Have A Great Thanksgiving

In case you think you've read this before, you did, if you read TigerBlog 104 weeks ago and 156 weeks ago today:


 As holidays go, you can't do much better than Thanksgiving. It's got it all, really: a huge meal (with turkey, no less), football, family, history (dates back to 1621), start of a four-day weekend for most people, leftovers. It's even a secular holiday, so every American can dive right in, regardless of religion.

TigerBlog attended many Manalapan-Marlboro Thanksgiving games a long, long time ago. The Lions and the Cowboys, obviously, always play at home on Thanksgiving, and the NFL has now added a third game (maybe a little too much). Beyond watching football, how many out there have played their own Thanksgiving football games, all of which, by the way, are named "the Turkey Bowl?"

The holiday may lag behind Christmas in terms of great Hollywood movies, and "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" is no match for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" or "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Still, there are some great moments in movies and TV shows around Thanksgiving.

Rocky and Adrian had their first date on Thanksgiving – "To you it's Thanksgiving; to me it's Thursday," Rocky said romantically – as did Meadow and Jackie Jr. on "The Sopranos" (it didn't quite work out as well as it did for Rocky and Adrian). "Everybody Loves Raymond" had two pretty good Thanksgiving episodes, the one where Marie makes a low-fat dinner and the one where Debra makes fish instead of turkey. As an aside, TigerBlog's Aunt Regina once made Cornish game hens instead of turkey, so he knows how they all felt. And of course, there was the Thanksgiving episode of "Cheers," which has the big food fight at the end.

The Woody Allen movie "Hannah and Her Sisters" starts and ends on two different Thanksgivings. "Miracle on 34th Street" is a Christmas movie, but it does start with the Thanksgiving parade in New York City.

And of course, there is the best of all Thanksgiving movies: "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." It'll make you laugh a lot and cry a little, and it ends on Thanksgiving.

TigerBlog didn't include that last year, so he figured he'd revisit it this time around. He was going to simply reproduce it without saying that he'd used it before, but then that would be a violation of the University's honor code.

If you asked 100 people what their favorite holiday is, TB is pretty sure you'd get 50% Thanksgiving and 50% everything else combined. TB would be in the first 50%.

TB has so many great memories of Thanksgivings, going back as far as he can remember. Happily, TigerBlog Jr. and Miss TigerBlog are also off to great starts with the holiday.

As TB is writing, various members of the women's basketball team have walked by, on their way to the bus and the airport, headed to Los Angeles for games Friday against UC-Riverside and Sunday against UCLA.

There will also be a big team Thanksgiving meal at Nicole Hung's house. It's not uncommon for winter teams to be traveling today and playing over the weekend and having their Thanksgiving together on the road, adding to the overall experience of being a team.

Of course, the women's basketball team travel party won't be the only people who are flying someplace on this day, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Today is the busiest travel day of the year, as everyone scrambles to get where they're going for the big day. 

As TigerBlog thinks back to his Thanksgivings when he was younger, he remembers people like his Uncle Herbie, his cousin Toby, his Aunt Regina and Uncle Larry, his grandparents and of course MotherBlog, all of whom are gone now.

He says this not to be morbid or to be a downer as the holiday approaches.

He says this instead as he smiles, as he thinks back to the great times he had with them all those Thanksgivings, how he cherishes those memories, how they were some of the best days of his life.

And how he wants everyone tomorrow to stop and look around at everyone they are with and to cherish them and that moment as well, knowing that it's a special day, this Thursday in late November.

It's about the food and fun and football, and it's about the traffic and the crowd in the supermarket or liquor store or bakery. It's about all of those things, yes, but it's mostly about the people you're with.

Stop for a second tomorrow. Put your plate down. Look away from the TV.

And take a good look around at the people who are there with you.

And be thankful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.