Do we really have to be subjected to Thanksgiving mismatches every year?

I have to admit, I love Thanksgiving. Nothing like the presence of family, friends, and of course, mouth-watering food on the last Thursday of November. That day also includes NFL football. For years, the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have hosted NFL games on Thanksgiving Day. To those fans of the Lions and Cowboys that live outside of their team's respective markets, it means they get to watch their favorite teams alongside turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

But given how both teams have performed this year (in this case the Lions have been bad for years now), the quality of the matchups in Dallas and Detroit are bound to be complete mismatches, and they're games I'm not exactly looking forward to watching. The Lions are hosting the New England Patriots (who I think are a heavy favorite to play in the Super Bowl) and the Cowboys are hosting the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

In recent years, the league has scheduled a third game to be played in prime time, televised live on the NFL Network. And they have been diverse in where that game takes place. This year's prime time game is also primed to be a shellacking, as the New York Jets host T-Ocho and the Cincinnati Bengals.

But given there has been plenty of parity in the NFL this year, anything is bound to happen. Regardless, all three games have the makings of not looking pretty. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Mark Sanchez could very well have a field day dissecting the bad defenses of the teams they'll be facing much like my father dissecting his way through the Thanksgiving turkey once it's out of the oven.


And now on to some favorite Thanksgiving Day football moments. Perhaps a favorite moment of mine came from the 1993 game in Dallas against the Miami Dolphins:


Another favorite Turkey Day game of mine was from 1980 in Detroit (I wasn't born until four years later), a divisional matchup against the Chicago Bears, which included the shortest OT period in NFL history:

Enjoy the football tomorrow, everyone. I'll be giving my take on the college football rivalry I was first raised on: the Washington-Washington State rivalry

The Montana/Montana State rivalry: a personal retrospective

There have been 109 meetings on the gridiron between the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats. It's the oldest football rivalry west of the Mississippi River, and it is always as intense as any other heated rivalry the game of college football has seen. Regardless of how good or bad both teams are, statewide bragging rights are always on the line. The 110th meeting between the Grizzlies and the Bobcats is this coming Saturday in Missoula, and there certainly is a lot more on the line than just bragging rights. For Montana, a win would help their chances of getting selected to play in the FCS postseason for an unprecedented 18th straight season, but a loss will likely mean the end of their season. For Montana State, a win would definitely lock them into the playoffs. It's the first time in years the Bobcats have entered their cross-state feud ranked higher than the Grizzlies in the FCS polls (only Big Sky Conference rival Eastern Washington is higher than both of them, and they host an Idaho State team that will begin the process of hiring a new head coach once their offseason starts).

While this is the first Brawl of the Wild for Robin Pflugrad as Grizzlies head coach, he's no stranger to the rivalry. He previously served as an assistant under Don Read from 1986 to 1994 and had a second stint as a Grizzly assistant last year (under Bobby Hauck) before getting promoted to head coach at the start of 2010.

After I moved to Missoula from the state of Washington in 1992, I didn't begin to embrace the significance of the rivalry until about 1994. At that time the Grizzlies were in the middle of a long win streak against the Bobcats that began in 1986, the first year the Grizzlies played at Washington-Grizzly Stadium and the first year of the Don Read regime.

The first game I ever attended at Washington-Grizzly Stadium was the 100th meeting between the Griz and the Cats in 2000, with Montana prevailing 28-3, making it the Grizzlies' 15th straight win over the Bobcats. They would beat the Bobcats in Bozeman the following season before the streak was snapped in 2002 during a snow-covered, defensive battle in Missoula, with the Bobcats winning the 102nd Meeting 10-7, getting their first win against Montana since 1985. Every Griz-Cat game I've attended, the Grizzlies have won, and won quite handily aside from 2006 (where Montana won 13-7).

But the battle between the two teams that fans from both sides of the rivalry remember the most is the 1997 game in Bozeman. Before the Bobcats broke their drought against the Grizzlies in 2002, this was the closest they came to ending that drought during the 16-year stretch. Here are the final minutes of that nail-biter in Bozeman (even though the video quality isn't great, it's the quality of the game's conclusion that is):

May Dave Niehaus Fly, Fly Away to Baseball Heaven

If you're a Seattle Mariners fan like myself, there would always be one constant whenever a TV or radio would be turned on. It would be the voice and presence of announcer Dave Niehaus. For all 33 years of the Mariners' existence, Niehaus would be a constant companion to those that wanted to keep track of of their team. He was there when Diego Segui threw that first-pitch strike during the Mariners' inaugural game against the California Angels in 1977. And he was there for all but 101 games of the Mariners' existence through the end of the Mariners' dreadful 2010 season.

