THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, Nov. 23, 2014
A few days ahead of time, giving thanks for ...
* ... A favorite team that is still playing relevant games this late in the season.
People around here might think I'm talking about that other team, the one in the Northwest with the angry-looking bird, but this can apply to their fans too.
Enjoy the ride while it lasts, because it doesn't always. Every team goes through stretches of years where their team is playing games merely for entertainment purposes - no matter how a particular game turns out, there's a better chance of hell freezing over than your team sniffing the playoffs that year.
(Then again, hell apparently did freeze over in 1994, and the Eagles reunited. But that's for another column.)
Anyway, if your team has won five Super Bowls, and had a chance to win a sixth as recently as two years ago, or if your team is coming off a Super Bowl title and you expect them to do it again, the feeling is the same.
Sure, that makes Sundays (or Thursday nights, or Monday nights) a little more stressful, and it might cause the dogs to slink down the hall during the game - after all, they don't understand that you're screaming at that rectangular thing, and not them.
We'll get more into the little love-fest between those two teams on Thursday, but rooting for them to make that goal-line stand, or finish that game-winning drive, is more fun than the alternative.
If that means we're spoiled, well, not really - for every person's favorite team that is competitive, they probably have another one in another sport that drives them up the wall in frustration.
* ... A pretty entertaining high school football season.
It's hard to think of Lake City as the new kids on the block, given their four state title game appearances, two state titles and recent stretch of 16 straight playoff appearances.
Yes, the local teams' seasons fizzled to a premature end, with the hoped-for Lake City matchup with Highland in the title game derailed by the Timberwolves' loss in the snow at Mountain View, and Lakeland and Timberlake losing leads at home and losing in the quarterfinals.
But there was still some memorable games along the way - Lake City-Coeur d'Alene, Coeur d'Alene-Highland, Lake City-Shadle Park and Lake City-Capital.
* ... The glut of college football games now available on TV and the Internet.
Yes, this time in November used to be reserved for all the rivalry games - Ohio State-Michigan, USC-UCLA, the Apple Cup - but with TV calling the shots, more of those games are next week, while we're still moaning over turkey overload.
And yes, we may complain about certain games being on at inconvenient times - too early, or too late. But then again, that's what the DVR is for.
What's more irritating is when a game is on, and you can't watch it because of your particular service provider - like the Pac-12 Networks and DirecTV, for one example, or WatchESPN if you don't have the right provider.
But other than that, there's usually at lease one interesting game on from 9 a.m. and nearly midnight.
And that's a lot better than the old days of getting one or two games on a Saturday and being forced to like it.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.