SNOWPOCALYPSE NOW: Oddly, even though NYC is north of Philly and DC, it's apparently going to miss the brunt of the major storm that's hitting those two cities shortly. Given that a substantial portion of our readership is in that mid-Atlantic area, it's time for an open thread for how you're dealing with the forthcoming storm, the status of supermarket and Wawa shelves, and how this yet against proves the infallibility of Punxsutawney Phil.

BRING BACK HIDY AND HOWDY! Meet your 2010 Vancouver Olympic mascots: Quatchi, "a young sasquatch from the mysterious forests of Canada;" Miga, a "sea bear" who likes salmon jerky and BC rolls; and Sumi, a hot cocoa drinking "animal spirit [who] wears the hat of the orca whale, flies with the wings of the mighty thunderbird and runs on the strong furry legs of the black bear."

HECK, HE'S TWO YEARS TOO YOUNG TO BE RECEIVING ADVICE FROM TAYLOR SWIFT: I'm just going to say this whole college football recruiting thing has gotten out of hand:

David Sills, a highly-touted youth quarterback, made a verbal commitment tonight to accept a college football scholarship from USC.

Sills is not even in high school yet. He is a seventh-grader at Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear.

Red Lion high school varsity coach Eric Day confirmed the decision by Sills tonight, also confirming that USC coach Lane Kiffin made the scholarship tonight to the 13-year-old Sills.

...Sills will be able to sign a letter of intent in February 2015, unless of course NCAA regulations have changed by then.

Sills was already being profiled by SI when he was 11.

RAZZMATAZZ: The Office and 30 Rock were depressing for different reasons tonight -- the former for that poignant David Wallace sequence, the latter because I wish Jan Hooks never had to age (though she's only 11 years older than Jane Krakowski) and because the show's simply seen better days. So I'm looking forward to what comes next with the Dunder-Mifflin/Sabre merger, but it's been a long time since Tina Fey's show has tasted a rainbow.

N.B. The referenced Diff'rent Strokes episode "Where There's Smoke" is online in its entirety.

BOY, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY: I love how this list of five players who had very bad Super Bowl weeks starts with rather benign incidents like Thurman Thomas losing his helmet in 1992 and Jeremy Stevens doing a little trash talking in 2006, but really takes a turn toward the ugly with Eugene Robinson's arrest for soliciting a prostitute the night before the 1999 game (on the same day he got an award for his morals and character) and Stanley Wilson's coke binge the night before the 1989 Super Bowl. At least no Super Bowl player has ever thrown a trident at someone leading up to the game.

MAYBE IF BAT BOY IS ON THE JURY:Apparently, The National Enquirer has submitted its coverage of the John Edwards affair to the Pulitzer Prize board for consideration. Unsurprisingly, media-types are jumping mad about it. We're still waiting for our Pulitzer over here, but we're not holding our breath.

THERE'S ONLY ONE WORSE THING THAN A NICKNAME THAT IS CUTE, AND IT'S ONE THAT'S CUDDLY: Hot Stove action -- THT's Chris Jaffe ranks MLB franchises on the quality of their nicknames, while Larry Grannilo assesses their stadium statuary (and, on that basis, Rob Neyer suggests what statues various stadiums should add).

Isaac will be amused that his Mariners placed first in one list, and last in the other.