Mike's Marathon Blog

People have been asking me all week if I am sticking to my diet on Thanksgiving. The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT! This is the one day of the year where you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. You can’t be on a diet on Thanksgiving. I actually think it’s a written law.

The night before Thanksgiving is a different story. The night before Thanksgiving is arguably the biggest drinking night of the year. It may even be bigger than the 4th of July and St. Patty’s Day. Most people go to a bar and reunite with their old friends from high school. This is probably the main reason everyone gets so plastered. Every conversation is the same. ‘Oh, we should definitely get together more often.’ ‘Let me have your number and I will call you the next time I’m in town.’ ‘Remember the time we put a squirrel in Sara’s car.’ All the same conversations that you had 364 days ago with the exact same people.

It is fun to see everyone. See what everyone looks like, what they are doing, if they are married, if they are divorced, who’s preggers, etc. The unfortunate part of my night is that I will not be drinking. I actually don’t mind. I will undoubtedly be the best player in my annual Turkey Bowl game tomorrow since everyone else will be slow and hungover. I will look like Randy Moss out there while everyone else looks and feels like James Gandolfini. James Gandolfini Season 6, not Season 1.

Yes, we are the guys at the local field with cleats, cones, flags, eye black, team shirts and zero amount of football talent. It’s embarrassing at times. The game usually starts out as flag, slowly migrates to ‘wrap’ and then somehow always turns into full blown, prison-rules tackle. That’s when you know the end of the game is slowly approaching.

I have noticed that the older we get, the shorter the time of the game gets. I feel like we used to play for 2 hours 10 years ago. Now, we’re lucky to play for 10 straight minutes without someone calling timeout due to an injury or lack of breath. The game usually ends when someone gets hurt. That’s typically cue to shake hands, tell everyone you’ll see them next year and thank the football Gods that you made it through another Turkey Bowl without breaking anything. Unless of course, you’re the person that ended the game with an injury.

It does put a damper on your Thanksgiving when you are at the dinner table with a black eye and your arm in a sling. But if you were voted Turkey Bowl 2009 MVP, then it was all worth it!