The stage, the scene, the setting, the ambiance, the picture could not be more perfect for this

Friday in Indianapolis and central Indiana for so much that is going on.

For example, we are now entering into the weekend that a lot of people are probably just

going to make one long weekend heading into Christmas Eve and Christmas.

And Santa Claus has arrived early for Indiana sports fans.

He arrived last night in the desert and delivered vintage Tyrese Halliburton with double-digit

assists and Pascal Siakum running the floor and Obie Topin giving them quality minutes and Ben Shepard coming off the bench and Indiana, the Pacers, controlling a game for their third straight win coming on the road against Phoenix.

Santa Claus delivered.

Santa Claus delivered in the fact that the narrative or the thought process was

the Colts need the L.A. Chargers to lose on Thursday night football to keep the

Colts' playoff hopes alive statistically and the best option.

And Santa basically delivered like Lee Corso and said, not so fast, my friends.

Because if the Chargers beat the Broncos, all you need now is for the Bengals, I believe this is correct,

for the Bengals to now go, if the Bengals go unbeaten from here on out,

and is it the Broncos go unbeaten from here on out,

the Colts, no, the Broncos lose out, the Colts went out, the Bengals went out. The Colts, no, the Broncos lose out.

The Colts win out, the Bengals went out, the Colts are in.

Okay?

Because then there's this weird thing where if there's more than one team in a tie,

different tiebreakers come into place.

So there were still variables where Santa, you thought that it was fading fast,

and Santa showed that there was still

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