Thanksgiving and Football is What America Does

By Jay Mulieri

Food and football go together well for most Americans on Thanksgiving Day. So many people enjoy playing some football in the backyard and then going in to the house with their family and stuffing their faces. My family is no different. “Football and Thanksgiving are automatic,” my brother likes to say. “Without football on Thanksgiving Day I wouldn’t be able to eat as much.” Yes, my family plays football on turkey day, but so do the rest of the nation and the professionals.

Football as far as most are concerned has taken over baseball as America’s past time. The great game of football has been played on Thanksgiving Day since the game was invented back in the 1800’s. At all levels from high school to the NFL for as long as we care to remember football has been played on turkey day. Football brings fans together, teams together, schools together and most importantly families together.

Since its inception in 1920 the NFL has played on Thanksgiving, always including two franchises, the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. The teams have been competing and hosting Thanksgiving Day games since 1934 with the Lions and 1966 with the Cowboys. My uncle Tony says, “My favorite team is the Dallas Cowboys to this day because I grew up watching them with my family on Thanksgiving.”

In addition to the NFL and high school, college football has its biggest weekend all year on Thanksgiving as well with huge rivalry games. The games include the “Iron Bowl” between Auburn and Alabama, the “Battle of the Golden Boot” between Arkansas and LSU, the “Border War” between Kansas and Missouri and much more. Although these games have a lot on the line, they always end in handshake and fun.

Football and lots of food do resemble much of what America is all about. Families are often brought together by sports teams and around the dinner table, and Thanksgiving Day is able to bring both of those things together into one. The Cowboys and Lions have been providing us with entertainment on turkey day for as long as I can remember in my childhood, but backyard football with the family is equally as important on this wonderful holiday.

“Whether it’s high school the NFL or the backyard, football and Thanksgiving are perfect matches for each other,” says my dad. “It is something to share with your family, something very special whether on television or outside the window,” my mom said. It is a great game that fits the holiday perfectly, and will continue to re-write history for the foreseeable future.