Thanksgiving Sports Weekend

Aside from the turkey and sweet potatoes that everyone in the country have been gorging themselves with this weekend, sports have taken center stage.  Everyone should be thankful for the incredible sports scene that has played out this weekend and is sure to continue until the end of this Thanksgiving holiday.  All the festivities started out on Thursday early afternoon when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Detroit Lions 27-15 and moved their overall record to 11-0.  Ndamukong Suh got a little testy during the third quarter of the division rivalry and stomped on the arm of offensive lineman, Evan Dietrich-Smith of the Packers.  He was ejected and that hurt the chances for any comeback the Lions would have posed.  In the afternoon game, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins 20-19 on a game winning field goal by Dan Bailey as time expired.  The night cap was a two-some of college and NFL games.  The college game was Texas against Texas A&M, which could have been the last game between the two in the historic rivalry that started in 1894.  Texas A&M is moving to the SEC next year and most likely won't face Texas for a very long time.  Fittingly, the game came down to a last second field goal try by Justin Tucker of Texas.  He buried the 40 yarder with ease.  In the NFL game, it was Harbaugh Bowl I between brothers Jim and John of the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, respectively.  It was a defensive battle that ended up as a 16-6 game in favor of the Ravens.  A notable player was Terrell Suggs of the Ravens who had four sacks.

Friday was a strictly college football day in which #1 LSU would be taking on the very dangerous #3 Arkansas Razorbacks and #8 Houston would be taking on their hardest opponent to date in the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.  Neither game ended in any upset and both were decisive victories for the favorite.  LSU won by a score of 41-17 and Houston upended Tulsa by a measure of 48-16.  Houston is looking for their first ever BCS birth, and if they can beat either Southern Mississippi or Marshall in the Conference USA title game, they will most likely get one.  LSU almost definitely will be playing in the BCS National Championship even with a loss to Georgia in the SEC title game.  West Virginia also came back to beat their archrival Pittsburgh Panthers in the Backyard Brawl, 21-20, and Lousiville beat South Florida 34-24 to inch closer to a remarkable BCS automatic birth as the Big East champion.  In college basketball, #4 Connecticut was upset by UCF and the son of Michael Jordan.  That is a pretty good win for a mid major club like that and everyone should be aware of them come tournament time.

On Saturday (today) is when all of the contenders will show their colors.  Presently, not many game are close with Oregon, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and Alabama are all handily winning their huge games.  Alabama is the only one that is in jeopardy to lose in the Iron Bowl against bitter rival, Auburn.  It is a huge game for Alabama with possibly a birth in the BCS National Championship game on the line.  Stanford and Notre Dame are facing off in a huge game tonight and the bitter rivals, USC and UCLA are also facing off.  It should be an entertaining night for college football and the BCS standings should start to really separate the pretenders from contenders.

This Sunday is a strictly NFL sunday.  Headlined by Buffalo Bills VS. New York Jets at noon and New England Patriots VS. Philadelphia Eagles at 3, this Sunday should be a good.  It is also my last Sunday for football until I leave for Israel, so I am going to enjoy it to the best of my abilities.  Other big games are Chicago Bears VS. Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers, and Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs.  The Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team are also playing in the Old Spice Classic championship game in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, against the Dayton Flyers.

Enjoy!!