Sarni's Scrolls: Is This The End For Burkhart and Olsen?

Fox has Brady ready to assume No. 1 analyst's role next season

Kevin Burkhart and Greg Olsen were excellent as usual in calling the 49ers' 34-31 victory over the Lions in Sunday's NFC Championship Game on Fox.

Clear, balanced, enthusiastic.

They're a notch below ESPN's Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, several cuts above CBS's Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.

But Sunday was probably it for the pair with Tom Brady waiting in the wings to take over the No. 1 analyst job at the network.

Fox signed the former quarterback to a 10-year, $375 million contract.

So what happens to the talented Olsen?

Brady could change his mind about a TV career, but probably not.

Does Olsen, 38, settle for Fox's No. 2 analyst job with Joe Davis? With a big pay cut. ($10 million to around $3 million).

Brady could flop. Or Tom's NFL ownership aspirations could take him out of the booth after a few seasons.

Olsen could be reunited with Burkhardt.

Another top analyst job could open up.

Olsen is too good for a studio job. Plus, that pays peanuts compared to the high-profile booth.

Fox could solve its dilemma by creating a three-man booth with both Brady and Olsen. A smart network move because it would ease a rookie announcer's transition.

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Chiefs-49ers may not be the Super Bowl most people wanted, but it's the big game we've got.

Two distinguished franchises that played like champions when it counted will clash Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.

The pressure of the moment proved to be too much for both the Ravens and Lions.

Kansas City-San Francisco is a rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl 54 in Miami, won by the Chiefs 31-20.

The defending champion Chiefs are in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years.

The 49ers are in the Super Bowl for the second time in five years.

The 49ers will try to win their sixth Super Bowl to tie the Patriots and Steelers for the most. But it's been 29 years since the last championship.

The Chiefs will try to win their fourth Super Bowl.

The 49ers opened as 2.5-point favorites.

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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s celebratory embrace and kiss after the Chiefs won the AFC Championship game has prompted a "One Tree Hill" throwback.

After videos and photos of Swift and Kelce celebrating the football win were shared on social media, some users recalled a similar scene between Hilary Burton’s Peyton Sawyer and Chad Michael Murray‘s Lucas Scott in The WB/The CW drama series.

Burton reposted an X post that put both moments side-by-side with the actress adding, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Lucas and Peyton were celebrating a basketball championship in the drama series.

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"SNL" set this week's Cold Open at Sunday's Ravens-Chiefs AFC championship game.

Jim Nantz (James Austin Johnson) and Tony Romo (Andrew Dismukes) pregame. Dismukes laments that it’s the last football game of the year “for just us guys.” The Super Bowl doesn't count as it's about commercials and Usher.

They kick it to "The NFL Today": James Brown (Kenan Thompson), Bill Cowher (Mikey Day), Nate Burleson (Devon Walker) and Phil Simms (Michael Longfellow).

Kenan, who played Brown in a 2021 skit, admits he never watches the Pro Bowl.

Andy Reid (Molly Kearney), interviewed on the field, is excited to see Taylor Swift again.

The football commentators get emotional over the decline of their culture, and the end of the season. Barbie’s Oscar snub is discussed.

"What are men supposed to do on Sundays? Just go to their friends’ houses for no reason?” 

The existential crisis concludes with a spoof version of the "Fast & Furious" anthem “See You Again.”

Good idea, lousy execution. I give it a C.

***

Emotional Moment I at the U.S. Figure Skating championships: Amber Glenn.

The 24-year-old won gold in her sixth U.S. championship appearance. Heartwarming.

Glenn's victory over defending champion Isabeau Levito, also made her the first openly LGBTQ+ skater to win the U.S. women's title.

"Being the first openly queer women's champion is incredible. When I came out originally, I was terrified and I was scared it would affect my scores or something, but I didn't care. It was worth it to see, over the last couple of years, the amount of young people that feel more comfortable in their environments at the rink."

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Emotional Moment II at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

Chock and Bates fought through illness to win their fifth U.S. ice dance title.

Chock developed flu-like symptoms, including a fever, on Friday. Bates felt the same on Saturday, if not earlier. They made a final decision to compete after their warm-up, about a half-hour before their free dance.

