PowerPlay Magazin

Thanksgiving 2013

Here in the United States of America, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November.  Traditionally the holiday is a day to be thankful for the many blessings that have been received.  In the USA, most children are told stories of how the Pilgrims and the neighboring Native American Tribes held a feast on the first Thanksgiving to celebrate their survival living in and successful harvest of crops grown in the New World (USA).

For me Thanksgiving has traditionally meant lots of NFL football and at least one feast of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and all of the other foods that make for a great Thanksgiving feast.  I have had at least one helping of turkey every single year of my life (I was born in December and confirmed this with my mom earlier this week).  Crazy…  Outrageous…  Just Tradition…  I don’t think it matters, but, I have eaten a lot of turkey.

Regarding the NFL, I have also been faithful to watch at least one, usually two, and sometimes three games each Thanksgiving.  I have some great memories watching Thanksgiving football and I’m going to share 4 of those with you. 

NFL Thanksgiving Memory #1) Let it Snow!  Thanksgiving 1993.  The Dallas Cowboys vs. the Miami Dolphins.  Texas stadium was hit with a winter blizzard.  The field was white and frozen and the game was sloppy but super fun to watch.  Both teams had impressive moments and the score was close.  With 15 seconds remaining, the Dolphins were kicking a field goal to win the game, and true to the weather and game excitement the Cowboys blocked the kick.  The ball slithered along the ground towards the end zone.  Surely a Cowboy wouldn’t touch the ball, but, then came Leon Lett (famous for having a ball tipped from his hand just before he crossed the goal line in the Super Bowl, just 10 months earlier).  Lett, a defensive tackle for the Cowboys, touched the ball and was quickly recovered by the Dolphins on the one yard line.  3 seconds remained on the clock with another field goal attempt; the Miami Dolphins had stolen a win from the Dallas Cowboys 16-14.  Check out this clip to see the end of that Thanksgiving game.

NFL Thanksgiving Memory #2) One Last Shot.  Thanksgiving 1980.  The Detroit Lions vs. the Chicago Bears.  The Bears featured the incredible running of Walter “Sweetness” Payton and were a favorite to win the meeting.  But, the hometown Lions played a determined game and held Peyton to only 13 yards in the 1^st half (he finished the day with 123 yards).  At halftime, the Lions led 10-3 and were still winning until the last play of regulation time.  The Bears tied the game on that last play and the overtime period began.  It lasted for all of one play, as the Bears returned the kickoff to win the game and tear the heart from Detroit Lion fans who have suffered through many of those cardiac disasters throughout the franchise’s history.  Enjoy the last few minutes of this game.

NFL Thanksgiving Memory #3) Run Juice Run!  Thanksgiving 1976, I remember watching Buffalo Bills running back, O.J. Simpson, rushing for 273 yards and still losing to the hometown Detroit Lions 27 to 14.  O.J was one of the greatest running backs ever, until, his run-ins with the law (including the trial for the murders of Nicole Simpson & Ronald Goldman) have tarnished (if not destroyed) his reputation.  Even though his personal life has a dark image, his runs against what was at the time the best defense in the NFC were amazing.  Here is a few highlights from O.J. Simpson’s career.

NFL Thanksgiving Memory #4) Go Long Longley.  My best or worst memory (depending how you look at it) was Thanksgiving 1974, the game was between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.  The Redskins (in those days, my favorite team) were fighting for home field advantage in the upcoming playoffs and the Cowboys were just fighting to stay alive.  The Cowboys had struggled, and trailed the Redskins 16 to 3 late in the 3^rd quarter, when the Cowboy’s starting quarterback, ironman Roger Staubach, went down with an injury and the home crowd went silent.  The 2^nd string quarterback for the Cowboys, Clint Longley “the Mad Bomber” had never taken a snap in a regular season game.  When Longley came into the game, a Redskin’s victory had to be imminent, but, that wasn’t to be the case.  After a series of LONG Longley passes, the Cowboys clawed back into the game.  With 28 seconds to go, Longley hit Drew Pearson for one last bomb to give the Cowboys their first lead of the day and a Redskin loss (24-23).  Longley was the Vanilla Ice (One Hit Wonder) of the NFL, never to be heard from again.

So this is Thanksgiving.  This year will be more of the same.  At least one NFL game, turkey dinner this afternoon with some of my family (my children have both grown up and are in college… will spend Christmas together, but not Today :( ), and prepare for some Black Friday shopping (… or is it Brown Thursday???).  Anyways, I will also continue my newest Thanksgiving tradition, sometime later this evening, I will watch my PPM games.  This year I gained the bonus of a Handball game and I look forward to a game of Basketball as well next year.  I look forward to my Thanksgiving Day.

USA isn’t the only country to have a day of thanksgiving.  I’m glad that we have days to be thankful and remember blessings that have been received.  So I close with my Thanksgiving List from me to you on PPM.

My Thanksgiving List:

1)  My family (I love them & am glad they are in my life.)

2)  My friends (this list includes many of you!  Friends are great, they help bring you up when things are bad and bring you back to Earth when your ego needs an adjustment.)

3)  My job (I teach high school science… Where can I make a bigger difference in life?)

4)  My health (hope that I don’t overeat today!)

5)  Life (Live it while you can)

6)  PPM (my teams will one day rule!  … right now we’re more like the Detroit Lions… but, I still love them.)

Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the turkey.