Sports ‘n Stuff!

The Pittsburgh Steelers dropped their third straight in a 27-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals last night. The Steelers entered Monday night’s game as a 14.5-point favorite. When you factor in the Rams’ loss to the Jets on Sunday—it marked just fourth time in the Super Bowl era–that two underdogs of 14-plus points won outright.

At least for this year, the “Is ‘Die Hard’ a Christmas movie?” debate has officially been put to bed…by the film’s director, John McTiernan. His answer? A definitive “yes,” it IS a Christmas movie…although it wasn’t intended to be. McTiernan says the joy that came from creating something that was so different and underground for the time ended up filling everyone with an unexpectedly festive feeling. Yippie-Ki-Yay, MF’er! 

Here are all the clinching scenarios for the Browns to make the playoffs

Browns could still win the division by winning out and a Pittsburgh loss to Indy next week

Cleveland win & Baltimore loss or tie or Cleveland win & Miami loss or tie or 

Cleveland win & Indy loss or 

Cleveland tie & Baltimore loss or 

Cleveland tie & Miami loss

If you haven’t done your holiday shopping yet you don’t have much time left to get it done, but you are far from the only person waiting until the last minute to check off all the items on your gift list.

A new LendingTree survey finds:

• 19% of shoppers say they wait until the last minute to do their holiday shopping.
• The top item last-minute shoppers wait to purchase is sporting goods, with a 194% increase compared to the monthly average.
• Other categories that see a huge amount of last minute shopping include:
  • Toys (193%)
  • Cards and Stationary (163%)
  • Jewelry and Watches (153%)
  • Furniture and Home Décor (137%)
  • Bookstores (128%)

The average shopper will spend the most on December 23rd and 24th at outlet stores, about $266, followed by jewelers and watchmakers, where they’ll spend about $231.

Both the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots are over 300-million-dollars. The next Mega Millions drawing is tonight with the jackpot standing at an estimated 330-million-dollars. The cash option for that is almost 253-million. The Powerball jackpot is an estimated 321-million-dollars. The cash option is 247-million for the drawing that’ll happen on tomorrow.

By all accounts,J ames Harden will soon be on his way to a new NBA franchise and city. Where he ends up is still a mystery, but there may be some clues as to where he ends up…strip clubs.

• New Orleans Pelicans – A population of 391K, 23 total strip clubs 
• Atlanta Hawks – A population of 498K and 30 clubs.
• Miami Heat – A population of 470K and 20 clubs
• Toronto Raptors – A population of 2.93 million and 17 clubs.
• Portland Trailblazers – A population of 653K and 54 clubs.

Tropicana is apologizing for its most recent mimosa-themed ad campaign, following a wave of backlash on social media. The company launched its “Take-A-MiMoment” campaign earlier this month, urging parents to hide orange juice and champagne around the house for a drink when they need a break. However, many social media users and sobriety groups said the campaign’s message was irresponsible, as it encouraged secretive alcohol consumption. In a statement, Tropicana said they never meant to downplay the struggles of addiction, and announced they’re stopping the advertisements altogether.

It might be a good idea to add “sleep more” to your list of New Year’s resolutions. That’s because a new study from Serta Simmons Bedding found Americans collectively lost 30-billion hours of sleep since the coronavirus pandemic started. About 139-million Americans admitted the pandemic led to them becoming a night owl and staying up later than normal.

Quarterback Justin Fields repeated as offensive player of the year and is joined by two of his teammates on the Associated Presses All-Big Ten football team. They are Offensive lineman Wyatt Davis & Massillon’s Thayer Mumford.

In more Buckeye football news. On the heels of one of their greatest recruiting classes, the Buckeyes are now a top candidate to land 4 star Linebacker recruit Raesjon Davis, the No. 4 rated outside linebacker and No. 48 player overall recently decomitted from LSU.

Today is Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Today in

Sports History

1962 – Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers, was on the cover of TIME magazine. 

1996 – Vinny Testaverde (Baltimore Ravens) became the eighth quarterback in NFL history to pass for 4,000 yards and throw at least 30 touchdown passes in a single season. 

Celebrity Birthdays 

Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) – 70