When The Football Gods Smile

Family Christmas Dinner 2008

On the Saturday after Christmas, it has been a long-standing family tradition that our entire clan... great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, and cousins... meet over one relative's house and enjoy a huge meal together. It's like a winter family reunion. We basically have each household to bring a dish (or something to complete the meal) and crowd into someone's house to eat and catch up on each other's lives. We used to have a pollyanna for the "kids" in the family and it was temporarily suspended when those same "kids" grew up and became adults. Now that our family has gotten even larger with the addition of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the pollyanna is gonna be reinstated (smile).

The women usually handle most of the food preparation and the watching of small children, while the teenagers and young adults compare cell phones, I-pods, text messages, and what have you. The men often gather in the living room and debate about what else... football! What? You thought I was going to say the economy? The fact that we have a new president and he's black? Well yeah, we did talk about that for a minute but, what brings all of us together from ages 25 to 65 is football.

My brother and I used to sit and listen to our father and uncles have this century old debate when we were kids. When we were about 20-21 years old, they actually let us into the discussions for about a comment or two because nobody really cared what we had to say. Now, we are the "men" and we are the ones knowingly laughing when our sons and nephews enter the debate. But, today's "kids" have more to bring to the table than either I or my cousins had when we were "coming of age" to be allowed into these conversations.

My cousin's 27 year old son has a Blackberry that gave him instant scores and records of all of the teams we were discussing. My other cousin's 24 year old son went on his laptop and pulled up the records of the Eagles and all of the teams in the NFC. With knowledge and technology like that, you just have to let the youngins into the debate. They got the facts cold. Technology be damned, nobody can know what the outcome of a day will be.

Almost all of us agreed that the Philadelphia Eagles would not be going to the playoffs this year. Mind you, we didn't doubt that they might have enough skill to beat the Dallas Cowboys yesterday but, in order for us to be anything more than spoilers, Tampa Bay had to lose to the Oakland Raiders (impossible) and the Giants had to lose to the Vikings (not likely). We all unanimously agreed (a family first) that combination of losses would not happen and whether the Eagles won or lost, they had no business going to the playoffs anyway.

Further, to back up what we said, all of the sportscasters on ESPN said the same thing! You know me by now... I'm the devil's advocate and the Maverick of all bloggers. So, I said... "What if? What if everything plays out exactly as we need it. Then what?" (I gotta make it interesting.) I was greeted with laughs and jeers by everyone involved in the conversation.

Yesterday's results:

Oakland Raiders 31
Tampa Bay Bucs 24

Minnesota Vikings 20
New York Giants 19

Philadelphia Eagles 44
Dallas Cowboys 6

Ahem! Who's laughing now? Did I call that one or what? Somewhere in the great beyond, my grandfather, father, and uncles are scratching their heads and smiling. I doubt that they drink beer in heaven but, they are toasting me with "milk and honey" or whatever they drink.

We're going to the playoffs, baby!

(P.S. I did make one misstep... I predicted that the Detroit Lions would win their last game and not go 0-16... they lost. Can't win 'em all.)