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Merry Christmas everyone! WFNY will still be running today with everything to get you ready for the big Lakers/Cavs match-up at 5:00 pm tonight. Hope you are having a wonderful holiday and stick around the site to leave your thoughts on all the action. As always, While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

It’s a shamockery that record-setting RB Jerome Harrison was not player of the week in the AFC: “On Wednesday, the NFL announced the AFC Offensive Player of the Week was Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. In Pittsburgh’s 37-36 last-second win over Green Bay on Sunday, Roethlisberger became the 10th quarterback since 1950 to throw for 500 yards or more. He finished 26-for-46 passing for 503 yards and three touchdowns.” [Don Delco/NoLogoNeeded.com]

But the good news is that at least his family was there to witness his career day: “Jerome and Debbie Persell’s golden wedding anniversary came 18 years early. Their son, Browns running back Jerome Harrison, decided to fly his parents from Kalamazoo, Mich., to Kansas City for the game last Sunday against the Chiefs so they could spend the weekend celebrating their 32 years of marriage. His aunt and five cousins from Columbia, Mo., also drove in to see Harrison play for what he said might have been the first time in decades. What a show they saw.” [Marla Ridenour/Akron Beacon Journal]

Blackout watch is back and the NFL granted yet another extension to the Brownies: “The Browns have been granted a 48-hour extension by the NFL to avoid their first TV blackout since their expansion return. A Browns spokesman says the league has given the club until Saturday at 1 p.m. to sell the remaining tickets for Sunday’s game against Oakland or the game will not be shown within a 75-mile radius. The league typically gives teams an extra 24 hours but extended for the Browns because of the Christmas holiday.” [Matt Loede/Browns Gab]

Another open letter to Owner Randy, with some thoughts on what this year means for the franchise as a whole: “Dear Mr. Lerner: Happy holidays! Tis the season, you know. But while we hope the holiday season has been a happy one for you thus far, we know the football season hasn’t. In fact, it’s been miserable for everyone – you, your team, your organization and your fans.” [Steve King/The Orange and Brown Report]

This article is a few days old now, but it is intriguing because of the names it mentions as well as the insider perspective from the Green Bay area: “Mike Holmgren is running an NFL team again, so don’t be surprised if he raids the personnel department of the Green Bay Packers like he did when he went to the Seattle Seahawks in 1999. Hired this week as president of the Cleveland Browns, Holmgren is looking for a general manager and almost surely a new coach.” [Pete Dougherty/Green Bay Press Gazette]

Love reading salary cap articles and this one is a keeper as the Cavaliers begin their quest for potential trade offers this season: “With NBA gate receipts down less than anticipated, the doomsday scenario of a $6-7 million drop in the salary cap for the 2010-11 season now seems overly pessimistic. Everyone still expects the cap to go down heading into the summer of 2010 when the league will have one of its strongest free agent classes in years, but by how much? ESPN.com has been digging around for preliminary cap projections, and here is what we have uncovered.” [Chris Sheridan/True Hoop]

Neil Paine is one of the best basketball statisticians out there and his newest power rankings show how Christmas brings us the NBA Semifinals, with #1 playing #4 and #2 hosting #3. [Basketball-Reference.com Blog]

Yuk ‘Duk. First, he forgot to even include Cleveland in the top 10 playoff disappointments of the decade, and then he reminded us of the epic collapse to the Sox: “The second of Boston’s big comeback victims, the Indians were up 3-1 in the ALCS and were looking forward to picking Jose Mesa off the hook for his collapse in 1997. But this being Cleveland, the Indians were outscored 30-5 over the final three games to provide another sports-related disappointment to the fine people of northern Ohio.” [Kevin Kaduk/Big League Stew]

For the final link of the morning, a look at the rumor speculation about former Indian utility man Mark DeRosa and his potential two-year deal with the SF Giants. [MLB Trade Rumors]