How Many Dinner Rolls Will Nick Eat?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Traditionally this has always been one of my favorite holidays. It has all the good qualities of Christmas without the sappiness of it. There are two main reasons I have always liked Thanksgiving. One being the night before and the other involving football.

A lot of people don’t realize this but, Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest and busiest bar night of the year. There are a lot of reasons for this. One being that a lot of people are coming from out of town and a good way to catch with out of state relatives and friends is to go grab a cold one. I’ve gone out many a Thanksgiving Eve and while I’ve always had fun I can not pin point one being a whole lot better then any other. A couple of years ago I remember going to see my friend Kevin’s band play at O’Malley’s and then heading to the Gas Light in Oak Lawn to close the night out. That was a lot of fun, but nothing memorable happened.

As for football, well that is a different story. Back in the day my friends and I had our own Turkey Bowl. As we have gotten older and more brittle we have retired the game but still there was a time when it was an annual event. One year we played across from my house in Willow Springs, which was fine except that half way through we realized that this same field was where a lot of the neighborhood walked their dogs. Thus there were many a shit bombs lying around. Hence, that game was dubbed the shit bowl. One year we played at Wierzba Park in Bridgeview after a snowstorm the night before. It was freezing and the wind was blowing snow everywhere. You couldn’t pass the ball, as the wind would knock any pass down. The final score that year was 7-0, when I while running in the clear slipped on an ice patch fumbling the ball only to have my friend Chris pick it up and run it the other way for the lone score. Eventually, I quit playing after spraining my right foot and had to walk on crutches for a week. I soon realized that this game was no longer worth the trouble. Still, though every year my Uncle John, myself and my cousin Kevin play a five-minute game of catch outside to keep the tradition flowing.

When it comes to professional football I have found memories of that as well with the Bears - Lions contest in 1980 being the most memorable. The Bears were getting their ass kicked the whole game. The team that year stunk, so no one had high hopes that the Bears would win the game anyway. Suddenly in the 4^th quarter the Bears started to make a furious comeback. The Bears were down 7 points with two minutes left when they got the ball on their own 2-yard line. Vince Evans then proceeded to lead the team down the field. Then with only seconds remaining he ran a QB sneak into the end zone to tie the game as the clock expired. It was at this point my Aunt who had been slaving over a turkey the whole day told us it was time to eat. The hell it was. This game was going into overtime. My Uncle told her to keep basting. We would be there in a minute.

The Bears won the coin toss and elected to receive. The kickoff went to Dave Williams a back-up running back that returned kicks. Sure enough he found a seem and ran the kickoff all the way back for a touchdown and a Bears victory. I still remember all the men going ape shit as the women were wondering what the hell had just happened.

So, I draw on those memories as I make my rounds tomorrow. Joyce and I will be going to her sisters in the morning to celebrate with her family. Then we will head to Darien to celebrate with my Mom. After eating there we will eventually end up at my Aunt’s house in Lemont to grab a piece of Pumpkin Pie before heading home. All in all it is a hectic day but I still would rather do all of that then sing the Twelve Days of Christmas any day.