Yum, yum, yum!

Hello all and welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of my family pack!

I’m getting this family pack out so early to accommodate for the day of thanks. You don’t want to have to worry about dinner before thanksgiving because cooking seems endless! Especially if you’re my sweet mother, who is cooking for her four large boys.

But pressing on, here is my family pack for you before turkey day.
Kicking off the meal is of course a couple of quick carrots to get the muscles in my jaw working to chomp down these wings.

College basketball is here and makes me realize every year how exciting it is to watch. There is ALWAYS a game on and most of them are usually good games that come down to the wire. Alabama has played its first two games this year to the wire, requiring three-pointers at the buzzer to win the games. Roll Tide.

But even college basketball isn’t enough to keep me away from the television on a Saturday (wait, what?). I was definitely glued in Saturday watching some games that I have felt were on the horizon. It is a difficult task to make it through a whole season undefeated, ask Oregon.

Here is the meat of the family pack and the four flavors of college football.
Atomic kicks off the bag and comes out on fire, kind of like the Fighting Irish who continue to win games, even if it was against Wake Forest. The luster is gone in the Notre Dame schedule; Oklahoma and Stanford are the only impressive wins that I see on that schedule. Wins against Michigan, Michigan State, Miami and BYU aren’t doing anything for me this year. But don’t purchase those plane tickets yet Irish faithful, USC is still circling this weekend and awaiting your arrival to dethrone you for a chance at season reconciliation. Also, you never know what Kiffin is going to do.

A little winded after those fiery wings, but moving on to some Barbeque. How it is laid on thick and the flavor never escapes you. Offenses in college football are fun to watch. I have said this over the last couple of years and I’m going to say it again, a good offense can win you a lot of games, but a good defense can win you championships! I’m not necessarily looking at you Oregon, but Kansas State. You have coasted through a mediocre Big 12 and have finally met a foe who’s defense showed up and stunned you. However if you’re defense had shown up, even a little bit, maybe your offense could have overpowered the Bears in the end and given the Wildcats a chance. Too bad, so sad.

I added a little garlic parmesan since there are some teams getting second chances at the BCS title game. They have a nasty taste in their mouths and don’t want to lose another shot at the title. Nick Saban, Will Muschamp and Mark Richt will likely play against ND in the title game, given mass chaos doesn’t take place again as it did in 2007 (Go Fighting Tigers?).

The final flavor in my family pack is definitely Cajun. Les Miles and the LSU Fighting Tigers played one of the most fun games of the season on senior night in Baton Rouge (the hairs on my arms are sticking up). Odell Beckham Jr. fired up the stadium with a Billy Cannon like punt return to tie the game up and give LSU hope that they had seemed to lose this year. Les Miles then gave a gladiator like post-game press conference after the game explaining that if you see his seniors, “put your arms around them and give them a big kiss on the lips…… If you’re a girl!” I am not counting out the Bayou Bengals, ever. However with the two teams from one conference rule, LSU will likely get snubbed and tear up some Big 12 team in the Cotton Bowl.



The French fries this week are soggy. Oregon has now probably lost another shot at the BCS Title game, because of a missed field goal. If you are a Ducks fan you are feeling the same as me last week, when my Tide fell to the Aggies. However one thing Alabama has is they play in the SEC and play superior opponents, not Colorado, California, Washington, Washington State and Arizona. Sorry Ducks, better luck next year.

My second side item is the creamy coleslaw. How can I pass on some coleslaw with Thanksgiving coming up? I hope that everyone gets a chance to spend it with people you care about and are thankful for. I’ll be at the parent’s house partaking in the annual, no-turkey dinner (yum!). I’m thankful for a lot of things this year: Bama’s championship in January, not attending one class all year, moving into a house with Papa Bear and finding my true joy in this life in the form of a silly little tiger in Baton Rouge.

My four dips are not lucky, they are true. College football went through mass chaos this week, as it seems to do each and every year. The SEC teams didn’t get lucky, they didn’t catch a break. The season just played out the way it does each and every year. The BCS finds the top two teams and plays them against each other. A season is 14 weeks long and if you play sub-par teams, you can’t afford a blemish. If you play teams like LSU, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Texas A&M, then you can afford to lose one game, or two. The Southeastern Conference has won the last six National Championships, each and every conference has had a chance to knock off those four teams. It’s not an easy thing to do and instead of being hateful and jealous towards the SEC, maybe you should appreciate what those teams have done. Then schedule tougher teams.

That has been my family pack and I am sorry I have been missing the past couple of weeks, but I wanted to get this out before the holiday and the naps that ensue after eating on Thursday. Have a great week and a wonderful holiday.

Safe Travels and Roll Tide!

WingMan Out.