Regardless if the team was one of the best in baseball or one of the worst, Niehaus was one of the reasons why I have remained loyal to the team. He called every game with a level of enthusiasm that is unmatched to other great announcers the game of baseball has seen and heard. He was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 with the Ford C. Frick Award, which is always presented to the baseball announcer that has made significant contributions to the game of baseball.

Niehaus' signature calls like "Fly, Fly Away!", "My Oh My!", and "It is Grand Salami Time!" will always stick with Mariners fans. Here are two of my favorite Niehaus moments (first one of which is a no-brainer):



When the Eric Wedge era gets underway with Spring Training next March, there will be a relatively big void when the activities get started in Peoria. The voice of baseball in the Pacific Northwest has been silenced permanently. But the memories that came from that very voice will last forever. Fly, fly away to heaven, Dave. You will be missed tremendously, and Mariners games will never be the same without you calling them.

Surprise teams that could make the NFL playoffs

Kansas City Chiefs: This team has been the laughingstock of the AFC West along with the Oakland Raiders for the past few seasons. But that has changed in 2010. Thanks to the team hiring former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis as offensive coordinator and former Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel as defensive coordinator, the Chiefs' stock is rising high and things continue to look up for head coach Todd Haley. Matt Cassel is having a solid campaign in his second season as the team's starting quarterback and should have far better stats than a year ago, when the Chiefs struggled to a 4-12 finish. They're in the catbird's seat atop the AFC West and appear to be in the best shape to win the division at this point. There will be a couple of games that won't be gimmies for them (week 12 at Seattle and week 16 at home against Tennessee), but I can see the Chiefs shouldn't have any problems in winning their first division title since 2003.

Oakland Raiders: Speaking of the Raiders, it looks like "Just Win, Baby" is back in style in the East Bay. The team has not made the postseason since they got mauled in Super Bowl XXXVII against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden. Now under Tom Cable (who was previously head football coach at the University of Idaho), the Silver and Black are finally coming together, and just might have the talent and willpower to contend for a playoff spot. The team was bound for yet another losing season, until they came to Denver and delivered a 59-14 drubbing of the Broncos. Then they proceeded to follow it up with an equally dominant 33-3 win over the Seahawks. As long as the Raiders can minimize mistakes on the field and owner Al Davis can keep bone-headed decisions to a minimum, the Raiders should be in pretty good shape.

Seattle Seahawks: Lots of questions and doubts were abound when the Seahawks named Pete Carroll head coach last January. I was skeptical about the Seahawks' chances of having a good season in 2010 because coaches that had a great deal of success at the college level historically don't do well in the NFL (look up Dennis Erickson, Steve Spurrier, Nick Saban, and Bobby Petrino for reference). Carroll had previous NFL experience and it was somewhat decent, especially during his three-year stint in New England before some fella named Bill Belichick took over in Foxborough. But back to Seattle. When Carroll arrived, the team made changes--big changes. The team made more transactions in the offseason than any other team in the league, and one of those pickups was wide receiver Mike Williams, who had been out of football for two years. He played at USC under Carroll during his highly successful (and controversial) stint in Los Angeles. Williams is showing flashes of brilliance he never had an opportunity to show off when the Detroit Lions drafted him in 2005. But what Seattle needs to do if they want to contend for a playoff spot if not win the division is to be more productive on offense. Having a big, physical receiver in Williams and an equally physical running back in Marshawn Lynch (acquired by Seattle via trade with Buffalo) is good, but not good enough. Being 30th in the league in total offense is an Achilles' heel for them. It showed in their Week 2 loss at Denver, Week 4 loss at St. Louis, and recently in Oakland. But the biggest intangible the Seahawks have is their home crowd at Qwest Field, regarded as one of the best in the NFL. And if the Seahawks do indeed win the division, they would host a playoff game. Hopefully their position atop the NFC West will motivate the entire team to play harder the rest of the way, beginning this coming Sunday against the NFC East-leading New York Giants.

