The Turkey Bowl

Someone asked me yesterday if I too was on a writing strike since I didn't post last week. I'm not at all, it just happened to be an uninteresting week, and really why make you read something completely boring. Anyway, we're back in business this lovely Thanksgiving week. Thanksgiving day will feature two completely lame games: Indy-Atlanta, which I'm sure everyone thought would be awesome when it was going to be Michael Vick playing...now he's spending his holiday in jail...how sad, and Dallas-Jets, which is just lame because the Jets will literally get stomped. The only good game is Green Bay at Detroit, and we all know I am there for any game featuring this year's Brett Favre. Plus Detroit is actually, well somewhat, good this year. That will be fun to watch while I make my Grandma's stuffing and prepare for our annual Turkey Bowl game.

My friends and I will be preparing our third Thanksgiving on our own this year. Really I have been in Los Angeles for four of them but the first one was a bit different. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Its based around eating - what is not to like? We've made a lot of effort over the years to make our day as fun and homey as possible, so that no one gets too sad that they aren't at home with their families. Everyone cooks the dish that is the most traditional for their families and in the afternoon we play a football game. This football game has gone back and forth between really fun and excrutiating. Lets just say that some people in our group take it much more serious than others. Some people in our group are rather athletic, and some leave something to be desired in that area (you will be shocked, shocked! to hear that one of those people is me). It all starts out fun until there are one too many dropped balls and people start getting frustrated. Last year it seemed that we couldn't get anyone to move ahead and actually win the game, and finally everyone got so tired and bored that we called it a tie. The highlight of the game for me was when my team was driving and I ran straight up to my largest friend, who is well over 6 feet, and just threw my whole body at him to attempt to block him. He was in such shock that I had the balls to go at him that he just stood there staring at me. That's as good a block as any for me - he didn't get to that ball! We have a real trophy and everything that goes to the MVP. Its all very Friends (though I know the boys hate when I say that). We go back and retreat to our own corners to shower and bring over the last of the food, and by time we get back to the homestead the glow of what we are about to eat takes over and everyone is happy again. In the end, I'd really rather cook and watch parades and NFL games all day, but I play anyway. Or try to, at least.

NFL Things I Am Thankful For:

1. The Pats are 10-0 baby! Statistic - only 9 teams have ever gone 10-0 and 5 of them have won the Super Bowl. Interesting. I was one of these people who thought, yeah sure, Buffalo at home will at least give us a bit of a game. Maybe if they'd had Marshawn Lynch in but boy was I wrong. Next week they will play the Eagles at home, which before the season I had thought would be so stressful to me as a fan of both teams, I'd told everyone I was probably going to watch the game at home alone and refuse to answer my phone. But that was when I believed the Eagles were in contention...and we've seen how that's going. At this point we're aiming more for them to just not get embarrassed. Apparently the Eagles are 22 point underdogs. Jeez.

2. Pittsburgh lost to the JETS. Hahahahahahhahahhahahahahaha. Beatable.

3. The Colts almost lost to the Chiefs, at home. Adam Vinatieri misses 4 field goals in 2 games. HAHAHAHAHA. I like Adam a lot, he still means something to us Pats fans, but don't you feel just a little bit vindicated?

4. Tom Brady (of course) and his new pal Randy Moss. Both are close to breaking all-time season records for touchdowns. I want them both!

5. Brett Favre and Vinny Testiverde started against each other last week, resulting in the oldest QB combination ever. I believe it was 81.


The State of the Babies

I'm pretty happy with the state of the teams right now. In the Boys league I am still in second place and I think I can keep a hold on it for now. I'll definitely make the playoffs, as I also will in my Dad's league, where I am leading my division and I'm pretty sure I'm ranked about 5th overall. The Boys' league Babies absolutely crushed my opponent this week. I took a chance and put Andre Johnson back into my lineup because in the first few games he played before getting hurt, he was amazing. It paid off big time and he got me 18 points! I hope he can stay healthy the rest of the year. That helps my receiving corps so massively, who had been solid but not spectacular. I'd usually been playing Brandon Marshall, Donald Driver, and Reggie Wayne. Now I can interchange Driver and Marshall. Someone also dropped DeMeco Ryans, who I grabbed immediately, and has been just the right addition to my defense.

I also got Deion Branch back in my Dad's league but that didn't pay back the same dividends as Johnson did. But with Seattle passing as much as they are, I have to believe that once he's back in the swing of things that Branch will produce better. Now I am a bit concerned about my running back situation though. Larry Johnson and Marshawn Lynch both got hurt and didn't play, so I'd picked up Ryan Grant and also played Brandon Jacobs. However, both of them also got hurt in their games last week and now I am very thin at the position. Grant appears to be planning to play on Thursday, but Jacobs isn't as optimistic. I stole back Earnest Graham this morning but I don't know how much that will help. I just have to hope one of them gets healthy enough to return. My dad is also going to make the playoffs, so I better have my team in tip-top shape!

Random Thought of the Week

It really is the little things in life that can make you so happy. For me one of those is Gingerbread lattes arriving at Starbucks. You can only get them for a few months of the year but they are my favorite coffee drinks ever. Today I stopped at my first ever drive through Starbucks to get one. It was so cool! Really fast and easy. Just a nice way to start a morning.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am thankful for all of you :)