Weekend In Sports

Assuming you are not enmeshed in endless replays of A Christmas Story, you will probably want to watch sports. And you can!

Well, it’s that or talk to your loved ones. Bleh!

While your family inhales meals and leftovers and rehashes childhood misadventures, you can push the ON switch to that big, old 55-inch screen and give your eyes some holiday treats.

Your holiday weekend six-pack awaits …

The NBA, having decided that everyone should work on Christmas, is playing five games. This goes on from noon ET until, well, Dec. 26. We’re not so concerned about the players working – heck, they earn about $100,000 a game if they just sit on the bench. Pity the popcorn vendors and the folks who clean up the arena.

You’ve got the New Orleans Pelicans-Miami Heat at noon, Chicago Bulls-Oklahoma City Thunder at 2:30 p.m., Cleveland Cavaliers-Golden State Warriors at 5 p.m., San Antonio Spurs-Houston Rockets at 8 p.m., and Los Angeles Clippers-Los Angeles Lakers at 10:30 p.m. Yes, visions of basketballs are dancing in your head.

The picks here: Bulls-Thunder and Cavaliers-Warriors, in a rematch of the NBA Finals.

Your college bowl games are mostly mediocrities playing other mediocrities, but we’ll recommend one: The Independence Bowl on Saturday, matching Virginia Tech and Tulsa. Compelling? No. But it’s the venerable Frank Beamer’s last game with VT after 29 seasons and it should at least be emotional.

You get an NFL game on Saturday night. The Washington Redskins play the Philadelphia Eagles and a Redskins’ win gives them the NFC East Division title. They’ve been woofing at each other all week. Gonna be fun.

The Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals meet on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals already have won their division and they are good and fun to watch. So do it.

You may also want to take a peek at the New York Giants vs. Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night. The Giants need a win to stay alive but they will be without the ill-mannered Odell Beckham Jr., suspended by the NFL for behaving poorly during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. The Vikings clinch a playoff spot with a win.

There’s your holiday smorgasbord. Enjoy. Every once in a while, push yourself away from the TV and say, “I think I’m full now.”
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman