Thanksgiving Reflections

  Some Thanksgiving reflections as we navigate the end of November. Hope you have your turkeys and have planned your feasts accordingly. Don’t forget watching football on the menu—three NFL games on Thursday and one on Black Friday. Plus a whole slate of important college matchups and traditional battles will be contested over that time. With a ton of games leading up to and afterwards in all sports. 

So I was wearing a New York Jets sweatshirt and hat yesterday. In two separate instances, individuals made comments about my attire and the woes of the team this season and in the past. Similar statements were elicited by my wearing a New York Yankees cap after they lost the World Series. 

Pride goes with team loyalty, I guess. But I am not alone in receiving both grief and sarcasm for my sartorial choices for the teams I root for. 

I bet a whole lot of people in Philadelphia who wear 76’ers paraphernalia are hearing it in some fashion from the not so loving people of the City of Brotherly Love. After all, the team is mired in a 2-13 start, with star guard Tyrese Maxey out due to injury, new pickup Paul George looking miserable and Joel Embiid using a plethora of excuses to underperform when he opts to play. 

Things don’t look a whole lot better for their co-tenants in the Wells Fargo Center, aptly named for a bank with a dubious past history. The Philadelphia Flyers haven’t really chased glory since the 1970’s when gap-toothed Bobby Clarke led the Broad Street Bullies. 

But if you are a Ursinus College football fan, there is absolute glee in Collegeville. The Bears made the NCAA Division III Football Championships as a wild card. The Centennial Conference headquarters in Lancaster must be euphoric over this. 

There’s a lot of noise from those who root for “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys. Speculation runs rampant about what owner Jerry Jones will do in the off season once he fires the current head coach, Mike Mc Carthy. Will he bring in Bill Belichck, the most decorated coach in pro football history? Or will it be a former Cowboys player named Deion Sanders who would like to package his quarterback son as a first round draft choice in the 2025 NFL Draft and thus be “lured’ to Arlington to right the ship? Of course, that leaves incumbent QB Dak Prescott in limbo as he mends from season-ending hamstring surgery.  

Dallas? Drama? Am I having a flashback? Who shot J.R.?

Yet conversely, the fans in Kansas City are proud to wear the jerseys of the two teams in town. That’s because the Royals are on an upswing after resurrecting the team around Gold Glove shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr. along with a cast of hungry players who may have performed at peak levels. 

Then there are the Kansas City Chiefs. You know the story. Mahomes. Kelce. Andy Reid. Taylor Swift. While the Chiefs finally lost when they traveled to Orchard Park, New York and were humbled by a very good Buffalo Bills team led by their star QB Josh Allen, the guys clad in red, white and yellow with some black trim have been a mainstay in the top tier of NFL teams. 

Moreover, the University of Kansas Jayhawks basketball team is ranked #1 and the football team knocked Brigham Young University from the unbeaten ranks in the Big 12. Plus Kansas State has good squads in those two sports.

Yes, small market Kansas City fans have a lot to cheer about. For them, it is a heartland feel good story. 

Things are looking up in the Motor City. Perhaps not with the Big Three auto makers. And maybe not with the University of Michigan post-Jim Harbaugh or at Michigan State in football. 

Their Lions are for real. They sit atop the NFC with only one loss. Jared Goff is having an M.V.P. season. The Tigers came from nearly dead in baseball to clinch a playoff spot and  win a series. Pitcher Tarik Skubal was the unanimous choice as the American League Cy Young Award recipient.  

Yes, the once-proud Red Wings and Pistons have a ways to go before they cross over from below .500. At least they aren’t mediocre. Detroit may be going through another renaissance. 

How about a big market like Los Angeles? Well, minus the Orange County baseball team, as Ducks sit at .500, a lot better than the Angels played this season and a much greater improvement for the hockey team from Anaheim than this time last year. 

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are coming off a recent World Series victory. A lot of Dodger blue is seen around town. For sure. 

