Por Hannah Keyser, CNN

Y un día quedaron cuatro.

Un par de partidos más decididos en tiempo extra (y otros, digamos, más desiguales) en la ronda divisional nos han llevado a los campeonatos de conferencia.

Este fin de semana se decidirá quién juega el Super Bowl LX. Claro, ese es el gran partido, pero estos duelos deciden las historias y los personajes que dominarán la final en el Levi’s Stadium el 8 de febrero.

Más de 120 millones de personas vieron el Super Bowl el año pasado, más que cualquier otro programa de televisión en Estados Unidos. Cuando sintonicen, verán a dos de los equipos que mencionamos a continuación. Los otros dos lo verán desde casa junto al resto de nosotros.

Domingo

• 3:00 pm, hora de Miami: Patriots de Nueva Inglaterra vs. Broncos de Denver. Final de la AFC.
• 6:30 pm, hora de Miami: Rams de Los Ángeles vs. Seahawks de Seattle. Final de la NFC.

Esa es la pregunta.

¿Ha habido alguna vez un latigazo deportivo más grande que la victoria de los Broncos sobre los Bills de Buffalo en tiempo extra, solo para que el entrenador Sean Payton regresara al podio después de sus comentarios postpartido para anunciar algunas “malas noticias” a los medios?

Bo Nix, el quarterback de segundo año de Denver, sufrió una lesión de tobillo que le puso fin a la temporada en una de las últimas jugadas del partido. No sería titular en el partido por el Campeonato de la AFC; en su lugar estará Jarrett Stidham.

Stidham, el quarterback suplente, no ha lanzado un pase en un partido de la NFL desde la Semana 18 de 2023. Los Broncos fueron el único equipo de la NFL, tanto esta temporada como la anterior, cuyo quarterback suplente ni siquiera intentó un pase. Así que, naturalmente, ese jugador será titular en el partido más importante de Denver en una década. Irónicamente, será contra el equipo que lo seleccionó en el puesto 133 del draft en 2019.

Los Broncos jugarán en casa, donde al menos tienen una ventaja considerable. Sin embargo, la realidad es que el destino de su temporada depende del rendimiento de Stidham, quien acumula ocho touchdowns y ocho intercepciones en su carrera, en una circunstancia sumamente inusual.

Históricamente, los quarterbacks suplentes ya han llegado lejos en los playoffs, pero eso suele ocurrir después de asumir el control en la temporada regular, no una semana antes del campeonato de conferencia.

Cuando perdió el puesto titular ante Nix antes de la temporada 2024, Stidham dijo que estaba decepcionado, pero que estaría listo para jugar cuando fuera necesario y que “no tenía dudas de tener el calibre para titular en la liga”.

Los aficionados de los Broncos esperan que la confianza se mantenga ante la difícil oportunidad de demostrarlo. Y que esté justificada.

Si hubiera querido provocar la ira de algunos aficionados en Boston, podríamos haber hecho esta pregunta: ¿son los Patriots buenos o simplemente tienen suerte?

Su narrativa al salir de la temporada regular era el calendario accesible y qué tanto pudo haber influido en el increíble giro del equipo de un año a otro.

Luego llegaron aquí en parte debido a una extraña crisis del quarterback de los Texans de Houston, CJ Stroud, el fin de semana pasado.

Y ahora se enfrentan a un mariscal de campo suplente, un hecho que ha distorsionado drásticamente las expectativas del enfrentamiento.

Ahora se considera que los Patriots, ganadores de solo cuatro juegos en cada una de las últimas dos temporadas, tienen un camino claro y encantador hacia el Super Bowl.

No obstante, sin Nix para los Broncos, esta semana no tendremos respuesta a esa pregunta. Los Pats ganarán o perderán sin tener la oportunidad de demostrar que pueden vencer a un gran equipo con to

By Rocío Muñoz-Ledo, Avery Schmitz, Michael Rios, CNN

Mexico City (CNN) — Mexican authorities are working to find a content creator with ties to the US who disappeared in the Mexican state of Sinaloa this week, after a viral video appeared to show her being abducted at gunpoint in broad daylight.

