Giving Thanks (Marcus from College Park)

Ever since Yale and Princeton first teed up the pigskin 136 years ago in 1876, families have been combining Thanksgiving and football into an annual celebration. The Thanksgiving Day Game didn’t reach the professional level until the 1920’s, with a wide variety of teams trying to cash-in by offering a game on the holiday. Now, the traditional NFL lineup of games has become an institution to the delight of gridiron fans, and the bane of hard-working household chefs!

My family’s no different; I’m grateful for the lifetime memories of my parents’, sister’s, brother’s, spouses, and friend’s gathering for the feast to come. My father always quarterbacked the proceedings, having placed himself strategically at the head of the table, with a clear view of the television. Yes, back in the day it was “The T.V.” Homes only had one “boob-tube,” with a rabbit-ear antenna covered in tin foil and reception that generally included only 3 Network Channels that went off the air at 1:00a.m. The adults had their own long table, while the children were assigned to the “little kids’” table; it was and is a beautiful family portrait.

Watching the game would present its own set of challenges. T.V tube technology of the day was so big and heavy that T.V’s sat on the floor in consoles, but only had screen sizes in the 20″ range. With the T.V sitting on the floor, it was almost guaranteed that every big play would be blocked from view by the small children, somehow managing to wander in front of the screen. The roar that would go up from the adults watching the game would scare the daylights out of the little ones, and earn the men a stern rebuke from the ladies in the house.  Keep in mind, if there was instant replay, it was rare and an underdeveloped technology, so when you missed a play…. you truly missed it.

There was the unavoidable tug of war between the women who cooked and the men who would rather pile their plates high, and stand or sit in front of the television. Most of the men would be shamed into returning to the table to eat “as family”, or else! Hilarious, if you weren’t the one being “recalled.”

I’m older now and even though the memories stretch 50-plus years, they do not fade. I see the family gathering at Thanksgiving through the prism of those delightful memories of my youth. I’m lucky and truly thankful that my generation has been bonded to Thanksgiving and football in a way that endures, refreshes, and rewards forever.