Happy Thanksgiving from "Pat and John On..."

What's not to like about Thanksgiving? Seriously. Well, let's preface that with, if you hate your family, Thanksgiving might be the worst day of the year for you. But for us with non-dysfunctional families, Thanksgiving is awesome. Of course the reason why Thanksgiving is awesome is because of the food, and that's primarily what we'll concentrate on today.

Turkey: Turkey is the Thanksgiving staple. Other than a turkey sandwich now and then do you ever even eat turkey during the rest of the year? But we all know deli meat turkey is decidedly NOT oven-roasted turkey. Turkey itself is nothing special really, it's somewhat moist unless Cousin Eddie from Vacation's Wife is cooking it, then you might need a little extra gravy. The skin is pretty much the only tasty part because thats where most of the seasoning ends up, unless you ordered "The Flavor Injector" from the makers of the Showtime Rotiserie BBQ. But simply put, turkey pretty much tastes exactly like chicken and perhaps is even a little less tasty. If you put a slice of turkey in front of someone on any day other than Thanksgiving, they'd say this is some good chicken. If you loaded a serving dish with slices of chicken and passed it around your family's table, they'd all be giving you kudos on what a great job you did with the turkey. The meat itself doesnt contain the real flavor you crave, no my friends that comes from the gravy. So it is our humble opinion that it is not turkey that makes the thanksgiving feast great, no sir. It is its wonderfully fattening brown friend, gravy.

for the rest of this Thanksgiving Day blog and much more go to Here

I Hate Joe Paterno

Until today I really never had anything to back up my hatred for Joe Paterno, but today he gave me all the ammo I needed. Penn State was up 48-13 over Syracuse (what the hell happened to them), and its 4th and 12, so you kick the field goal right? Well not if you're JoePa, he goes for it and scores a TD. WTF??? Is that necessary? Has Syracuse not been embarrassed enough? I just thought it was classless, and I know what all you Patriot haters are going to say...Well Belichick did that all last year. Yes, I agree that I even questioned those, but there is a big difference between pro and NCAA football. Those kids aren't getting paid. They aren't going to for their big contract. This was unnecessary, and I just thought classless, by a guy who just needs to retire. Screw you JoePa...

-BMack

Chef Stabs Himself in the Chest

This is no way is a funny story, but read what FoxNews wrote about it..."An Italian chef and cooking show host was rushed to the hospital after stabbing himself in the chest with a kitchen knife at his London apartment". That is fine and and seems normal until they write this gem..."It is not clear whether Carluccio, 71, was trying to kill himself. His spokeswoman said she does not know yet if the stabbing was a suicide attempt". Are you kidding me Fox, you just said he stabbed himself in the chest. You kinda don't do that by accident. Even more, what the hell kind of way is that to kill yourself? Slitting wrists, overdose, but this guy tried to go ninja style. Instead of using a sword, he used a kitchen knife...ballsy my friend. Still, FoxNews I think can confirm that this is a suicide attempt...just another way DC is helping the world solve its mysteries.

-BMack

Random Thoughts By Pat O

Is it really September? I can't believe we're already here in the heat of the pennant race. The first few months of the Red Sox season was overshadowed by the Celtics' championship run and it seems as though this team has floated along all season. There have been the ups (Jon Lester's no-hitter and remarkable season as well as the play of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis) and the downs (David Ortiz's injury, Josh Beckett's uneven pitching and the whole Manny situation). Unlike last year, when the Sox were trying to hold off the surging Yankees, the team is attempting to catch the upstart (don't call me Devil) Rays.

I must say, the Rays' August success was extremely impressive. Not only are these young players dealing with their first playoff chase, they were bit with a rather large injury bug at the wrong time. First Troy Percival (the key to their revamped bullpen) goes down. Then, their longest tenured player and star center fielder in Carl Crawford ruptures the tendon in his middle finger. The only thing that could be worse would be losing rookie sensation and their hottest hitter, Evan Longoria, right? A fractured wrist later, the Rays had the look of a team about to meet their inevitable slide. As a baseball fan, I'm ecstatic about a story like this but the Boston blood in me was hoping the Sox would gain ground in their absence (despite injuries to J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Beckett). As we learned in 2006 when the Yankees lost Hideki Matsui and Gary Shefield for the season and the Yankees had barely missed a beat by season's end, this don't always work out that way.

The Sox have crawled to within 3 1/2 games with a little more than three weeks to play and I agree with many fans and writers that this team is peaking at the right time. I'm not going to restate the obvious and tell you we have the likes of Beckett and Lowell returning soon. Beyond their health, I like the way this team has played since Jed Lowrie became the starting short stop. This version of the Sox high-scoring offense relies less on the Earl Weaver philosophy (i.e. the three-run bomb from Ortiz) and has gained its identity as a doubles-hitting, well-rounded squad that gets on base on a regular basis. As my confidence in Manny Delcarmen has waned, hope has grown into a shaky trust that Hideki Okajima will be himself come October (Giambi's blast off him last week notwithstanding). This team is ready to prove its invaluable championship mettle it earned last October.