Sarni's Scrolls: NFL Friday Afternoon "fights"

By Jim Sarni

  Black Friday Football.

The NFL's newest tradition televised by Amazon on the biggest shopping day of the year.

The perfect marriage of content and commerce. It could change the future of live sports advertising for good.

The content: The Dolphins are visiting the Jets in New York, which just happens to be the retail capital of the U.S.

Important: Amazon, which televises the Thursday Night Football package, is removing the Prime paywall for the 3 p.m. EST game. That will insure Amazon's biggest football audience yet.

Football fans and shoppers will receive "interactive" ads, giving viewers a way to buy products during the game.

Amazon will also have seven Black Friday deals, for brands like Dyson, Lego and Nintendo, mentioned on the broadcast throughout the event. Viewers without an Amazon-brand TV will be served up a QR code to direct them to a page to buy the product.

Happy shopping... and consider there's so much more Amazon could do in the future.

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Joel Klatt, who will call Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan showdown with Gus Johnson (noon, Fox), expects a low-scoring game.

"These two teams are the top two scoring defenses in America," Klatt said on his podcast.

"I don't think we'll see the explosion of points we saw in '21 or last year in 2022..

 Possessions will be at a premium because both these defenses have a similar philosophy, and that philosophy banks on the fact that they are going to put the pressure on the offense to execute time and time again.

"These are defenses that aren't going to give up the big play. You force the offense to execute 10, 12, 13 times in order to score, and that's hard to do... particularly under pressure like the pressure of this game."

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Messi Mania extends to his closet.

A set of six jerseys that Lionel Messi wore during last year's World Cup are being put up for auction by Sotheby's next week.

The auction house expects bids to be in excess of $10 million, with the sale poised to becoming one of the "most valuable collection of sports memorabilia at auction yet."

If achieved, the price for the set would surpass a jersey worn by Michael Jordan in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Final, which sold for $10.1 million at Sotheby's last year.

The current record for a match-worn item of soccer memorabilia is held by legend Diego Maradona and his "Hand of God" shirt that Sotheby's sold for $9.3 million last year.

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The LIV Golf League announced its 14-event 2024 schedule, one that will be condensed by a month compared to the 2023 slate and have five new domestic venues as well as three different international locations.

 Three of the dates will go directly against Signature events on the PGA Tour and the other is being played in Las Vegas, the same week the Super Bowl is staged in Nevada

.■ Feb. 2-4: Mayakoba, Mexico■ Feb. 8-10: Las Vegas■ March 1-3: Jeddah■ March 8-10: Hong Kong ■ April 5-7: Florida ■ April 26-28: Adelaide ■ May 3-5: Singapore■ June 7-9: Houston ■ June 21-23: Nashville ■ July 12-14: Valderrama ■ July 26-28: England ■ Aug. 16-18: The Greenbrier ■ Sept. 13-15: Chicago (Not yet official)■ Sept. 20-22: Dallas (Not yet official)***For the first time, the Premier Lacrosse League has unveiled home markets for its eight teams:■ Boston Cannons■ California Redwoods■ Carolina Chaos■ Denver Outlaws■ Maryland Whipsnakes■ New York Atlas■ Philadelphia Waterdogs ■ Utah Archers

The PLL will continue its traveling model in 2024, while laying the foundation to have its franchises settle down eventually.

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WEEKEND WATCH

DAVIS CUPSemifinals ■ Friday: Finland vs. Australia■ Saturday: Serbia vs. ItalyFinal■ Sunday: Semifinal winners

MLS CUPQuarterfinals

■ Saturday: East -- Columbus (3) at Orlando (2); Philadelphia (4) at Cincinnati (1)■ Sunday: West -- Kansas City (8) at Houston (4); LAFC (3) at Seattle (2)

.NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER Quarterfinals■ Friday: Nebraska (5) at Stanford (2); Pitt (7) at FSU (1); North Carolina (3) at BYU (1).■ Saturday: Penn St. (2) at Clemson (1)***

ETC.

■ Thanksgiving Day football was boring... Thanksgiving Day college basketball was fantastic.

■ NBA In-Season Tournament: Lakers and Pacers have clinched two of eight berths in the Knockout stage. There are 10 games on Friday.

■ LeBron James is the first NBA player to score 39,000 points.

■ Fox honored John Madden with a coin and uniform patches on Thanksgiving.

■ "Bye Bye Barry," a new documentary on the Detroit Lions Hall of Fame running back, debuted Tuesday on Amazon Prime.

■ Mikeala Shiffrin seeks to add to all-time record total at the FIS World Cup at Killington... Saturday: Giant Slalom, 1, NBC; Sunday: Slalom, 12:30; NBC.

■ UConn's Azzi Fuud is out for the season with a torn ACL and medial meniscus tear in her right knee.

■ Friday's Iowa-Nebraska game features the lowest Over/Under betting total in college football history -- 25.5.

■ Pittsburgh and Wisconsin will play in Dublin to open the 2027 college football season.

■ Soccer stars Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis have been engaged for three months.

■ Deion Sanders thought Mt. Rushmore is in California.

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■ Dolly Parton dressed up in a Cowboys cheerleader outfit and performed at halftime of the Washington-Dallas Thanksgiving Day game. Dynamite.

■ Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have been contacted by Disney to reprise their Woody and Buzz Lightyear roles in "Toy Story 5."

■ Jenna Ortega will not be in "Scream 7."

■ K-pop group Blackpink were made Honorary Members of the British Empire for their support of climate change.

■ Daryl Hall is suing John Oates. Say it ain't so.

■ The Golden Globes will air on CBS in 2024.

■ Variety headline: "Squid Game Reality Show Is As Dystopian As It Sounds -- And Impossible To Stop Watching."

■ Bookshelf: "The Race To Be Myself" by Caster Semenya. The world champion runner offers an empowering account of her extraordinary life and career, and her trailblazing battle to compete on her own terms.

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THEY SAID IT

■ "Excuse me for a second. Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? It's got no class. It's not who we are." -- San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, using the microphone to tell the Spurs crowd to stop booing Kawhi Leonard during his free throws.

■ "That's a big moment. Let's be honest. The sideline erupted. It's good to celebrate and you need to. You need to smell the roses when you walk through the garden, as our guys did today." -- Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy after DaRon Bland set an NFL record with his fifth interception return for a touchdown this season.

■ "He stretched his little, short legs and hands and flew around the ring." -- Margery Good, the handler of Stache the Sealyham terrier, who won Best of Show at the National Dog Show on Sunday.

■ "Anybody who was on a swimming team knows it's the most miserable sport in the world." -- Actor Paul Giamatti on "Late Show With Seth Meyers."

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Jim Sarni, BC Class of '69, is a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He resides in Fort Lauderdale and watches a lot of television. If you have a comment or an opinion, we'd love to hear from you Jksarni@aol.com