Thanksgiving Football’s Real Meaning

I watch my favorite football team hoping they win. I play every game of football to win, every game but one.

No, not the Detroit Lions or Dallas Cowboys game that everyone sees annually on the television

This is the football game I play on Thanksgiving day.­ Just me and my family outside playing a classic backyard football game in the cold and the field is just a backyard with endzones as trees and fences.

Family football­—when my younger sister catches a short pass and my uncle just full-on lays me out to block for her so she can get a touchdown. Do I complain that it’s illegal? No, I just am happy for my sister getting her first touchdown, and then I am getting ready to go on offense.

When my dad pitches the ball back to my sister and then under-throws it to my grandpa, does my uncle pick the ball off? No, he drops the pass and gives them another play.

If everyone in our football game played as well as they could, it wouldn’t be fun. There is no way I could get open on my uncle or no way my sister wouldn’t fumble when she gets tapped. But when we all play so everyone can be happy, it is so much more fun.

But the moments of happiness make the game what it really is, like when I run a post route and get open and catch the pass for a touchdown or when it’s tied in overtime, we both get one possession and four plays for the win. I run a zigzag route in the endzone to get a toe tap catch for the win. We high five in joy and go inside for hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies.

So when you think of football on Thanksgiving, don’t think of the Detroit Lions losing due to a field goal or Tony Pollard from the Dallas Cowboys getting a kick return for a touchdown.

Think of playing with your family and the fun of the game for all.