Only the faithful holy
couple are awake, alone.
Lovely boy with curly hair.
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace.

And Episcopal priest John Freeman Young smoothed it into the classic:

Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant, so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace.

---

St. Nicholas was a Greek bishop, known as the patron of children (as well as brewers and sailors, among others), and a man who likely died in A.D. 343 in Myra, a small town now called Demre in modern-day Turkey.  Though the year of his death is disputed, the day is not – December 6, now celebrated as St. Nicholas Day.

His remains are venerated worldwide, even as nobody knows for certain where he rests in peace – or more accurately, in pieces.  In the early and medieval Christian tradition, the mortal remains of popular saints were scattered among various churches in numerous places to be displayed as sacred relics.

Dating and DNA tests may allow scientists to piece together which relics are actually from the same man.  In 2017 Oxford University scholars announced a first step in that direction: A radiocarbon study that shows a bone long thought to be a St. Nicholas relic and housed in St. Martha of Bethany Church in Morton Grove, Illinois, does in fact date to the time of the saint’s death.

---

Michael Gartland / New York Post

NORAD’s tradition of tracking Santa’s sleigh began with a wrong number.

“Right before Christmas in 1955, Sears ran an ad offering millions of toy-hungry girls and boys the chance to talk to the big man himself. In Colorado Springs, the retailer published the local phone number to the North Pole as ME2-6681.

“There was only one problem: The number was one digit off.

“And that wrong number rang on the desk of a high-ranking officer in a bunker at the Continental Air Defense Command – the predecessor of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which has the less-than-festive mission of detecting and defending the continent against nuclear attack.”

Col. Harry Shoup took the first call on the command’s red phone. In an interview with the Post, Shoup’s daughter, Terri Van Keuren, recalled:

“ ‘The phone rang, and he picked up.  ‘This is Colonel Shoup, commander of this combat station. Who is this?’”

Silence on the other end. Shoup repeated himself, then “a meek little boy’s voice came over the line.

“ ‘Is this Santa Claus?’ he murmured.

“Worried there had been some kind of security breach, Shoup again demanded the caller’s name. He heard crying, and another query came through the tears.

“ ‘Is this one of Santa’s elves?’

“Shoup recognized he was in a moment that could destroy the little boy’s faith in Santa.

“ ‘Yes, I am,’ he said. ‘Have you been a good boy?’

After the two talked a while, Shoup asked to speak with the boy’s mother.

“ ‘He asked her: ‘Do you have any idea who you’ve called?’’ Van Keuren said. ‘She told him to take a look at that day’s newspaper.’”

So the calls flooded in and Shoup directed his men to answer as Santa.

Weeks later, Shoup, on vacation, dropped in on his men and spotted a sleigh on the huge plexiglass map of North America in the room. A subordinate was afraid he had just lost his job.

Instead, Shoup said, “There’s something good we could do with this.”

And so Col. Shoup called a local radio station with the news the command center was tracking Santa’s sleigh. Ever since then, NORAD has been tracking Santa.

---

Speaking of Santa and reindeer, Edward Kosner had a piece in the Wall Street Journal (11/18/16) on the story of Rudolph, “among other things, the first real addition to American Christmas lore since the first decades of the 19th century. That’s when Washington Irving transformed churchy St. Nicholas into a clay-pipe-puffing, rotund charmer and Clement Clark Moore equipped him with eight flying reindeer and an automatically replenishing, toy-filled sleigh. Gene Autry, the singing cowpoke, made the song into a hit in 1949, and since then it’s been recorded by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald and Destiny’s Child to the Temptations and Burl Ives, not to mention Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and the Cadillacs, the doo-wop group revered for ‘Speedo.’”

So the legend of Rudolph has been deconstructed in a new book by Ronald D. Lankford Jr., who has written books about popular music.  In “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: An American Hero,” Lankford digs up far more than you would think was available, “a parable of American commerce cloaked in benevolence,” as Edward Kosner put it.

“The Rudolph creation story begins in Chicago in January 1939, when Robert May, a nerdy 33-year-old adman at Montgomery Ward – with its bursting catalog and more than 600 stores, a retail colossus second only to Sears, Roebuck – was assigned by his boss to dream up a Christmas giveaway, perhaps an illustrated story like the one about Ferdinand the bashful bull....(so) May came up with an awkward young reindeer mocked by his fellows whose oddity – an incandescent nose – enables him to save the day when a befogged Santa asks him to lead the team for global toy delivery.

