Happy Thanksgiving

The Princeton men's basketball team will be in Jadwin Gym today at 4 to take on Nazareth, which makes the trip down from Rochester for the game. 

If you think Princeton has been busy of late, with three games in four days at the Myrtle Beach Invitational, consider what the Golden Flyers' schedule has been this week: win over RIT this past Thursday, loss to Rochester Saturday, a home game against Oswego State last night and then the five hour ride to New Jersey for the game tonight. 

There isn't much that is going on with Princeton Athletics the next few days, which is a stark contrast to how things have been around here the last few weeks. There's only one fall team that is still competing, and that's men's water polo, who is a week away from the NCAA tournament at Stanford. 

In fact, there is the men's basketball game tonight and then two home men's hockey games against Ohio State, Friday at 7 and Saturday at 4, and that'll be the entire home schedule for this weekend. Ohio State, which brings a 9-2-1 record to New Jersey, is ranked 12th by the U.S. College Hockey Online poll and 11th in the more important Pairwise ratings. 

Of course, if you're an Ohio State sports fan, it's likely that the hockey games are not your No. 1 focus this weekend, since, you know, it's Ohio State-Michigan football at the Horseshoe Saturday. Also, if you look at the Ohio State schedule, you'll notice that coming up on Jan. 3, the Buckeyes will take on the Wolverines at Wrigley Field.

The only other team Princeton who will be playing this weekend will be the women's hockey team, which is at Boston University this afternoon at 2 and then at Stonehill Friday (5) and Saturday (1). BU is ranked sixth in the women's Pairwise.

Why is there so little on the schedule?

Well, as you know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

TigerBlog has included these thoughts on the holiday almost every year, and he offers them again:

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.
 
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.

TB wishes everyone a great holiday and hopes that maybe you take a few minutes to think about what you really are thankful for these days.