Minutes after arriving at an uncle’s house on Thanksgiving, I instinctively checked the score of the Lions-Packers game. At the time, the Packers led 13-7.
“The Lions have actually kept it fairly close,” a cousin remarked to me.
“OK,” I thought. “Maybe the Thanksgiving games will actually be good this year.”
No such luck.
Shortly thereafter, Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver went to work on the Lions’ defense, and a one-armed Matthew Stafford could do little to stop the Packers from scoring 21 second half points on the way to a 34-12 win. Fantasy owners and Packer fans rejoiced. Yet, if you listened in on households throughout America, you would have heard a collective groan. Yet again, the Thanksgiving games were going to suck.
Up next … Raiders at Cowboys. A real doozy, as America was treated to three hours of Bruce Gradkowski (who?) and a 24-7 beatdown of a Oakland team that is more of a joke than anything else. That game was on while I ate my dinner, and I almost lost my appetite.
Finishing off the day was the one game that was supposed to be good: Giants-Broncos. Of course, in a fitting end to a pathetic day of football, the Giants laid a goose egg and fell 26-6.
In the end, the NFL went 0-3 in terms of good games on Thanksgiving, one of the few days when almost anyone can sit down and enjoy sports without worrying about work or school. This has become a regular occurrence, and it’s just not right. I, for one, won’t stand for it any longer. Rest assured, there are some easy fixes to this problem. Allow me to explain.
1. Stop giving the Lions a home game every Thanksgiving.
Come on, let’s just end this already. Sure, the franchise has some hope with Stafford running the show now, but enough is enough. There’s no way of knowing when this franchise will become competent again, and America shouldn’t have to wait. The Lions haven’t won a game on Thanksgiving since 2003. Can’t this just end?
Alternative: Give a different team the home game every year in place of Detroit.
For those who value tradition, let’s make a compromise. The Cowboys keep their home game every Thanksgiving, and the other slot is rotated throughout the rest of the NFL. This way, Jerry Jones won’t lose his mind and America might actually see some decent games during the holiday. I don’t see why the NFL can’t do this.
2. Don’t allow the Raiders to play on Thanksgiving again unless they are coming off at least a .500 season.
This team is beyond pathetic; it is a joke throughout the NFL. How they have three wins is beyond me. Nnamdi Asomugha is really the only light of the Raiders, and until they make some progress I don’t want to have to suffer through another one of their games on a holiday. I’m not saying they’ll never improve, but I need some solid proof before I’m willing to put up with them again.
Alternative: If the Raiders HAVE to be included, put a camera in Tom Cable’s house and see how long it takes for him to punch someone out over the last slice of pumpkin pie.
Personally, I’d watch this over any Raiders game. That’s not saying much, but still. Tom Cable really needs a reality show, or at the very least we should see him on HBO’s Hard Knocks show next year. The man is completely insane.
3. Quit tantalizing people by putting the best Thanksgiving game on the NFL Network.
Sure, the Giants-Broncos game didn’t go as advertised. The highlight turned out to be an unfiltered shot of Josh McDaniels cursing at his team. The exact quote: “All we’re trying to do is win a motherf—ing game!” Still, it was clearly the most attractive game on the list, but of course most people couldn’t watch because it was on a channel few are able to
pay for.
Alternative: Put the third game on NBC or any other channel that is more accessible.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the NFL should give everyone access to its best game.
After all, tradition is part of what makes sports great. I adore the NBA games on Christmas. I love that the Rose Bowl is on New Year’s Day. March Madness happens to start every year right around my birthday. But the Thanksgiving football tradition is teetering dangerously close to the edge. The games just aren’t entertaining anymore, and it’s time to start some new traditions. As Josh McDaniels might say, “give us some
motherf—ng good games!”
[email protected]
Please, please, no Lions!
Daily Emerald
November 30, 2009
0
More to Discover