Turkey Day throwdown

A trio of NFL games today for US Thanksgiving, starting with the Detroit Lions hosting the New England Patriots. The Pats are -7 in this one, and coming off a hard fought game with Indy, may struggle to cover that number. Like the game to see a lot of points and go over the posted 50 total. Dallas hosts defending champion New Orleans at 4:15 and strangely, I like the Cowboys at +3.5 at home in a low scoring game with two defenses that are tightening up. The night game has the New York Jets hosting Cincinnati. I'm playing the Jets as a Prime Time Pick tonight at -9 despite their last four wins coming in the last minute or in overtime.  That's living dangerously, but also pulling it out in crunch time.  Here are 9 reasons to love Thanksgiving Day, USA style, for its NFL action.

Tottenham continued a nice run in UEFA Champions League play with a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen to lock up their spot for the next round. Wayne Rooney - yes, Wayne Rooney - scored the loan goal for Manchester United in their win over Glasgow Rangers as they too punched their ticket to the next round. Neither team had players earn intentional red cards. Also locked up for the next round are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Valencia, Schalke, Olympique Lyon, Marseille, AC Milan, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich. Four spots remain to be sorted out in the remaining game left for each team.

At least the New York Post isn't getting dramatic about the possibility of Derek Jeter leaving the Yankees. Joe Posnanski at SI.com says that there is no doubt that Jeter will remain a Yankee, it is just a question of how this all plays out.  JP also says that Jeter has been paid well - true - for the past decade, the third largest contract in baseball history behind A-Rod and A-Rod (no typo), and the Yankees shouldn't budge from the current offer.  Agree.

Which quarterback, a career 38-17 won-lost record, is being shoved aside by his head coach?  Vince Young.  

The first big free agent contract of the MLB off-season has come, and it sees Victor Martinez move from the Boston Red Sox - and isn't it a shame when a good bat leaves there? - to the Detroit Tigers. 4 years and $50 million for V-Mart.

Between 1990-1998, the Chicago Bulls never lost three straight. And then there's the Miami Heat, whose stars were chirping about winning over a handful of rings, now losers of three straight in the first month of the NBA season.  I'm not about to write them off for this year, but sure not the start they figured on.  Starting to see Chris Bosh trade ideas floating on Twitter from some prominent sources as well. Loving this trainwreck!

Don't look now, but the Toronto Raptors have won four straight.

Not sure why LA Lakers coach Phil Jackson saying that it is easier to get rid of a coach - Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was named - than the players, is a big deal.  Isn't that the old sports cliche?  Stan Van Gundy, Ron Jeremy clone, is not impressed.

The hot ladies of Entourage, singing and being, well, hot.

A couple videos to close out the proceedings today.  Enjoy.

The latest FIFA Goal of the Year nominee comes off the foot of Northern Ireland’s Matty Burrows, an unforgettable goal for Glentoran we've shown in these parts before.  Three left after today.


Yeah, football is all "man's game", right?