The Fourth Thursday of November

Every year on the fourth Thursday of November marks a holiday for us here in America which we call Thanksgiving. Traditions are passed down from generation to generation may that be the green bean casserole, or Uncle Jimmy bringing Joe Shmoe off the streets for thanksgiving dinner, but the one thing for certain that will always be there in every family is football on Thanksgiving Day.

Many of you in the northeast wake up to a cool 39 degrees, seeing your breath when you take the first step outside, and you think to yourself “this is football weather." You pack the cooler the night before with Coors and Miller Lite and meet up with your friends and family at 9 am at the local field for that Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl. You got your buddies their John, Sam, and Paul and then Cousin Tony, Mike, and Franco show up as well. Uncle Jimmy shows up in that beat-up Cadillac from the 70s and comes with his new girlfriend that he found two weeks and go tells you “how back in the day I played with *insert local football legend* and if he didn’t get caught up in a bad situation we could be seeing him playing next to Tom Brady.” But at this point who cares about Tom Brady, it’s all about coming together and throwing around the pigskin. A few more people show up and eventually you're ready to kick off the tradition like no other than the Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl.

You finally finish up around 11 am, feeling like you’re having an asthma attack and you tore your hamstring trying toe-tap the sideline. You sit around for another half hour shooting the shit and finishing up the beer left in the cooler reminiscing of the good ole days. You head on home to hop in the shower before real football takes place. 11:58 am rolls around, you crack open one of those IPA’s you had left over from 3 weeks ago and sit down on your favorite spot on the couch and watch the Lions get smacked around by some NFC North opponent their playing. Your dad sits there and tells you how the Lions have always stunk, but how great of a running back Barry Sanders was. You sit there nodding your head at him while you have one eye glued to the Lions in the red zone and the other to your phone to keep up with a fantasy football matchup with Cousin Tony.

A couple hours go by you fell asleep through the third quarter and half of the fourth and wake up to the Lions down 10 with 2 minutes left and the family showing up. They ask you the typical family questions “How’s working going?”, “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”, “Why do you golf so much, you should be spending your money on stocks?” and to that, you just sit there and nod your head in acceptance. Finally, it’s 4:30 pm and a real game is coming on; America’s team the Dallas Cowboys. You got a lot riding on Ezekiel Elliot to have a monster game to make up for the dumpster fire of the first game. You sit there with your pops, Uncle Tony, and Uncle Jimmy drinking and talking about the turkey bowl and how you caught the game-winning touchdown. Mom yells in “Dinner is ready," perfect timing every year she knows halftime of the Cowboys game is when dinner needs to be ready. We all sit down and enjoy this wonderful meal prepared and eat as quickly as possible to get back before the 2nd half kicks off.

You are going strong through the third quarter, but the sleepies kick in halfway through the 4th quarter and again, mom yells in “Dessert time," you sit down and grab the pumpkin pie faster than Tyreek Hill runs the forty. You wrap up dessert and help clean up, of course, after seeing Ezekiel Elliot score a 3rd touchdown of the game and know the Cowboys got this one in the bag. At this point, the family is getting ready to leave and you are saying your goodbyes, but the night isn’t over yet! You got one more game to go!

8 o’clock rolls around and you turn on NFL Network. Usually a divisional matchup between two powerhouses of the NFL league. This game could ultimately choose a home game in round 1 of the playoffs or an away matchup in Green Bay or Seattle. So, you are hoping to watch a good game and not have a repeat of the butt fumble back in 2012. You call your buddy up asking if they want to throw $10 for the home team and the over to cover and of course, they do, calling it a “lock of the century” knowing dam well it’s going to lose. You're yelling at the TV from the moment of kickoff while mom comes in and tells you “Keep it down” while she watches “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”. You make it to the 3rd quarter and slowly start to doze off having dreams of catching the game winning touchdowns in the Super Bowl to beat Tom Brady and the local legend. Finally, you wake up with 3 seconds left on the clock and the home team is lining up for a game-winning FG attempt and to cover the over. You’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the most nervous 10 seconds of your day. You hear “The snap, The hold, The kick, it’s….”

Let us at Fourth Man Up to be the first to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!