Congrats to soccer superstar MEGAN RAPINOE, who's been named Sports Illustrated's 2019 sportsperson of the year. She's just the fourth woman to pick up the title in 66 years --the others being tennis stars CHRIS EVERT and SERENA WILLIAMS, and four-time U.S. Olympic runner MARY DECKER.

Yes, that was VANNA WHITE hosting "Wheel of Fortune" last night, filling in for regular host PAT SAJAK, who had to undergo emergency surgery when the episode was taped. So who turned over the letters on the puzzle board? Somebody dressed up as Minnie Mouse. Vanna will be hosting the show for three weeks while Pat took time off to recover from his surgery.

Not 3... but 4 significant deaths over the weekend: --"Friends" actor RON LEIBMAN, at 82: His agent said the cause was pneumonia. He played Dr. Leonard Green on the series, but was also in the films "Norma Rae" and "Slaughterhouse Five" among a slew of others. He ...

The folks at Pantone have announced their 2020 color of the year --and that would be Classic Blue, which they claim is a shade reminiscent of "the sky at dusk." Oh, and if you were wondering if the blue was a sneaky way to endorse democrats in the 2020 election, ...

DEF LEPPARD has announced a stadium tour coming next year along with MöTLEY CRüE, POISON and special guest JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS. One problem: there's only 22 dates on the tour, which runs from July thru September. Tickets go on sale on Friday, Dec. 13 ...

If you're a fan of the "Cannonball Run" movies, you'll be interested to know that the cross-country record has been broken, with Road & Track reporting that a Mercedes-Benx sedan driven by Arne Toman and Doug Tabutt, along with spotter Berkely Chadwick, made it from ...

PEARL JAM has released their annual holiday song, a tradition that began back in 1991. This year, they're putting all their fan club holiday singles on streaming services. The group also announced a 2020 summer tour in Europe that kicks off June 23rd in Frankfurt, ...

Looks like you won't be getting that license for the holidays: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents grabbed nearly 3,000 counterfeit driver's licenses headed for New York from China --some six shipments of fake IDs. The Customs folks also turned them over to ...

Another superhero movie: ELIZABETH BANKS will be doing one called "Invisible Woman." It's reportedly not a follow-up to the "Invisible Man" film coming out in February that stars ELISABETH MOSS... and the studio says there's gonna be no crossover, either. "View" ...

How did you propose to your wife... or what happened when your husband proposed to you? It probably didn't happen when he brought home a takeout order from Kentucky Fried Chicken and she opened it up to find the ring inside the bucket... along with dinner. ...

Movie News: Disney's "Frozen II" made a reported $127 million in North America this past weekend at some 4440 theaters. The film also took in $223 million overseas as well for a total of (carry the one) $350 million. Music News (I dare you): Rolling Stone magazine ...