“According to the legend, May read his poetic text to his daughter, who loved it. The Ward hierarchy didn’t; some worried that the red nose would remind too many parents of drunks.  But one exec stood up for Rudolph, and the corporation wound up giving away 2.4 million copies of a 32-page illustrated pamphlet to kids brought to Ward stores by mom and dad.  Seven years later, after the end of World War II, another 3.6 million copies were handed out.  With an entrepreneurial corporate boost, Rudolph was launched.

“May’s ‘Rudolph’ was a work for hire owned by Ward, but the company’s chairman gave the adman the copyright in 1947, and May made the most of it....In 1949, May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote the song that has enthralled or tormented people ever since.  He paid $5 to the singer Guy Mitchell to make a demo and sent it to several crooners.  At the end of a session to lay down two 45-rpm Christmas records, Gene Autry devoted 10 minutes to ‘Rudolph’ and made it the B-side of one of the discs.  It eventually sold 2.5 million copies, his greatest hit.

“The legend only grew.  In 1964, another corporate angel, RCA, swooped in and produced a stop-motion animated ‘Rudolph’ special that was shown on TV every Christmas.”

Lankford argues that Rudolph “appeals to Americans because the story is actually an inspirational Horatio Alger tale of pluck and luck leading to unlikely success.  And he ponders whether Rudolph should be thought of as true folklore or as ‘fakelore,’ like Paul Bunyan, or even ‘fakelure’ – a commercial come-on.  In the end, it hardly matters.

Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You’ll go down in history.”

Kosner: “And so he has.”

---

A Visit from St. Nicholas

By Clement C. Moore [Well, he really stole it, but that’s a story for another day. This is the original version.]

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap;
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof -
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

---

The story of Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You,” as told by Ronnie Spector in her book “Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness…or…My Life as a Fabulous Ronette”.

“One record that did feature all three Ronettes – and just about everyone else who worked for Phil – was Phil’s Christmas album, A Christmas Gift for You. Phil is Jewish, but for some reason he always loved Christmas. Every year he would spend weeks designing his own special Christmas card, which he would send to everyone in the business. In 1963 he took that idea one step further and recorded an entire album of Christmas music, with contributions from all the acts on his Philles label. All of the groups got to do three or four songs each. The Ronettes did ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,’ ‘Sleigh Ride,’ and ‘Frosty the Snowman.’

“We worked on that one forever. Phil started recording it in the summer, and he didn’t leave the studio for about two months. We’d start recording early in the evening, and we’d work until late into the night, sometimes even into the next morning. And everybody sang on everyone else’s songs, so all of Phil’s acts really were like one big, happy family for that one album.

“While he was recording it, Phil told everyone that this Christmas album was going to be the masterpiece of his career. And he meant it. We all knew how important this project was to Phil when he walked into the studio on the last day of recording and announced that he was going to add a vocal himself. The final song on the record is a spoken message from Phil, where he thanks all the kids for buying his records and then wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, while we all sing a chorus of ‘Silent Night’ in the background. A lot of people thought the song was corny. But if you knew Phil like I did, it was very touching.

“But then I always did have a soft spot for Phil’s voice. There was something about his phrasing and diction that drove me crazy. It was so cool, so calm, so serene. Phil wasn’t a singer, but when he spoke he put me in a romantic mood like no singer could. He was the only guy I ever met who could talk me into an orgasm. 

“Of course, he wasn’t doing that back then. Not yet, anyway. Phil and I were still just sweethearts in those days. We spent lots of time together, and we were very romantic, but we still hadn’t slept together. Maybe that’s why we were so romantic.

“A Christmas Gift for You finally came out in November of 1963. But in spite of all the work we put into it, the album was one of Phil’s biggest flops. It was reissued as The Phil Spector Christmas Album in the early seventies, and nowadays people talk about it like it’s one of the greatest albums in rock and roll history. But nobody bought it when it first came out.

“President Kennedy had been shot a few days before it was released, and after that people were too depressed to even look at a rock and roll record. And they stayed that way until well into the New Year of 1964, when – thank God – four long-haired English guys finally got them to go back into the record stores.”

---

Fr. Alfred Delp

[From “The Little Blue Book”]

Alfred Delp was born in 1907 in Mannheim, Germany.  The son of a Catholic mother and Protestant father, he was raised Lutheran, but became a Catholic at age 14.