Footage purportedly filmed by cameras on her Tesla vehicle — a lilac Cybertruck — appear to show the moment several armed men violently force Nicole “La Nicholette” Pardo into another car.

The Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office has circulated a missing persons bulletin, saying that Pardo was last seen on January 20 in the Isla Musalá neighborhood of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico.

CNN has geolocated the footage of the apparent abduction to that same neighborhood.

CNN has contacted the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office to confirm the authenticity of the video and whether it is part of the investigation, and is waiting for a reply.

Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Thursday that the vehicles allegedly involved in Pardo’s disappearance are being tracked and that state authorities reported the incident immediately to the federal government. “We will provide detailed information until she is recovered,” Harfuch said during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press briefing.

According to what appears to be her Instagram account, the young woman splits her time between Culiacán and Phoenix, Arizona. Public records show she has an address in Phoenix.

CNN has reached out to the Phoenix Police Department for comment.

A spokesperson for the US State Department said it is aware of reports of the situation and is actively monitoring it.

The spokesperson did not explicitly confirm if Pardo is an American citizen but said: “The Trump Administration has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens, and the State Department stands ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance to Americans in need abroad.”

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office told CNN that Mexican authorities have not reached out to offer to collaborate on the investigation but said that it “stands ready to assist in any way possible.”

Pardo is 20 years old, according to the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office. She is a prominent voice online, where she has amassed more than 180,000 followers on Instagram and more than 145,000 on TikTok. She also has a YouTube channel and an OnlyFans account.

Her posts often show aspects of her personal life, including buying luxury vehicles, and her participation in local events, like the Saladazo, a motorized route through rural roads and natural areas south of Culiacán.

She is featured in the 2022 corrido song “La Muchacha del Salado,” recorded by Grupo Arriesgado, which has accumulated over 27 million views on YouTube.

La Nicholette’s disappearance comes amid heightened violence against women in Sinaloa and across Mexico. According to official figures from the Attorney General’s Office, the state ended 2025 with 72 femicides, the highest number recorded in the last seven years and more than double the 31 recorded cases in 2024.

More broadly, Sinaloa has seen 7,000 of the 132,000 disappearances reported across Mexico since the first cases were recorded in 1952, according to a national register.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – A 65-year-old incarcerated man, held for elder abuse charges, died after being found unresponsive in his cell Thursday, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

Custody staff did normal 15-minute interval checks when the man did not respond from his single cell around 4:00 p.m. Thursday, according to the SBCSO.

Firefighters and medics took the man to a local area hospital, where he suffered cardiac arrest and could not be resuscitated, according to the SBCSO.

First responders ruled the man dead at the hospital just after 11:00 p.m. Thursday and a preliminary investigation indicates natural causes as the result, according to the SBCSO.

The man's next court hearing was scheduled for Feb. 11, and a full death investigation is underway for an official cause and manner of death, according to the SBCSO.

The post Incarcerated man ruled dead after found unresponsive in cell appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – A 65-year-old incarcerated man, held for elder abuse charges, died after being found unresponsive in his cell Thursday, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

Custody staff did normal 15-minute interval checks when the man did not respond from his single cell around 4:00 p.m. Thursday, according to the SBCSO.

Firefighters and medics took the man to a local area hospital, where he suffered cardiac arrest and could not be resuscitated, according to the SBCSO.

First responders ruled the man dead at the hospital just after 11:00 p.m. Thursday and a preliminary investigation indicates natural causes as the result, according to the SBCSO.

The man's next court hearing was scheduled for Feb. 11, and a full death investigation is underway for an official cause and manner of death, according to the SBCSO.

The post Incarcerated man ruled dead after found unresponsive in cell appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

The post A Sip Back in Time on State Street appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.