December 20, 2019: Star Wars, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker premieres. It officially concludes "The Skywalker Saga."
For most original Star Wars fans, it seemed hollow. As if The Walt Disney Company and producer-director J.J. Abrams had ruined the franchise, much the same way Abrams had ruined Star Trek with his 3 horrible movies with that label.
UPDATE: In 2025, I saw some Star Wars fans saying that Episode IX does not exist, and that "The Saga" ended with Episode VIII, unresolved and ambiguous. As if Episode VIII was any damn good. This is like Star Trek fans saying the Abrams films in that franchise don't exist.
Honestly, I was fine with Episode IX. Seeing old man Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) and Chewbacca (with Joonas Suotamo succeeding the late Peter Mayhew) finishing the job of their contemporaries -- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, who died before the release of Episode VIII, and whose scenes for Episode IX were built around outtakes) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) -- was great. Seeing "all the Sith," in the form of a cloned Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) defeated by "all the Jedi," in the form of Rey (Daisy Ridley), was very satisfying. And, of course, unlike George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones, George Lucas believes in happy endings.
As far as I was concerned, balance had been brought to The Force.
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December 20, 2019 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Two college football bowl games were played. The University of Buffalo beat the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 31-9 in the Bahamas Bowl, at Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in Nassau. And Kent State beat Utah State, 51-41 in the Frisco Bowl at Toyota Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas.
There were 10 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Miami Heat, 129-114 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 114-93 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 117-98 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Washington Wizards, 122-118 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Bradley Beal led all scorers on the night with 37 points.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 114-107 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings, 119-105 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now Gainbridge Fieldhouse_ in Indianapolis.
* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns, 126-108 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena (now the Paycom Center) in Oklahoma City.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 109-100 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* The Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 106-1012 at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Orlando Magic, 118-103 at the Moda Center in Portland. Damian Lillard scored 36.
There were 4 games played in the NHL:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-3 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Washington Capitals, 6-3 at the Prudential Center in Newark.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Dallas Stars, 7-4 at the BB&T Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* And the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
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