He entered the Society of Jesus in 1926, and was ordained in 1937.  The rise of Nazism in Germany prevented him from continuing his studies.  He worked at a Jesuit publication until it was suppressed in 1941.  He then became rector of St. Georg (sic) Church in Munich, where he helped Jews escape to Switzerland.  Fr. Delp joined an anti-Nazi group which hoped to build a new Christian order, based on Christian virtues and practices, after the fall of the Third Reich.

Following a failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944, Delp was among the dissidents arrested.  He was tortured and threatened with execution, but the Nazis couldn’t connect him to the plot.  They eventually offered to release Delp if he would renounce the Jesuits and leave the order.  The priest refused.  Fr. Delp was hanged on February 2, 1945.  He was 37 years old.

---

The Gospel According to Luke

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

---

Political commentator Pat Buchanan (The Atlantic, December 2015).  The question was: “What is the greatest comeback of all time?”

Betrayed, scourged, crucified on a cross between two thieves, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead and sent his apostles to preach his doctrines to the world, out of which came Christianity and Western civilization. Then he ascended into heaven.  His name is known to more people than that of any other man who walked the Earth, and the empire that crucified him is gone.

---

Those of us who are older remember here in the New York area the advent of WPIX’s “The Yule Log,” 1966, which looped 17 seconds of jittery 16mm film, treating apartment-dwelling New Yorkers who yearned for the joys of cozying up to a crackling fire, the first TV-screen-sized “fire,” with flames shot at the mayor’s mansion beneath a pair of stockings. 

I’ll never forget seeing it for the first time.  Those of us who had a house kind of laughed, but then it made total sense, and you found yourself just turning it on in those early years.  It was really kind of ingenious.

In 1970, WPIX introduced an upgrade, looping seven minutes of higher-quality 35mm film.  That version ran annually through 1989 and was revived in 2001.

---

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

A famous letter from Virginia O’Hanlon to the editorial board of the New York Sun, first printed in 1897:

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor -

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

....

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

---

World War I – Christmas Truce

By December 1914, the war had been picking up in intensity for five months. Ironically, the feeling during the initial phases was that everyone would be home by Christmas, though little did they know it would be Christmas 1918.

On Christmas Eve 1914, along the British and German lines, particularly in the Flanders area, the soldiers got into conversation with each other and it was clear to the British that the Germans wanted some sort of Christmas Armistice. Sir Edward Hulse wrote in his diary, “A scout named F. Murker went out and met a German Patrol and was given a glass of whisky and some cigars, and a message was sent back saying that if we didn’t fire at them they would not fire at us.” That night, where five days earlier there had been savage fighting, the guns fell silent.

The following morning German soldiers walked towards the British wire and the Brits went out to meet them. They exchanged caps and souvenirs and food. Then arrangements were made for the British to pick up bodies left on the German side during a recent failed raid.

Christmas Day, fraternization took place along many of the lines, including a few of the French and Belgian ones. Some joined in chasing hares, others, most famously, kicked around a soccer ball. British soldier Bruce Bairnsfather would write, “It all felt most curious: here were these sausage-eating wretches, who had elected to start this infernal European fracas, and in so doing had brought us all into the same muddy pickle as themselves. But there was not an atom of hate on either side that day; and yet, on our side, not for a moment was the will to war and the will to beat them relaxed.”

In the air the war continued and the French Foreign Legionnaires in Alsace were ordered to fight Christmas Day as well. Plus, most of the commanders on both sides were none too pleased. Nothing like the Christmas truce of 1914 would occur in succeeding years (outside of a pocket or two) and by December 26, 1914, the guns were blazing anew.

[Source: “The First World War,” by Martin Gilbert]

---

“May You Always”

From 1959-2002, Harry Harrison was a fixture on New York radio, the last 20+ years at the great oldies station WCBS-FM. Unfortunately, he was forced to retire, which ticked off many of us to no end, but he will forever be remembered for a brilliant greeting titled “May You Always.” Enjoy.

As the holiday bells ring out the old year, and sweethearts kiss,
And cold hands touch and warm each other against the year ahead,
May I wish you not the biggest and best of life,
But the small pleasures that make living worthwhile.

Sometime during the new year, to keep your heart in practice,
May you do someone a secret good deed and not get caught at it.
May you find a little island of time to read that book and write that letter,
And to visit that lonely friend on the other side of town.
May your next do-it-yourself project not look like you did it yourself.

May the poor relatives you helped support remember you when they win the lottery.
May your best card tricks win admiring gasps and your worst puns, admiring groans.
May all those who told you so, refrain from saying “I told you so.”

