The Jeffie Special

In all the build-up to this year’s Thanksgiving holiday, I had almost forgotten this year’s little bonus.

For me, the celebration of Thanksgiving has always been multifaceted:

• Good food – Check
• Time with friends and family – Check
• Day to reflect and celebrate – Check
• Enjoying NFL football games – I’ll…check

First, some background.

When you get married, part of the challenge – and fun - is blending holiday traditions. Growing up, we almost always set our Thanksgiving Day calendar around the kickoff time for the annual Dallas Cowboys’ game (sorry Detroit). But once Lisa and I began doing Thanksgiving Day together, I fully understood the gravity of the statement: “We aren’t too much into sports.”

After sitting around the table and noticing the kickoff time was getting perilously close, I made mention of the football game. With a blank look, one of her sisters innocently asked “What football game?”

Over the years, I learned to set VCRs (and then DVRs) and enjoy the game on tape delay. But, a few years ago, they started turning the game on and I silently rejoiced in the renewal of a long personal tradition – kind of like savoring dessert after you’ve enjoyed the turkey and dressing!

It will be especially fortuitous for me if we can keep that tradition going tomorrow. The match-up in the late NFL game is what I call ‘The Jeffie Special.’

As kids growing up in Tennessee, you just had to pick an NFL team to follow. In the pre-Titans’ days, your best bet was to follow a regional favorite and pick a national team as well. That is the reason, I think, there were so many Pittsburgh Steelers fans around. Success sells, right?

Well, as a little shaver, the regional team of choice was always the Dallas Cowboys. You could usually count on seeing most – if not all – of their games when I was a little guy watching Memphis tv channels (and later when we moved to East TN).

One day, I came into the room and noticed that my dad and a bunch of my uncles were watching an NFL game featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and a team that faintly resembled the Dallas Cowboys. Turns out, it wasn’t. It was the Oakland Raiders dressed in their road white unies. Still, that day, a new team affiliation was born.

Hey, when you’re seven years old, it doesn’t take much!

Anyway, from that childhood day until the late 90s, those were my two favorite teams. I still like both of them and like to see them do well but, as a Tennessean, my fandom belongs to the Titans. But, as a kid, I was fascinated with the notion of my two teams playing but they rarely did. Their most frequent meetings were on the field of the humming, vibrating electric NFL game.

I always hoped for a Super Bowl match-up and we were close one year. Unfortunately the dreaded Denver Broncos won the 1977 AFC Championship Game that year (on a questionable call, I might add). From that point forward, I have always rooted against Denver (sorry Peyton) and probably always will.

There were also no Thanksgiving match-ups between my two favorite teams during that era. In fact, the two teams have met on Thanksgiving Day just once (four years ago, when Dallas defeated Oakland 24-7) But, at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be able to enjoy ‘The Jeffie Special.’

I’m looking forward to watching part of the game with Lisa’s family.

But you know what, I’ll set the DVR as a fallback just in case.

JG

Originally posted 11/27/2013