By Kyle Carter
Thanksgiving and football: a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. Watching the Dallas Cowboys, we rooted on Roger Staubach, Danny White, legendary coach Tom Landry and all the other famous names synonymous with the Cowboys legacy. Whether they were rainy, dreary games or the action took place on a snow-covered field, we were always glued to the TV, hoping for a win.
Times have changed a little bit since that young kid hoped to grow up and don a Cowboys uniform while playing on Thanksgiving with the whole family watching. Once that dream was eventually not realized, the game became just another game. Not to mention that since the NFL schedule now includes multiple games on Turkey Day, it’s simply no longer as important.
Yet now, with my parents getting older and my own kids hosting the family Thanksgiving get-together, the reality of going back to a simpler time strikes me. I vividly recall sitting down with my dad, watching his favorite team, reliving memories made over his lifetime and watching his heroes. This now seems to take on a whole new meaning of what family truly is. The game is not just another game but instead another opportunity to connect with my dad, my hero: someone I didn’t like too much growing up but now realize what an amazing person he really is as I’ve gotten older.
This year’s Cowboys team currently has seven wins and three losses and sits in second place in the NFC East. They are actually having a pretty good season by most standards, but it’s not so much about the wins or losses; it’s about the opportunity to discuss game strategy, player personnel, who’s new, who’s old, who won’t be around too much longer or who the next star will be. It’s about the comparison between my dad’s playing days and my own and how everything is so much better now—or perhaps how we could have been this good in the current game environment. Well I’m not quite sure about that, but I do know that as I sit around the living room with family—some of whom I see maybe twice a year—there’s just something about being close to others we care about and who care about us that allows us to unwind from our daily grind.
It’s about the stories—not just about past football games but our memories of gathering together, sharing with each other, and being close to each other—and sharing a meal with lots of leftovers when we always seem to stuff ourselves silly but would not have it any other way. Now, it’s about seeing my dad doze off on the couch while “watching” the game, waking up whenever the announcers get excited and claiming he saw whatever just happened on the screen. We all know he didn’t, but nobody says a word. It’s how it is, and we all understand that.
Oh yeah…back to the game at hand this year. Dallas is playing the New York Giants: who, by chance, are tied with Dallas in the same division with a seven-win, three-loss record as well. The game is in New York (well, actually New Jersey), so the warmth of Jerry World (Arlington Stadium in Dallas) will not favor the Cowboys heading into this Thursday. The predicated high is 49 degrees with partly sunny skies, so hopefully, the weather folks get it right for the Cowboys to have a shot weather-wise. With two teams very similar in talent and records that mirror each another, the game should be fun to watch; but again, it’s not about watching. Nope, it’s about being around family and enjoying each other while we’re together. Someone will of course win, but a week, month, or year from now, no one will remember the exact score of the game but instead the memories made: which will last a lifetime.