May all the predictions you’ve made for your firstborn’s future come true.
May just half of those optimistic predictions that your high school annual made for you come true.
In a time of sink or swim, may you find you can walk to shore before you call the lifeguard.
May you keep at least one ideal you can pass along to your kids.

For a change, some rainy day, when you’re a few minutes late,
May your train or bus be waiting for you.
May you accidentally overhear someone saying something nice about you.

If you run into an old school chum,
May you both remember each other’s names for introductions.
If you order your steak medium rare, may it be so.
And, if you’re on a diet, may someone tell you, “You’ve lost a little weight,” without knowing you’re on a diet.

May that long and lonely night be brightened by the telephone call that you’ve been waiting for.
When you reach into the coin slot, may you find the coin that you lost on your last wrong number.
When you trip and fall, may there be no one watching to laugh at you or feel sorry for you.

And sometime soon, may you be waved to by a celebrity, wagged at by a puppy, run to by a happy child, and counted on by someone you love.
More than this, no one can wish you.

---

Ross Cameron / Sydney Morning Herald…I first read this in December 2009.

[Excerpts]

“Jesus is easily the most influential person in history, and the most universally loved….

“Of his early life, the record is almost blank; we are left with a few fragments….

“He was deeply literate in Jewish scriptures but silent on writings outside that tradition. We may assume he lived his entire life within 160 km of his birthplace – he never describes a foreign custom or place. After a major spiritual moment under the influence of John, he launched into local prominence as an itinerant preacher at age 30. Tradition holds that Jesus was a public figure for three years but modern scholars strongly believe a single year is more likely….

“Riding a wave of fame and popularity, Jesus moved the road show to the heavily garrisoned provincial and religious capital of Jerusalem, entering the city in the lead-up to the most holy day of the Jewish year. The Roman authorities are not known for their tolerance of burgeoning mass movements. Jesus fairly quickly found his way to the agony and humiliation of public torture and execution by order of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate – famous for casual brutality. It was a routine event in a typical day in a Roman occupied city.

“History’s great riddle followed. His supporters immediately claimed Jesus rose from the dead. The four biographies of Jesus often contradict each other on minor details but nowhere so much as in the resurrection narratives. The difficulty with dismissing the claim altogether, however, is how otherwise to explain the instant, unprecedented explosion of the Jesus movement across the Mediterranean. The willingness of so many sane first-century beings – many of them witnesses – to suffer death rather than deny the central tenet of their faith, is also cause for reflection….

“We are left to ponder how one year in the life of a seeming nobody could transform the Roman Empire and the entire planet. The reason for the triumph of this nobody is to be found in his first recorded words. ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.’ Jesus is specially kind to the weak and the outcast – to women, the poor, children, a madman in chains and a hated tax collector.

“In the pre-Jesus record, in virtually every human society, vast faceless classes of people were less valued than domestic animals. The world’s second-greatest philosopher, Aristotle, while writing the 101 course of every academic discipline, fervently endorsed the keeping of slaves as natural and desirable to good order. Slavery continued for centuries after Jesus but the impulse to end it was Christian. Beyond the Jewish scriptures, to which Jesus gave a megaphone, no one cared about those on the margins. Jesus establishes the sublime idea that everyone matters.

“Today that single thought has transformed our sense of what it means to be human. Major political parties of the earth, whether left, centrist or right wing (with the possible exception of the Greens) agree the welfare of the whole human race is our common goal. ‘Blessed are the meek’ evolved into ‘All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

“From whatever perspective we come, thinking people ought to be able to agree, the birth of Jesus was a good day for mankind. I suspect I may never quite shake the childlike hunch that there is some uniquely divine imprint on the central individual of the human story. Happy Birthday, Jesus.”

---

[From Army Times]

Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army was in a dire situation during the frigid winter of 1776. His army had been defeated and chased from New York, and forced to set up winter camp for his remaining 5,000 troops at Valley Forge, Pa., only miles from the capital city of Philadelphia. With morale at its lowest point of the war and enlistments coming to an end, Washington desperately needed a victory to secure reenlistments and draw in some new recruits. The outcome of the revolution was at stake.

On Christmas night, Washington’s troops began to gather on the banks of the Delaware River at McKonkey’s Ferry. His plan was to cross the partially frozen river by midnight, march to Trenton and surround the garrison of Hessian troops (Germans fighting for the British) in the city in a predawn attack.

Before the Army had even launched a boat across the river, it began to rain, then hail, then snow. Washington was behind schedule. Remarkably, the force crossed the river without a single casualty. At 4 a.m., Dec. 26, the ill-equipped army began to march toward Trenton, some with rags wrapped around their feet instead of shoes.

