Happy Tuesday, y’all!
Santaaaaaaa Claus a/k/a the OG Fat Boy is coming to town. May your Christmas be as great as Michael Bublé’s Christmas musical talents.
🛁 EXTRA BUBBLES 🛁
Costco Is Making A Massive Change To Their Food Court Menu
I never used to be a Costco guy. I thought it was overrated. I have to pay a membership fee to shop for groceries and other household items? Yeah, I’ll pass on that fraternity.
That was then. This is now — Costco is one of the greatest innovations in modern history. However, serving Pepsi products was a big ole chink in the armor. The thought and act of ordering a grade-A hot dog from the Costco food court is salivating and brings about indescribable emotions. And yet, those hard-working employees metaphorically punch customers in the throat with brass knuckles because the soda foundation machine disperses Pepsi products. Who in their right mind wants to quench their thirst with a friggin’ Pepsi? This isn’t Kendall Jenner’s America.
This is George Washington’s America. The land of the free, home of the brave. Pepsi is for a socialist country, probably a hit in Cuba. Coke is for a country where the bald eagle is the most badass animal in the land.
Costco presumably recognized that and “will slowly shift to Coca-Cola products throughout the beginning of 2025.”
🏆 SPORTZ 🏆
CFP RECAP
The 12-team College Football Playoff got underway last week. Nothing but blowouts, although that is not new to the College Football Playoff.
In the ten years of a FOUR team playoff, 14 of 30 games were decided by at least 20 points. This includes 5 of 10 title games.
No. 7 NOTRE DAME RB Jeremiyah Love put the Fighting Irish on the board first with a 98-yard rushing touchdown en route to a bullying victory over Indiana, 27-17. There was a lot of discourse about the Hoosiers not deserving a spot in the CFP. Indiana played an imbalanced schedule thanks to conference realignment engineered by the TV networks. Imbalanced schedules will likely continue to be the case. So if a team in the SEC or Big Ten goes 11-1 in the regular season, as Indiana did, they will make the 12-team playoff every time. It’s the reality of expanding the playoffs. By nature, there will inherently be “frauds.”
But I do have a bone to pick with Indiana. HC Curt Cignetti talked so much sh*t throughout the season and in the time leading up to the Friday night contest in South Bend. I have no problem with that. He made the Hoosiers a national story in short order. However, that demeanor must be matched on the gridiron, which was not the case. Down 20 to 3 with under 11 minutes in plus territory, Buddy Boy punted on 4th and 11. Talking mad sh*t off the field but quivering like a young boy and playing scared on the field screams to me that Cignetti is a phony. Tough to root for that.
At any rate, the Fighting Irish will face off against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, but they will be without star defensive tackle Rylie Mills for the remainder of the season due to a knee injury. No bueno. Georgia, meanwhile, will be without QB Carson Beck. Also no bueno.
The other home teams — No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Penn State, and No. 8 Ohio State —also dismantled their opponents. The version of Ohio State, in particular, that was on display Saturday night might just be the best team in the country. Throwing to WR Jeremiah Smith early and often makes a difference, who knew!
Eight teams remain. This is where the playoffs should start. However, that will not be a reality because there is more money with a 12-team playoff. (Any talk of a 14-team playoff should be set on fire with gasoline.) Regardless, in the future, I feel like the first round will be, more often than not, lopsided matchups between the non-blue blood teams that punched above their weight class during the regular season (Nos. 9-12) OR fringe SEC/B1G teams against teams that would have a legitimate case to be a four-team playoff participant. Can upsets occur? Of course, but they will likely be few and far between.
In sum, more postseason games actually matter, which is better than the meaningless NY6 bowl games with opt-outs left and right. However, blowouts in the Playoffs will continue to happen. That’s unappealing to some while leaving others unbothered.
Lines are per one of the major sportsbooks (no free ads)
Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31): No. 6 Penn State (-10.5) vs. No. 3 Boise State
Peach Bowl (Jan. 1): No. 5 Texas (-14) vs. No. 4 Arizona St.
