Forgiving Rian Lindell, Finding Fun Balance Beam Mounts, and a Successful Phil Kessel: What I’m Thankful for This Thanksgiving

Don't worry, Rian Lindell - I'm still thankful for you.

This Thanksgiving day, I have a lot to be thankful for. In the spirit of many blogs today, I will now provide a laundry list of all the things – sports related, that is – that I am thankful for:

I am thankful that the Buffalo Bills are still in Buffalo.

I am thankful that Dick Jauron has resisted the urge to throw in JP Losman when Trent Edwards has gone through his growing pains.

Reluctantly, I am thankful for Rian Lindell, because for every 47 yarder to win the game he misses, he blasts 50 other field goals and extra points through the uprights. (And I still don’t understand why more people are not naming their sons Rian with an i.)

I am thankful for the Buffalo Sabres’ third jerseys, because they remind me of my childhood.

Oh, Canada!

I have a new favorite member of the Boston Red Sox. After the Kappy-Kap (the nickname for Gabe Kapler that one of my students created four years ago) left, I had no favorites. No one could replace the Kappy-Kap with the Sox. No one was that awesome, hot, and as good of a clubhouse leader.

That is, until this afternoon, when Manny Ramirez was involved in a three-way trade for everyone’s favorite Canadian baseball player.

Jason Bay, welcome to the Red Sox. I finally have another hottie outfielder to drool over. And, did I mention that he’s CANADIAN?!

My Great Social Experiment

Last Tuesday, Chris (aka the boyfriend) and I took in one of the Red Sox’s last games of the regular season. Earlier that morning, I made the call not to wear one of my Red Sox hats to the game. Now, part of this is because out of the three I own, one is a visor, and this wasn’t visor weather; another is pink, which is no longer “acceptable” to “real” Sox fans (whatever); the third is newer, a bit on the large side for me, and lacks the ponytail opening in the back.

So I decided to wear my Buffalo Bills hat to Fenway Park — two days after the Patriots decided to decimate the Bills 38-7 on their quest to become the NFL’s most annoyingly unbeatable team.