St. Louis Rams: The days of the Greatest Show on Turf are long gone. Their teams were exciting with the likes of Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Issac Bruce, and Torry Holt. Even though a decade has passed since GSOT was at its peak, the foundation of GSOT Version 2 might very well be in place, and it starts with quarterback Sam Bradford. What a wise move the team made in making Bradford the first overall pick in last spring's NFL Draft. He has done a nice job in his rookie season, and might very well be the Rookie of the Year. Not bad for someone that had not played a game since re-injuring his throwing shoulder during the 2009 Red River Rivalry, when Bradford was playing for Oklahoma against Texas. Another thing that has helped the Rams' cause is running back Steven Jackson has stayed healthy all year, something that he has struggled to do throughout his career albeit remaining productive. They're a half-game behind the Seahawks for the lead in the NFC West, and are off this week before playing the lowly 49ers. If both Bradford and Jackson can stay healthy and the rest of the Rams can stay hungry, it'll be a battle with Seattle to the finish line in terms of who will win the NFC West, with preseason favorite San Francisco now out of the picture with their dismal 2-6 record.

The NBA just isn't the same with out the Supersonics

As the NBA season gets underway, most would think of how the Miami Heat will do with the additions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh, who are both joining perennial All-Star Dwyane Wade. Or talk about the possibility the Los Angeles Lakers will win their third straight NBA championship (which would also be their second three-peat under coach Phil Jackson). Or if 2010-11 will be the final hurrah for Shaq.

But I'm not going to talk about those topics above. Today, it's tough for me to watch the NBA these days for one particular reason: the Seattle Supersonics are no longer there, and what pisses me off about that the most is the way they were heartlessly taken away from a city that embraced the team so well for 41 years. A team that had countless stars like Dennis Johnson, Jack Sikma, "Downtown" Freddy Brown, Shawn Kemp, and Gary Payton. A pair of noted coaches in Lenny Wilkens and George Karl. And a team that has the city's only major league championship, winning the 1979 NBA title--and that very trophy is still in Seattle as it sits at the Seattle Museum of History and Industry.

In 2006, Howard Schultz sold the team to Clay Bennett, a businessman based out of Oklahoma City that temporarily housed the New Orleans Hornets after that team was displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. During the press conference introducing Bennett as the team's new owner, he promised that the team would stay in Seattle. Now this is where my hatred of Bennett, Schultz, and NBA commissioner David Stern begins.

In that same press conference, Bennett showed anyone that rooted for the green and gold of the Supersonics how much of a two-faced liar he was. It was clear what Bennett's intentions were upon gaining control of the team from Schultz. He wanted to move the team to Oklahoma City as soon as he possibly could, and--when his ownership group agreed to a deal with the city of Seattle about the team's lease with Key Arena--he succeeded in doing so. The team would be renamed the Thunder and began play with the 2008-09 season.

Next up is David Stern. He continually slammed Seattle politicians because he thought they weren't doing enough to either fund a new arena or fund a potential renovation of Key Arena. At the time of the Supersonics' last year in Seattle, Key Arena had a seating capacity of 17,000, which was too small by Stern's standards. And Stern made it radically clear that if the Supersonics left town, Seattle would never have a team again. Stern essentially slapped the city right in the face with that comment, and I cannot wait for the day when he is no longer the league's commissioner.

For all I care, all three of these men can go to hell for their roles in the loss of the Pacific Northwest's first modern and original pro sports team. And because of that, I will never root for the Oklahoma City Thunder or set foot in a Starbucks as long as I live. Stern and Bennett never apologized to the fans in Seattle for their cowardice, and if they ever do down the road, they won't be getting any forgiveness from me. Schultz apologized to the fans for allowing the sale to happen in the first place, but that isn't enough either.

And before I finish this entry, I'd like to give "Sonicsgate: Requiem for a Team" a plug here. It's a documentary film about the rise and fall of the Supersonics, and the lingering anger that remains from its fans in Seattle after the team was heartlessly moved out of town. I've seen the movie in its entirety and I thought the producers and the writers of the film did an excellent job in not just keeping the memory of the Supersonics alive, but also went did an excellent job in going in-depth into the more scandalous reasons behind the loss of the team. If you haven't seen it yet, you should because you won't regret watching it.

