Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Here's hoping anybody that reads this has a terrific day with family and/or friends gathered around for their annual pig-out day. Or at least one of them. May you gorge yourselves on turkey, taters and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pies, and an assortment of other goodies. Then wash it all down with a couple diet Cokes, because one must be aware of ingesting too many calories, you know. Right.

And of course, along the way, there's a whole bunch of stuff to watch on TV, if one can get away from the squabbling in-laws, outlaws, and bratty kids long enough at the dinner table to enjoy it.

First, there's the Detroit Thanksgiving day parade. Most men I know would rather be water-boarded than forced to watch a parade, but it always seems to be a big hit amongst the fairer sex and the young-uns that have yet to become addicted to video games, smart phones, iPads, and the like. So yeah, the kids under 5 get a kick out of it too.

Yet yours truly wonders about that parade. Earlier tonight, I saw the floats lined up on Woodward Ave. getting ready. That would seem to beg a few questions.....

Does anybody know where they even build these floats? It must be a very big building somewhere.
How do they keep them secret until they're unveiled for whatever parade they're in?
What happens to them after the particular parade is over? They must be dismantled in perhaps the same big secret building, because we'll never see the same float twice.
More important yet -- how much do these things cost to build in the first place, when their useful lifespan seems to be only about an hour?
Given how many such floats there are in a typical Thanksgiving day parade -- how many millions of dollars are spent on such pomp and circumstance?
Isn't Detroit the same major city that just went bankrupt a while back, wallowing in billions of red ink?
But now corporate sponsors, other groups looking to push their own causes (see donations), and "celebrities" along for a free ride wanting to get a few photo-ops find a way to spend countless millions on a parade for a measly couple hours? While the rest of the city remains a vast wasteland, and can't seem to dispose of their own garbage or keep the streetlights on? Something is seriously wrong with this picture.

OK, enough about raining on the parade.

The Detroit Lions face the Green Bay Packers today. Without Aaron Rodgers, the Packers have become quite mediocre. The Lions are favored by 5-6 points, as well they should be. If Rodgers was playing, this game would likely be a toss-up in the minds of the handicappers.

But never underestimate the Lions when it comes to their futility on Thanksgiving day games. They've lost the last nine in a row -- all at home. Last year, they had the game all but won against the Houston Texans, until Lions' head coach Jim Schwartz pulled the ultimate bone-headed move of throwing a red challenge flag on a play he would later say he knew was the wrong decision on his part at the time, but -- he did it anyway, and ultimately cost his team the game they should have won. There's being aggressive and trying to impose one's will -- and then there's being stupid about it. There's a difference. A big one.

Nevertheless, yours truly suspects the Lions will finally break their long turkey day losing streak, and pull out a win against the Packers.

They better, or they can kiss yet another season goodbye, because if they go down at home to the Packers, minus Rodgers and most of their starting receiver corps, yours truly thinks players like Nate Burleson and Dominic Raiola can flap their gums all they want, but the Lions will be in serious trouble. Not that that's anything new, by any means, because the Lions' faithful, bless their misguided and delusional hearts, will continue to believe there is hope. There is always hope, they say.

They are wrong, and have been for a very long time. When it comes to the Super Bowl, the only thing that really matters, the Lions are nowhere near good enough to even be in a serious conversation about such a thing, nor will they be any year soon. Besides Calvin Johnson, likely the best receiver in the game these days, they have a few good players, but most of the rest likely couldn't even start on most other NFL teams. Plus Jim Schwartz is not the answer either. They will never get over the hump with him in charge. Check out his record in the NFL. It speaks for itself. He's a career loser. Only the owning Ford family of the Lions would find a way to sign Schwartz to a contract extension after the team went a bottom-feeding 4-12 last year, including losing the last eight games in a row.

But hey. Enjoy the parade and root your Lions on. Maybe something good will come of it all -- somehow.

My dear friend Crystal said she would bring me a full plate of Thanksgiving goodies tomorrow after she fed her own family. Sometimes when one does a favor or two for another -- it has a way of coming around in a good way.

And forget the diet Coke. I got a couple Miller Lites set aside for such an occasion.