Rose Bowl (Jan. 1): No. 8 Ohio State (-2) vs. No. 1 Oregon
Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1): No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Georgia (-1.5)
NFL WEEK 16 RECAP
COMMANDERS 36 Eagles 33: Washington QB Jayden Daniels might be the African American Harry Potter the way he continues to pull off wizardry. The former Heisman Trophy winner found Jamison Crowder in the back of the end zone with six seconds left to improve to 10-5. It’s the most wins for the franchise in a single season since 2012. But the victory probably should not have come to be. QB Kenny Pickett, who took over for Jalen Hurts after he suffered a concussion in the first quarter,1 had DeVonta Smith open on a slant route, but Smith evidently did not wipe his hands off after one too many Christmas cookies and dropped the third down pass with ~two minutes left in Washington territory. The Commanders outscored the Eagles 22-6 in the final frame.
VIKINGS 27 Seahawks 24: Did the Packers go into Seattle and spank the Seahawks with a belt? Yes, but that’s neither here nor there. QB Geno Smith connected with rookie TE AJ Barner for six on third and goal to take a 24-20 lead with under five minutes to play. On the ensuing drive, QB Sam Darnold wasn’t seeing ghosts — he was seeing Santa’s sleigh. He beautifully navigated the pocket and played pitch-and-catch with Justin Jefferson (10 receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns) for the eventual game-winning score.
I don’t know what to make of Minnesota as we head into the playoffs. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is a mastermind, as is offensive playcaller and head coach Kevin O’Connell, but Darnold has never started a playoff game and their rushing attack leaves a lot to be desired.
🤓 BATH TIME READING 🤓
BLAKE LIVELY VS. JUSTIN BALDONI
Blake Lively filed a 10-count complaint against Justin Baldoni, her “It Ends with Us” costar and the film’s director, as well as others last week, alleging sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate, prevent, and/or remedy harassment, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, aiding and abetting harassment and retaliation, false light invasion of privacy, and interference with prospective economic advantage. The lawsuit, filed with the California Civil Rights Department, is “a precursor to filing a discrimination lawsuit in California,” according to People.com.
Here are the allegations, and I’ll try to be as succint as possible because it’s Christmas time and I have gifts to wrap (which will appear like a 13-year-old child wrapped them) as I’m sure some of you do too.
Baldoni, as well as Jamey Heath, the lead producer and CEO of the film studio (Wayfarer), made Lively very uncomfortable on the set as they “repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.”
A meeting was held in Jan. 2024 to address the “hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production of the Film.” Baldoni, Heath, Lively, as well as Ryan Reynolds, Lively’s husband, among others, attended the meeting. The parties agreed to put the below parameters in place.
The film finished production in February 2024. It made its way to theaters in early August 2024 and has grossed over $350 million worldwide (~$148 million domestically). Quite a hit!
But in the time leading up to the film’s release, Baldoni went on the offensive and hired a PR crisis expert, Melissa Nathan, previously employed by Johnny Depp. Baldoni was concerned about his public image because “many of the Film’s cast and crew had unfollowed Mr. Baldoni on social media and were not appearing with him in public,” as alleged in the complaint. Nothing like getting nervous butterflies in your stomach when the homies unfollow you on Instagram.
Nathan reportedly “went hard at the press, pushing to prevent stories about Mr. Baldoni’s behavior and reinforce negative ones about Ms. Lively, the text messages show. Jed Wallace, a self-described ‘hired gun,’ led a digital strategy that included boosting social media posts that could help their cause. … The effort to tarnish Ms. Lively appears to have paid off. Within days of the film’s release, the negative media coverage and commentary became an unusually high percentage of her online presence, according to a forensic review she sought from a brand marketing consultant.”
TLDR: Baldoni & Co. led a smear campaign against Lively and it worked, so Lively filed a lawsuit to combat that.
WME, the same agency that represents Lively and Reynolds, dropped Baldoni as a client last week.
Will this fiasco go to trial? It is always a possibility. However, Gregory Doll, a partner at Doll Amir & Eley in California, told People.com that he “believes that mediation is more likely to occur in this case.”
If you chuckled and/or enjoyed it, make sure to forward it to others and/or share it on social. Any corrections, omissions, suggestions, etc., send 'em my way. Much love. -Tubz
Hurts gave a thumbs up to the officials to indicate he was good to go. That would have worked 10 years ago, but not today; CTE is real!