Oregon and Boise State not 1-2 in first BCS rankings is a joke

When the college football polls were released on Sunday, it was no secret the #1 team in the first BCS standings of the 2010 season should have been either the Oregon Ducks or the Boise State Broncos. But when the poll was released, we were in for quite the surprise from the BCS computer. Their #1 team?: the Oklahoma Sooners. That's right--the Sooners (ranked third in the AP, Harris, and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll) got the nod to be on top of the first BCS rankings of the season. What hurts both Oregon and Boise State is their respective strength of schedules. The Broncos especially, because they're in their final season in the WAC and their strength of schedule is the weakest of the bunch. Sure, their non-conference wins over Virginia Tech and Oregon State are nice, but because they're in the WAC, those wins still aren't good enough. If Virginia Tech had been able to beat James Madison (a reasonably good FCS school) in Blacksburg, Boise State's ranking in the initial poll would have been a little higher, but no higher than second once the BCS came out. Even though they blew out lowly conference foe San Jose State 48-0, it actually hurt them in the rankings because of how bad the Spartans' record is.

On the subject of the Ducks, Oregon is in the Pac-10 (will be the Pac-12 once Utah and Colorado officially join the conference in 2011 and 2012, respectively) and the champion in that league always gets an automatic bid to the Rose Bowl (that is if the Ducks don't finish 1st or 2nd in the final BCS rankings). I'm sure their fans are crying foul over the rankings much like Boise State fans are, given the fact that Oregon is #1 in the AP, Harris, and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls. And quite frankly, I think Oregon should be #1 in the BCS and Boise State #2. But that damned BCS computer did not put the Ducks topping all the polls into consideration when the fresh batch of rankings was released.

Which now brings me to the Sooners. They're playing at Missouri, another unbeaten Big 12 team that's in the BCS rankings (ranked 11th to be exact; Oklahoma State is the other Big 12 team in the standings, ranked 14th and unbeaten like Oklahoma and Missouri). On top of that Oklahoma also has wins over Florida State, Air Force, and perennial rival Texas. And should the Sooners beat the Tigers on Saturday, it would give them a big cushion when the next set of rankings are released next week, regardless of what Oregon does against UCLA on Thursday night or what Boise State does against Louisiana Tech next Tuesday. I guess it's safe to say that a lot of Oregon and Boise State fans are going to cheering hard for the Missouri Tigers to upset the Sooners this weekend in Columbia, because if the Tigers can make that happen, it could blow the BCS wide open, and permit the two best teams in college football to occupy the top two spots when the new rankings are released, right where they should be.

Baseball's managerial carousel and my thoughts on Eric Wedge

As the first games of the League Championship Series prepare to get underway, six big league teams have managerial openings, and one has already been filled. Not long after the Atlanta Braves season ended (along with the Bobby Cox era), the team wasted no time in locking up Fredi Gonzalez. Teams also looking for managers are the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, and New York Mets. But before I discuss the Mariners' role in the carousel (which will likely end early next week) I just want to say that I enjoyed Bobby Cox during his time as the Braves skipper. Even though the guy always found a way to get kicked out of a game (he has a major league record 161 ejections, three of which were in the postseason), he also found ways to lead the Braves to 14 straight division titles (1991-1993, 1995-2005), including a World Series victory in 1995 and four more during the 1990s.

Now it looks like the Seattle Mariners are on the brink of becoming the second team this offseason to hire a new manager, and according to sources, almost all signs point to the team hiring former Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge. The team also looked at Bobby Valentine (former manager of the Rangers, Mets, and Japanese league Chiba Lotte Marines), John Gibbons (former Blue Jays manager and a native of Great Falls), Cecil Cooper (managed the Houston Astros for parts of two seasons), and Lloyd McClendon (managed the Pirates for four mediocre years). When Wedge was managing the Indians, the team came within one victory of winning the American League pennant in 2007 only to cough up a 3-1 series lead to eventual World Series champion Boston. Cleveland almost made the postseason in 2005 but they finished two games behind--you guessed it--the Red Sox (who also finished tied for first in the AL East with the Yankees, but the Yankees won the division title via a tiebreaker based on head-to-head record).

As a whole, I thought Wedge did a great job during his time managing the Indians, and had they won the AL pennant in 2007, the Indians might have had the potential to win their first World Series since winning it all in 1948. He's everything that previous Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was not: fiery, intense, and very passionate about his job and profession. His attitude will wear off on his players, especially the younger players because many of the players he managed in Cleveland were up-and-coming stars, which included guys like CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Victor Martinez. The Mariners are making a very wise move by bringing in a no-nonsense guy like Wedge. Given the fact the Mariners just came off a 101-loss season, getting the team back to a level where they can win 85-95 games in future seasons is going to take some time just like it did when Wedge was in Cleveland. But I know that Wedge will do a great job in Seattle and will guide the Mariners to the postseason at some point down the road.