Tuesday Morning Thoughts: Happy Thanksgiving

TMTs:

1. Happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the greatest holiday known to mankind. Its main point of emphasis is to eat. I get the whole pilgrim thing and the thanking part. But really what this holiday is about is eating and football. What more could you ask for? True, a holiday on the day that the new Madden football game comes out would be a superior holiday. But, until that happens, Thanksgiving takes the crown. Now, if we could only get rid of the Detroit Lions and put a respectable franchise on the Thanksgiving Day football ticket.

2. On a weird tangent, on my way to work today I saw a midget riding what appeared to be a specialized midget bicycle. Even more irregular, the midget had to have been going around 20 miles per hour. He (I assume it was a he midget) was swerving in and out of traffic lanes. I wondered whether the driver of a car hitting the midget would have gone to jail for some sort of vehicular manslaughter. I wonder if the defense, "I could not see him" would have saved the car driver.

3. Derrick Rose put up 25 points and 9 assists last night in a win against the Jazz. His defense is still sub-par, but everything else about him screams All-Star. Matt Forte and Derrick Rose, the Chicago Rookies, are officially my favorite Chicago sports' athletes.

4. I wonder if all the so called experts who have picked Greenbay to win the NFC North still think that they will win it today.

5. On one hand, its not good for the NFC North's prestige to have such a lowly team like the Lions in our division. But on the other hand, isn't it nice that the Bears get to play the Lions twice every year? Sure they'll split their match-ups more often than not, but they're the f'n Lions. Its not like they're going to win the Division.

6. I still have no clue what Lovie Smith does on Gameday. For all we know, he's listening to Motown records on his headsets. That, or he's really constipated and not trying to let it show.

7. JacK McCullam (Sorry, can't spell his name), wrote on article in last week's SI, blatantly criticizing MJ for (a) his work running the Charlotte Bobcats and (b) for his reluctance to do a story for SI. SI ran a cover and story on MJ during his attempt at baseball. The Headline read "Bag it Michael, Jordan and the White Sox are Embarrassing Baseball". Never Mind that these ignorant writers turned their backs on the Steroid Issue in Baseball. Somehow MJ was embarrassing the game, not the elephant sized heads of baseball players that would follow. But regardless, I can see the criticism levied against MJ. But I also find it perfectly rational for MJ not to want to ever do an SI story. SI ripped MJ a new one. MJ provided material for SI to sell millions of magazines due to his presence on its covers. So now, after calling him an embarrassment they are still somehow amazed that MJ wouldn't want to provide them with the material for more stories?

8. What's even worse is Jack M.'s random bashing of MJ in the story. His own research would have revealed that MJ doesn't really do anything for the Bobcats. He's a minority owner, who was smart enough to negotiate a role where he could say no (or yes) to any final decision by the GM (Higgins). This is what the business world calls Voting Stock. It appears MJ's role for the Bobcats is diminimus. He's a figurehead, a marketing ploy, and a part owner of a basketball franchise. True, he can overrule a decision by the GM, but so can Jerry Reinsdorf or the Bears' owner. If Jackie wants to rip MJ an new one, he should criticize his ownership, not his basketball savvy as a GM.

9. I'm completely out of my fantasy football league picture. Should I continue to pick up players on the waiver wire?

10. I really had something else to say here, but I completely forget it. Anyway, Happy Football, Turkey, Eating Day.