Washington had achieved complete surprise with the dangerous crossing. The battle began when the Army encountered a group of unprepared Hessian sentries at about 8 a.m., and by 9:30 the garrison had surrendered. The Army had killed 22, injured 83 and taken 896 prisoners.

By noon, Washington had left Trenton, having lost two men in the battle, and returned to camp at Valley Forge. He had won a major victory, inspiring the needed reenlistments. News of the battle drew new recruits into the beleaguered Continental Army. The revolution would live to fight another day.

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Smithsonian magazine had a piece on the first known references to building snowmen, or snow sculpture.

In 1494: Snow sculpture gets its Michelangelo – literally.  “One winter, when a great deal of snow fell in Florence,” Giorgio Vasari wrote, Michelangelo created “a statue of snow, which was very beautiful,” in Piero de Medici’s courtyard.

1690: The first known snowmen in the Colonies are built to stand guard at the gates of Schenectady while the human sentinels head to a tavern. That night, French and Indian forces plow through the meager defenses, devastating the town.

1969: Though a creature capable of melting clearly shouldn’t smoke a corncob pipe, the “Frosty the Snowman” animated cartoon – based on the sappy 1950 song first recorded by Gene Autry – serves up the snowman archetype for generations.

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A number of years ago, Rich Lowry wrote an op-ed in the New York Post on the genius of “White Christmas”:

“America’s classic Christmas song was written by a Jewish immigrant.

“Born in Russia with the name Israel Baline, he was the genius songwriter we know as Irving Berlin. He wrote ‘White Christmas’ for the 1942 Hollywood musical ‘Holiday Inn,’ starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

“On set, the movie’s hit number was presumed to be another Berlin composition, the Valentine’s Day song ‘Be Careful, It’s My Heart.’ At first, it was. Then ‘White Christmas’ captured the public’s imagination and hasn’t quite loosed its grip since....

“Some estimates point to sales of all versions of ‘White Christmas’ topping 100 million....

“It is a song built on yearning. In lines at the beginning of the original version that aren’t usually performed, Berlin writes of being out in sunny California during the holiday: ‘There’s never been such a day/in Beverly Hills, L.A./But it’s December the twenty-fourth./And I’m longing to be up North’.

“(Colleague Mark) Steyn thinks that if America had entered World War II a few years earlier, the song might never have taken off. But 1942 was the year that American men were first shipped overseas, and it was released into a wave of homesickness. (Berlin’s daughter) Mary Ellin Barrett says it first caught on with GIs in Great Britain. During the course of the war, it became the most requested song with Armed Forces Radio.

“The irony of the son of a cantor writing the characteristic American Christmas song is obvious. Yet, Berlin’s daughter says, ‘He believed in the great American Christmas.’ As a child on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he loved to look at the little Christmas tree of his Catholic neighbors. He and his Christian wife Ellin (theirs was a scandalous mixed marriage), put on elaborate, joyous Christmases for their daughters. Not until later would they reveal that the day was a painful one for them because they had lost an infant child on Christmas.

“Berlin knew he had something special with ‘White Christmas’ as soon as he wrote it. He supposedly enthused to his secretary, ‘I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written – heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!’ The song evokes the warmth of the hearth and the comforts of our Christmas traditions in a way that hasn’t stopped pulling at heartstrings yet.”

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Some tidbits related to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” At first, Charles Schulz and his associates didn’t think they’d be able to pull the project off for CBS. Production was crammed into five months and CBS executives were none too pleased with the results. Schulz insisted on the biblical passage, animator Bill Melendez and producer Lee Mendelson weren’t so sure.

The rush to production led to a few mistakes, like Schroeder’s fingers coming off the keyboard while music is playing, and Pig Pen mysteriously disappearing for a second. Plus the barren Christmas tree lost, and then regained, a couple of branches. They just didn’t have time to change it.

Melendez, by the way, wrote the lyrics to “Christmas Time Is Here” in 15 minutes on an envelope, after Vince Guaraldi had come up with the music.  A children’s choir recorded it just four days before the show premiered.

The show was a ratings smash when it premiered Dec. 9, 1965, on CBS.  

Separately, Mendelson recalled speaking to Schulz shortly before he died. “He said, ‘Good grief. That little kid’s never going to kick the football.’”

Linus [From “A Charlie Brown Christmas”]

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them. And they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

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Merry Christmas, gang!