The Sportsletter - The Holiday Sports Primer 🎅

BY JEFF YODER

DEC. 20, 2024 |  SUBSCRIBE  |  WEB VIEW

Happy Friday 🙌

It’s the Holiday Sports Primer! Today’s newsletter will quickly recap yesterday’s top stories and highlights before launching into the 3-week must-watch list for your holiday viewing pleasure. From the College Football Playoffs to Christmas Day games and much more, we’ve got it all. It’s been a gift to write for all of you in 2024. Cheers to 2025! 🥂

🗓️ Holiday Schedule: The Sportsletter Team will start our holiday break today. There will be a few special editions over the holidays — Look out for The 2024 Sports Rewind (Dec. 31). We’ll return to your inbox on Monday, Jan. 6.

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  YESTERDAY'S NEWS   📰 

🏀 76ers’ $1.3 Billion Arena Approved After Philadelphia Council Vote (B/R)

⚾️ Cody Bellinger Shares Special Reason Why He Pushed for Yankees Trade (SI)

🏈 NFL Spices Up 2025 Pro Bowl With New Skills Events (CBS Sports)

🏈 Georgia Preparing for CFP Without QB Carson Beck (ESPN)

🏈 Chargers Execute NFL’s First Successful “Fair-Catch Kick’ in 48 Years (FOX Sports)

⚽️ Paul Pogba’s Brother Gets 3-Year Jail Term for Extortion (ESPN)

  YESTERDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS   🎥

🏈 NFL (Thursday Night Football)

Chargers def. Broncos (34-27)

Herbert (2 TDs) & L.A. End Denver’s 4-Game Win Streak

🏀 NBA

Spurs def. Hawks (133-126, OT)

Wemby Catches Fire, Goes for 42 Points

Knicks def. T-Wolves (133-107)

KAT (32 pts, 20 rebs) Wrecks Former Team

🏒 NHL

Penguins def. Predators (5-4, OT)

Sidney Crosby & Bryan Rust (4 Points Each)

Lightning def. Blues (3-1)

Nikita Kucherov Extends Point Streak to 9

⚽️ English Carabao Cup

Tottenham vs. Manchester United (4-3)

Spurs Win Late Thriller in Quarterfinals

🏐 NCAA Volleyball (Semifinals)

#1 Louisville def. #1 Pittsburgh (3-1)

#1 Penn State def. #1 Nebraska (3-2)

  HOLIDAYS  

The Holiday Sports Primer 🎅

Image via Giphy 

Merry Mayhem: Santa’s Bringing Sports for the Holidays & We’ve Got a Sneak Peek 👀

No matter how you celebrate this holiday season, if you’re here (in today’s newsletter), you’ve got your sights set on sports for Christmas. It’s the gift that’s never-ending throughout the next three weeks, continually renewed and re-wrapped every day. And even though we won’t be here each morning to tell you about it, we can set you up for success, from Christmas to New Year’s and everything in between. If your holiday wish-list includes watching sports, prepare to unwrap greatness. If you don't get what you want, you can always throw snowballs at Santa.

🎁 What’s On Your Holiday Sports Wish-List?

(Reply & Let Us Know)

Our Team’s Sports Wish-List

Jeff: Eagles to get No. 1 Seed in the NFC

Aaron: Penn State to Reach the CFP Semifinals

Marissa: Florida to Win Their Bowl Game

There are 40-plus bowl games, 7 Christmas Day games, a heavyweight boxing match and so much more in the weeks ahead. We’ll do our best to get you ready for the Merry Mayhem.

Drumroll Please...

The Holiday Sports Primer 🎅

  CFP  

The College Football Playoffs 🏆

Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images

The 1st-Ever 12-Team CFP Bracket Kicks Off Tonight… But We’re Already Bowling Across the Country

The most immediate (and most important) sport that dominates the holiday season is college football. It all starts tonight with a Hoosier State battle taking place just down the road from yours truly in South Bend, Indiana. The three remaining first-round games will hit back-to-back-to-back tomorrow (Saturday) before the 2nd Round trims the bracket to four teams before we return. We’ll be back in the driver’s seat for the semifinals and championship in January. Happy football!

