TURKEY DAY TEASER

11/27/08

Having a little action on Thanksgiving Day is just as traditional as the Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. You can almost envision the Pilgrims and the Indians gathered off to the side of the dinner table betting on something. Millions of households across the country plan their days around football. In most parts of the country the day starts with the Thanksgiving Day High School football Rivalry games. Usually a 10 AM start in this neck of the woods. Then it's home to Turkey, Stuffing and the Detroit Lions. (The Lions......talk about turkeys). Dessert is usually planned in between NFL game #1 and NFL game #2 at which point everyone is too stuffed to move so you settle in and watch the Seahawks and Cowboys regardless of the score.

Now they have added a night game in the NFL which confuses things a bit. For years we had just a college game to deal with. Now we have the Cards and Eagles. No problem, as there's generally plenty of food left over to get stuffed all over again while we flip back and forth between the Cards-Eagles and Texas-Texas A&M. Unless of course you're one of the lucky ones with a split screen.

Thanksgiving Day is one of the only times of the year we advocate making a wager for the sake of making a wager. It's traditional. It's almost un-American not to do so. Often times it's hard to get involved with the sides or totals on these games. They aren't always the best of match ups, particularly when the Lions are involved. But hey, that's why Teasers were invented!

So with that in mind, we present our Annual Turkey Day Teaser. It's just for fun, no huge amount. But just enough to keep you involved all day long. Unless of course the first leg of the teaser goes down. We don't anticipate that happening though. So, here it is, a 10 point Turkey Day Teaser :

Titans -1

Cowboys -2.5

Cards +13

Titans -1 over Lions- This would have to be the strongest leg of the teaser. This is a very good Titans football team, in off a loss to the Jets, which is actually a positive. Being undefeated brings with it a whole different level of pressure on a week to week basis. It can be a distraction, as any team who has gone undefeated this far into a season will tell you. Now that they have the loss out of the way, they can get back to winning games. The Lions would seem to be the perfect opponent for the bounce back week. Yeah, it's Thanksgiving in Detroit and the Lions have given us some good games over the years even in years when they were terrible (which is most of the time) but they catch Tennessee at the wrong time. Not interested in laying -11 but at -1 we're just asking them to win the game.

Cowboys -2.5 over Seahawks - We're not sold on the Cowboys and all the talk of them being the Giants of a year ago. But they get to host the Seahawks, a team that's only won 2 games all year. So, we don't expect the Cowboys season to go down the drain this particular week. Laying just -2.5 here, we're pretty much just asking the Boys to win one straight up. Though I'd be lying if I said I felt safe with the one. I can see a 1 point win with a last second field goal here. But hey, we'll take a shot. It's the rest of the way that figures to do in the Cowboys. They finish with the Steelers, Giants, Ravens and Eagles.

Cards +13 over Eagles -  Feel very good about getting +13 with this Cardinals offense which will never be out of any game (unless it's the Jets). The Eagles are a team in disarray. The fans have turned on the QB and the Coach. It's doubtful either will return next year. I wouldn't expect them to just rollover and die, but this should be a pretty good game with the outcome in doubt all the way.

There you  have it. Our traditional Turkey Day Teaser. If you play it, good luck! We'll sink or swim along with you as our play is already in. Enjoy your family, enjoy the Turkey, enjoy the Games. Happy Thanksgiving!

Be sure to visit the Free Sports Monitor to see what our award winning handicappers have going!