The (Long) Weekend Lookahead: NBA, NFL, and some Bowl Games as a Highlight

Cs vs. Lakers? Champs Sports Bowl? Don't mind if we do.

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Read and watch the links in here, and you'll be more prepared for the X-Mas season than these guys.

Long weekend coming up, and to use Internet parlance: "We'll be dark." We're generally nice people, though (generally) so we're gonna help you structure the next four days of your life. Ready? Here we go.

THURSDAY: CHRISTMAS DAY
Wake up and do the presents thing. If you're lucky, TBS is showing this , and if you're really lucky, they're showing this. If you have small children, do two important things: hide the recent copy of US Weekly where celebrites talk about "when they found out Santa was fake" and if your kids complain about quality of gifts, explain this then 1-2 'em with this. We're kidding.

Sports-wise, lock in with Hornets/Magic early. If you're a Dwight Howard guy, read this. (Then watch this.) Chris Paul? Go ahead with this. Tyson Chandler? Here ya are. (We even got something for the James Posey fan.)

The marquee game of the day is Celtics/Lakers. Eh, what can we say about this? It'll be good, and fun, and everyone'll show up big. Have fun.

At night, there's a couple of options, but let's be honest: it's a family day, so spend time with 'em. (Some affiliates are showing a Honeymooners marathon, purportedly.) We'd say the kids can deal with Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories, but it's likely a lingering fascination with Keri Russell, who kinda looks like an ex of ours. (Blazers/Mavericks is a halfway decent game, too.)

FRIDAY: PERIODICALLY CHECK YOUR BLACKBERRY, PRETEND LOTS OF STUFF IS GOING ON DAY
Not much for you here. There's a boatload of movies you should check out, from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to last weekend's Yes Man and Seven Pounds. The Wrestler (cue Bill Simmons' take) is out too. At night, Central Michigan plays their bowl game. Dan LeFevour has college stats equivalent to Vince Young (granted, they weren't amassed in the Big 12). We referenced him in this video.

SATURDAY: "YOU KIDS WANT TO DO SOMETHING OUTSIDE?" "NAW, TOO COLD."
NBA-wise, ya got Utah/Houston, allowing you to rewatch this. There's also OKC/Washington, which means Kevin Durant is going home.

Some decent bowl games, too: WVU/UNC (read), Wisconsin/FSU (read) and Miami/California (read). While you're at it, read this and this. (If you're an Insider, there's a sweet Ryan McGee feature on bowl games off that last URL.)

SUNDAY: "OH MAN, AM I WORKING ON THE 29TH? UGH" DAY
NFL-wise, the most important game is Chargers/Broncos at night. If the Chargers win, two questions: (1) how dangerous are they in the playoffs? and (2) Where does that Broncos collapse rank? Ya like the Chargers, watch this. Other games of important: Lions/Packers (gawd, how bad can it get?), Cowboys/Eagles (watch this) and Ravens/Jaguars ( watch this). Vikings/Giants is kinda important, so you can watch this and this too. Jets/Dolphins should send Miami to the playoffs, but watch this to see a man trying to stop that from happening as he cooks an omelette. (The Dolphins have a few cooks on their team too.)

Here are the debates to have this weekend: (1) from a pop culture standpoint, who is going to get these Oscar nods? Field seems crowded, no? ; (2) from a NFL standpoint, what's the biggest storyline of the year: Matt Ryan, Chad Pennington, the Broncos' collapse, the Lions going 0-16?; (3) from a college football standpoint: are these bowls watering everything down? ; (4) from a college hoops standpoint: does any of this matter if UNC chokes in the Elite Eight? ; (5) from a Christmas standpoint: what's the best Christmas song ever? (Sneak Toby Keith's cover of "Little Drummer Boy" into the discussion.)

See ya Monday, friends. We'll rampantly speculate on the NFL playoffs, the NFL MVP race, and introduce ya to a new issue (hint: something Giants or Titans is going on the cover).

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