Thanksgiving

Funny, in all these years in posting blogs, including holiday-themed blogs, I’ve yet to post one on Thanksgiving.  Well, it’s clearly time.

 Here’s another “American” holiday, in this case associated with those thankful Pilgrims who survived to thank God for good food and friendly Indians.  But people everywhere can express gratitude and appreciation, virtues I hardly imagine are unique to Pilgrims.  Speaking of Pilgrims, I found out that they made a movie of Solomon Kane, Robert E. Howard’s bad-ass Pilgrim character.  Now if only I could find it….

 Dad.  My father used to cook the dinner.  He knew where to get the turkey, made his own stuffing, and got the production going in time for the dinner.  There was never any drama, emergencies, stress, or any doubt that he would successfully achieve the Dinner.  And he repeated this impressive task for Christmas dinner again a month later.  We can only hope to emulate him now that he’s gone: R.I.P.

 Turkey.  Clearly the centerpiece of a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey.  I zone out about the sizes and simply focus on my preference: the white breast meat.  You can have the drumsticks – 2, 4, 6, 8 (?? Is it a turkey or a spider?), however many a turkey might have nowadays. 

 Stuffing.  I actually like the stuffing more than the turkey itself.  Yum yum.

 Others.  Mashed potatoes are fine, but I could do without cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie.

 Football.  NFL, not college.  In my case I get to see the Lions lose, but they are rarely a competitive threat to my beloved Vikings, more a target of pity than scorn.  What the Cowboys do is not my concern (unless it’s beating the Packers or Bears).  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Vikings play on Thanksgiving (“Thank Odin this Vinland is ripe with ample game and friendly Skraelings!”).

 Macy’s Thanksgiving’s Day Parade.  I practically never watch this.  I’ve never been in Manhattan at this time; the closest was Merrick, Long Island in the 70s.  My Dad would put the parade on TV in the morning as he was making his initial preparations.  The balloons are interesting and charming – intriguing to see which characters are deemed worthy of balloons.  No Asterix?  No Refridgerator Johnny?  No Iron Maiden Eddie?  No AC/DC Whole Lotta Rosie? As you imagine, the balloons are mostly for kids’ entertainment and thus predictably wholesome.  Likewise for the fur-wrapped commentators, offering comments so dull and wholesome they’re calculated to put everyone right back to sleep again.  And don’t get me started on the marching bands (too late!).  If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.  They all have the goofy band uniforms (vaguely reminiscent of War of 1812 uniforms), majorettes twirling batons and wearing way too much, the goofy Sousaphones (“Activision reports sluggish sales of Sousaphone Hero”), and the predictably dull John Philip Sousa marches, with the exception of “Liberty Bell”, probably more infamous as the theme of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (chosen because “Liberty Bell”, by that time – 1969 – was in the public domain).  So this particular school, from Midwest Nebraska or Idaho finally managed to get its marching band – which looks exactly like all the others marching down the street in Manhattan – to the parade?  Whoopee for them, it’s their 15 minutes of fame!  But no one else need pay much attention.   Here’s an idea – instead of sending your marching band to the parade, how about sending your high school football team to play the Lions or Cowboys?  Even odds of beating the Lions…but seeing how the Cowboys almost beat the Saints, that game would be one I’d rather avoid.

 College.  Back at University of Maryland, the Thanksgiving weekend was too short to justify a trip back to Paris (winter break was 4 weeks, and summer break was, of course, the entire summer) so we’d have to hang tight and stay in the dorms, which were empty and dark.  Freshman year (1987) my Mom came into town and helped me buy a Fender Stratocaster.  Sophomore to senior years, my buddy Jean (John) came down from Boston U. (his mom was also in Paris) and joined Phil and my brother for dinner with my aunt and uncle over at Skyline – just down the street from where I live now.

 Dave.  My University of Maryland colleague who moved back up to Long Island after graduation in 1990 and has remained on The Island (with all organs, save maybe his liver, intact) ever since.  One of his sisters lives in Falls Church close to me, so for a few years he’d come down to visit his family there.  The Friday after TG would be spent seeing a movie, buying CDs or comics, and otherwise catching up on politics and music since the prior year.  Now his TG plans tend to involve Florida (no, no voting!) so my Fridays are back at the office where the secretary growls about being there instead of the mall. 

Minnesota Vikings

This is my favorite NFL team, despite the fact that I’m not from Minnesota and have never even been there.  I started liking the team in the 70s, a time at which I was growing up in the US and too young to appreciate anything more substantial than purple uniforms, cool helmets, Fran Tarkenton and 4 (lost) Super Bowls. 

 Origins.  The team was formed in Minnesota in 1961, as part of the NFL’s expansion at that time, and took Vikings as the mascot due to the high number of Scandinavian immigrants to that part of the country.  In 1970 the team was aligned in NFC Central Division.

 Fortunes.  The team made it to the Super Bowl 4 times, and lost all 4 times.  In 1969 they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs (23-7); in 1973 to the Dolphins (24-7); in 1975 to the Steelers (16-6), and finally the Raiders in 1978 (32-14).  Joe Capp was the quarterback in 1969 (Tarkenton was with the Giants at that time), while Tarkenton was present for the remaining three losses.  Nevertheless, they dominated the division during this decade.

