News that quarterback Marcus Mariota may be out for the rest of the Tennessee Titans’ season is disappointing indeed to fans following his storybook career and ascension into the NFL. The Saint Louis High grad has been banged up this season, but Sunday’s injury — a medial collateral ligament sprain of his right knee — was cringe-worthy to watch. Let’s hope Mariota returns better than ever.

For Hawaii fans, though, there was this unexpected but welcome bright spot in that game: Former University of Hawaii running back Joey Iosefa, now a New England Patriot, plowed his way into the national spotlight in his NFL debut, carrying the ball 14 times for 51 yards. With the Patriots playoff-bound, root for Iosefa to get more time on the field to make a difference for his team, which he joined just two months ago as a practice-squad player.

A wish for better shopping next year

With Christmas just three days away, perhaps it’s a bad time to talk about more shopping. If you’ve bought all your Christmas presents, you’re recovering; if you haven’t, you’re panicking.

Still, next year may be better for shoppers. A new report by Colliers International, the commercial real estate firm, foresees a lot of new shopping opportunities here in 2016: 625,000 square feet of new retail space in five projects, from Nanakuli and Kapolei to Ala Moana and Kakaako.

So if you didn’t find everything you wanted this year, take heart.