🏈 College Football Playoff (1st Round)

#10 Indiana at #7 Notre Dame (Fri. 8:00 pm, ABC)

#11 SMU at #6 Penn State (Sat. Noon, TNT)

#12 Clemson at #5 Texas (Sat. 4:00 pm, TNT)

#9 Tennessee at #8 Ohio State (Sat. 8:00 pm, ABC)

🏆 2nd Round: Tues.-Wed. (Dec. 31-Jan. 1)

🏆 CFP Semifinal: Thurs.-Fri. (Jan. 9-10)

🏆 CFP Championship: Monday (Jan. 20)

🏈 Notable College Football Bowl Games

There are more than 40 bowl games this holiday season. You can find them all here. We picked the 5 non-CFP bowl games we’re most interested in watching.

Pop-Tarts Bowl

#18 Iowa State vs. #13 Miami (Dec. 28, 3:30 pm, ABC)

Valero Alamo Bowl

#17 BYU vs. #23 Colorado (Dec. 28, 7:30 pm, ABC)

ReliaQuest Bowl

#11 Alabama vs. Michigan (Dec. 31, Noon, ESPN)

Cheez-It Citrus Bowl

#15 S. Carolina vs. #20 Illinois (Dec. 31, 3:00 pm, ABC)

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

Duke vs. #14 Ole Miss (Jan. 2, 7:30 pm, ESPN)

Full Bowl Season Schedule

*All Times ET

  CHRISTMAS  

Christmas Day Games 🎄

Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

The NBA (5) & NFL (2) Gift-Wrap 7 Must-See Matchups on Christmas Day

America’s two most prominent pro sports leagues have a foothold on Christmas Day. The NBA’s Christmas slate has become a tradition where some of the most exciting matchups are front-and-center. LeBron James is already the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Christmas Day, but he can break a tie with former teammate Dwyane Wade for the most Christmas wins next week.

We’ll also get another round of Netflix’s live sports push with two NFL games on Christmas Day. You can check the next three weeks of NFL schedules using the links below.

🏈 NFL Christmas Day (Wed. Dec. 25)

Chiefs at Steelers (1:00 pm, Netflix)

Ravens at Texans (4:30 pm, Netflix)

NFL Week 16 Schedule

NFL Week 17 Schedule

NFL Week 18 Schedule (TBD)

🏀 NBA Christmas Day (Wed. Dec. 25)

Spurs at Knicks (Noon, ABC/ESPN)

T-Wolves at Mavericks (2:30 pm, ABC/ESPN)

76ers at Celtics (5:00 pm, ABC/ESPN)

Lakers at Warriors (8:00 pm, ABC/ESPN)

Nuggets at Suns (10:30 pm, ABC/ESPN)

Full NBA Holiday Schedule

*All Times ET

  NEW YEAR'S  

Boxing Day & New Year's Eve 🎉

Photo: Eliot J. Schechter / Getty Images

EPL's Boxing Day & The NHL Winter Classic Will Help Ring In the New Year

Between the holidays and the wait for Round 2 of the CFP, there’s plenty to keep us busy. Boxing Day (Dec. 26) is a timeless Premier League tradition that features most of the league’s notable teams in action, but there's nothing quite like outdoor hockey. NHL is almost daily throughout the holidays, but we’ve got our eyes on this year's Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on New Year’s Eve.

⚽️ EPL Boxing Day (Thurs. Dec. 26)

Man. City vs. Everton (7:30 am, NBC/Peacock)

Chelsea vs. Fulham (10:00 am, NBC/Peacock)

Nott. Forest vs. Tottenham (10:00 am, NBC/Peacock)

Liverpool vs. Leicester City (3:00 pm, NBC/Peacock)

Full Premier League Fixtures

🏒 NHL Winter Classic (Tues. Dec. 31)

Blackhawks vs. Blues (5:00 pm, TNT)

Game Site — Wrigley Field (Chicago)

Full NHL Holiday Schedule

*All Times ET

  SCHEDULE   🗓️

Other Holiday Sports to Watch ❄️

Beyond bowl season and professional team sports, there's something for everyone. Two other must-see events go down this weekend before a lengthy list of college basketball throughout the holidays. Enjoy! We'll see you again in 2025.

🥊 WBO Heavyweight Championship

Fury-Usyk 2 (Dec. 21, 2:00 pm, DAZN)

Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk (Saudi Arabia)

🏐 NCAA Volleyball Finals

#1 Louisville vs. #1 Penn State (Dec. 22, 3:00 pm, ESPN)

🏀 NCAA Men's Basketball Schedule

🏀 NCAA Women's Basketball Schedule

*All Times ET

Cheers to 2025! 🥂

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