            Since the 70s, they have reached the NFC Championship several times, but never won.  In 1998, despite a 15-1 record in the regular season, they choked, giving up the game at the end to the Atlanta Falcons, and in 2000 were crushed by the New York Giants, 41-0, despite being favored to win.

            The team is usually competitive in the running to either win the division or get a wildcard slot, but generally tending to lose in the first or second round of the playoffs.  Again, 2000 was the last NFC Championship appearance. 

 ** Aside for NON-NFL readers.  The Super Bowl is between the NFC Champion vs. the AFC Champion.  The AFC approximates the former AFL (American Football League), which merged with the NFL in 1970.  After 16 games of the regular season, 6 teams from each Conference enter the playoffs: the 4 division champions (North, South, East and West), and then the 2 teams remaining with the best records are the wildcard teams.  Each playoff game is “win or go home” – no aggregates (home & away) as often happens in soccer, nor “best of 7” series like baseball, basketball or hockey.  In soccer standings, a team gets 3 points for a victory and one point for a tie, as ties are not only common (including 0-0 ties) but also give the team a point.  Ties are almost nonexistent in the NFL.  

 Uniform.  The home uniform is purple with yellow stripes (unlike soccer, where we have Real Madrid, Santos, and Tottenham with white home jerseys, no NFL team has a white home jersey – except for the 1964 season when the white jerseys were the home jerseys) and white away jersey with the stripes on the shoulders.  The throwbacks uniform has the 70s style stripes.  The helmet is purple with “horn” decals on the side.  Compared to many other teams, especially the Broncos, Bucs, and Patriots, the Vikings uniform has remained fairly constant, and the current helmet is – in style if not in construction – almost identical to the original 1961 helmet.  The team is far too new to have ever played with the leather helmets or sweater-type jerseys of the older teams.

 Stadium.  Originally they played outdoors in Metropolitan Stadium, until they moved into the Metrodome in 1982.  As it is, the Bears and Packers play outdoors (Soldier Field and Lambeau Stadium) whereas the Lions (Ford Field) and Vikings play indoors.

 Rivals.  Up until the realignment in 2001, the Vikings were in NFC Central with the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Since 2002 the NFL now has 32 teams, and is aligned into 4 divisions with 4 teams each, changing what had been Central to North, pushing the Bucs out and leaving the Packers, Bears and Lions as consistent rivals.  I tend to think of the Packers as the biggest rivals, but the Bears and Lions also qualify.  On the other hand, of the 4 teams, the Vikings are by far the youngest. 

            The Packers were founded in 1919 by Curly Lambeau.  The Packers have 9 pre-Super Bowl NFL Championships and won the Super Bowl three times, not only in the late 60s with Bart Starr at QB and Vince Lombardi as coach (’67 and ’68), but more recently with Brett Favre at QB and Mike Holmgren as coach (’97). 

            The Chicago Bears, along with the Arizona Cardinals (originally from Chicago), are one of the few remaining original NFL teams from the league’s formation in 1921.  They have 8 NFL Championships before the Super Bowl era, and beat the Patriots in 1985 in Super Bowl XX – back when Jim McMahon was the QB and Ditka the coach – and lost recently, with Rex Grossman at QB and Lovie Smith as coach, to the Colts. 

            Originally from Portsmouth, Ohio, and called the Spartans, the Detroit Lions moved to Detroit in 1934 and became the Lions. The Lions have never been to the Super Bowl.  They have only been to the playoffs 9 times since 1957, the year they last won an NFL championship.  After an abysmal NFL record 0-16 season, it doesn’t look too good for them this season either.

 Players.  Fran Tarkenton is by far my favorite, quarterback #10 from 1961-66 and 72-78.  I even have a Vikings jersey with his name and number, which I bought ages before the Beckham and Ronaldo jerseys.  During the 70s, the defensive line of Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Alan Page were notorious.  More recently, John Randle was a heavy duty lineman.  Cris Carter and Randy Moss were stellar wide receivers.  I liked Gus Frerotte, was not impressed with Tavaris Jackson, and was hoping that Brett Favre would sign on.  The #1 washout was Herschel Walker, obtained from the Cowboys at heinous expense (giving the Cowboys a lock on the Super Bowl for several seasons) and then hardly ever used.  They’ve had Warren Moon (who I associate with the Houston Oilers) and Jim McMahon (#9 with the Bears) at QB slot for brief times.  Brad Johnson, who won the Super Bowl with the Bucs, started and ended with the Vikings.

 Coach.  The current coach is Brad Childress.  The original coach was Norm Van Brocklin, who was eventually replaced by Bud Grant in 1969.  More recently Dennis Green brought the team to the playoffs several seasons, but could never quite manage to get them to the Super Bowl. 

 Outlook.  They still have Adrian Peterson, the fantastic running back.  At quarterback it seems to be a toss-up between recently acquired Sage Rosenfels and prior starter Tavaris Jackson – assuming Brett Favre doesn’t sign up at the last moment.  The Vikings always appear to underachieve, never quite matching their potential considering that the team usually has consistently strong players; unfortunately, the whole appears to be less than the sum of its parts.  I can only hope this season will be different.  At least we’re not the Lions!