Meantime, the Lakers are sizzling, especially at home. Sure, they have Lebron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura.  All stalwarts. Now they have this scoring weapon named Dalton Knecht who spent five years playing college ball and set a rookie record for three point baskets made in a game. If this continues and the Golden State Warriors maintain their torrid pace, ABC will have a Christmas Night prime time bonanza.

Plus the Kings are currently in the final Wild Card spot in the NHL Western Conference, although it is early. And the Clippers have taken to their new digs—the beautiful Intuit Dome—and are basking in a win over the aforementioned Golden State Warriors. 

While only at .500, the Rams are just one notch behind the Arizona Cardinals for first place in the NFC West. The other guys in SoFi Stadium—the Chargers—sport a 7-3 record heading into the Harbaugh bowl, where brothers Jim and John lead their teams against each other since they met in 2013 when John’s Ravens handed Jim’s 49’ers the franchise’s first Super Bowl loss. 

UCLA basketball is good again. USC women’s team has All-American JuJu Watkins starring. UCLA and USC clash on the gridiron for the first time as members of the Big Ten; if the Trojans win, they will secure a bowl spot and have Notre Dame coming to town in a week. 

Tinsel Town is a good place to be if you are a sports fan. It’s sunny out there right now. With rain in the forecast next week, I hope it doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the Angelenos for their teams. 

Contrastingly, Chicago is seemingly like the weather as I write. Snowy, cold, windy. November gales off of Lake Michigan and from the North. 

It hasn’t been the greatest sports year in ChiTown. The White Sox set a MLB record for futility with 121 losses. Fans stayed away from Guaranteed Rate Field. The only things guaranteed there were losses and difficulty parking adjacent to the stadium. 

Up on the North Side, the Cubbies have morphed into lovable losers once more. While the NL team which calls historic Wrigley Field its home did manage to end just over .500, they weren’t really very relevant in the Wild Card chase. Maybe they need to bring back the 2016 World Series team, the one which broke the 107 year drought, and reconstruct it as best as possible. I know that first baseman Anthony Rizzo is available, as the Yankees did not extend him an offer, making the popular player in both cities a free agent. 

The once mighty Bulls sit once more at the bottom of the Central Division. The days of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson bringing NBA crowns to their fans is long gone. Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball do not quite have the same fierceness as those Hall of Fame stars. 

Then there are the Blackhawks. Last season, the team with one of the best uniforms was bad. Not much better this season. At least the fans have top overall draft choice Connor Bedard to watch. 

Like the Bears fans have Caleb Williams to celebrate. Lots of work to be done there to make the Monsters of the Midway scary again. 

It ’s going to be a cold winter in Chicago. Even if it is just a bit over halfway through Fall. 

Then again, the Jets are in total disarray. Owner Woody Johnson has now fired the coach and GM. He is disgusted with the performance of very old QB Aaron Rodgers. 

While the Giants have promoted third-stringer Tommy De Vito to try to reprise his role of last year where he showed some positivity for the woeful G-men. This is the end of the unsuccessful Daniel Jones era. Giants fans are relieved and anxious for the next step. 

The Mets finished good. The Yankees still had a very successful season and are in the mix for Juan Soto to return—along with a number of other suitors trying to seduce him. 

Forget the Nets. This is a Knicks city. Adding Karl-Anthony Towns to the lineup will pay dividends. The Rangers are a tick from third place in the Metropolitan Division, behind the New Jersey Devils and the Islanders are lurking just out of playoff contention. Gotta love the Tri-State area. 

One more thing to celebrate over dinner. UConn’s Geno Auriemma became the winningest coach in college basketball history on Wednesday night. The Nutmeg State is the home to college basketball right now, with the UConn men attempting a three peat and Geno’s women targeting #1 South Carolina. Not bad at all for a kid born in Italy and grew up on the streets of Philadelphia. He made women’s college basketball way more exciting before Caitlyn Clark arrived. 

As Thanksgiving approaches, for many, it is a time of happiness as we give thanks. Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your bird but don’t over do it! See you in December.