They were determined to win.

"It was really thanks to Madi,” Bates told Andrea Joyce. “I was really on the fence about whether I wanted to do it today, to be honest, but she’s so tough and so strong. She wasn’t feeling well, either. We just put our will power together and gutted through it and thought, you know what, if this is our last nationals, we definitely want to go out there and perform.”

"I need a drink," said NBC analyst Johnny Weir, drained by all the drama.

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Emotional Moment at the Farmers Insurance Open: Matthieu Pavon.

Pavon became the first player to win a PGA Tour event under the French flag since World War II when he made an 8-foot putt on No. 18 at Torrey Pines South on Saturday for a dramatic birdie and a one-shot victory.

"It is big for our country,” the 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie said. “I hope it will inspire a lot of people, because coming from an amateur player which is 800 in the world to a PGA Tour winner is pretty big."

Pavon carries a curious tattoo on his right hand, which in English, says: "The saliva that flows now will become the tears of joy tomorrow."

Pavon said: "Professional sports require a very high level and it is very difficult to win. This phrase is to remind me that you have to work hard to win and that sometimes will make you cry because of the effort it entails."

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ETC.

■ Thursday's thrilling LSU-South Carolina women's basketball game was the most-viewed telecast of the night, outrating two national NBA games.

■ The Edmonton Oilers' winning streak is now 16 games, one off the Penguins' record, heading into the All-Star break.

■ The Los Angeles Clippers beat the  Celtics 115-96 in Boston on Saturday to improve to 22-4 since Dec. 1.

■ Preakness winner National Treasure outlasted Senor Buscador to win the $3 million Pegasus Cup on Saturday at Gulfstream.

■ Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner won Australian Open titles...  Sabalenka did not lose a set in winning her second straight Aussie... Sinner rallied from a two-set deficit against Daniil Medvedev to win his first major... Great 15 days of tennis Down Under. Attendance: $1.1 million, a Grand Slam record. 

■ No. 2 Boston College swept No. 1 Boston University in a home-and-home college hockey series over the weekend.

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■ Jalen Ramsey on new Atlanta coach Raheem Morris: "The Falcons got one of, if not the best coach in the NFL."

■ The NWSL Kansas City Current will play its first match in its new $117 million stadium -- the first built specifically for women's soccer -- against the Portland Thorns, March 16 on ABC... The NWSL is introducing the first direct-to-consumer streaming platform.

■ Royal Caribbean International is Inter Miami's new front-of-jersey sponsor.

■ Amazon announced a new sports docuseries "The Money Game," which will focus on the impact NIL has made within LSU, including athletes Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese and Livvy Dunne.

■ Simone Biles is on the cover of  "Vanity Fair", wearing something I can't really describe. The greatest gymnast of all time opens up about life as a newlywed, her recovery from Tokyo, and what's ahead -- including Paris.

■ Cliff Romme, a 77-year-old golfer from Arizona, shot two holes-in- one in the same round (in a four-round stretch). The odds: 67 million to 1. Romme bought a lottery ticket on the way home...and lost.

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■ "Top Gun 3" is in the works.

■ "Time Out's" Best Cities in the World right now: 1. New York, 2. Cape Town, 3. Berlin, 4. London, 5. Madrid, 6. Mexico City, 7. Liverpool, 8. Tokyo, 9. Rome, 10. Porto, Portugal.

■ Diana Ross, 79, is the face of Saint Laurent's spring 2024 campaign.

■ Keanu Reeves is set to publish "The Book of Elsewhere" with co-author China Mieville in July. Inspired by Reeves's comic-book series BRZRKR.

■ Watch: "Griselda," starring Sofia Vergara as a notorious drug lord. Netflix.

■ Oprah Winfrey turns 70 on Jan. 29.

■ Fruit Stripes gum is being discontinued after 50 years.

■ In-N-Out will close a store location for the first time in its 75-year history. Crime at the Oakland location is to blame.

■ Social media personality Alix Earle gave the "Riders up!" shout at the Pegasus Cup. The Miami resident has 6.1 million Tik Tok followers.

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THEY SAID IT

■ "It is that I am, how can I say this, running out of energy." -- Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who will leave the club at the end of the season.