Thanksgiving x Sports
Edition #198
To all my American readers and my family, Happy Thanksgiving. It’s a great day to reflect on everything people do for you, appreciate everyone around you, and spend time with family. Thank you for reading this post today, and being a supporter of this publication. I also thank you for liking and sharing this post.
To my non-American readers, do follow along as we look at the connection between Thanksgiving and sports, something we always do for huge national holidays. Thank you for being huge supporters to the publication, even though you're not in the U.S.
NFL
The NFL has been the primary sport connected to Thanksgiving, with the tradition beginning in 1934. At that time, the NFL wasn’t the NFL it is today, as it was a sport still building an audience. But, there was a way to get a huge audience. What better way than to play a game on Thanksgiving, the day people are already gathered together?
The owner/team who organized this? George A. Richards of the Detroit Lions. He made sure their game against the Chicago Bears was broadcast on live radio, so he used his radio connections (click on George A. Richards) and made it happen. The Lions actually lost the game, and according to sources, this could be the reason why the Lions have a 37-45-2 on Thanksgiving day.
The only years the Lions didn’t play on Thanksgiving are from 1939 to 1945, which, (remember what you learned in 11th grade?), is the time of World War 2. Aside from this, the Lions have played every year on Thanksgiving Day.
The history behind the Cowboys isn’t much, as it’s relatively the same, except they started in 1966.
Now here’s how teams have done on the holiday. The one team that’s never played so far, is the worst in the NFL right now, the Jacksonville Jaguars. (Data CBSsports).
Arizona Cardinals, 6-15-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 48-20 loss to Philadelphia Eagles in 2008
Atlanta Falcons, 1-3 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 26-18 loss to New Orleans Saints in 2019
Baltimore Ravens, 2-0 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 22-20 win over Pittsburgh Steelers in 2013
Buffalo Bills, 6-4-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 28-25 win over Detroit Lions in 2022
Carolina Panthers, 1-0 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 33-14 win over Dallas Cowboys in 2015
Chicago Bears, 20-15-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 16-14 win over Detroit Lions in 2021
Cincinnati Bengals, 0-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 26-10 loss to New York Jets in 2010
Cleveland Browns, 0-3 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 13-10 loss to Detroit Lions in 1989
Dallas Cowboys, 33-22-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 45-10 win over Commanders in 2023
Denver Broncos, 4-7 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 26-6 win over New York Giants in 2009
Detroit Lions, 37-45-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 29-22 loss to Packers in 2023
Green Bay Packers, 15-20-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 29-22 win over Lions in 2023
Houston Texans, 2-0 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 41-25 win over Lions in 2020
Indianapolis Colts, 2-1-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 28-7 loss to Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016
Jacksonville Jaguars, never played on Thanksgiving
Kansas City Chiefs, 5-5 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 19-10 win over Denver Broncos in 2006
Los Angeles Chargers, 3-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 28-6 win over Dallas Cowboys in 2017
Los Angeles Rams, 3-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 20-0 win over Detroit Lions in 1975
Miami Dolphins, 5-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 20-19 loss to Dallas Cowboys in 2011
Minnesota Vikings, 7-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 33-26 win over New England Patriots in 2022
New England Patriots, 3-3 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 33-26 loss to Minnesota Vikings in 2022
New Orleans Saints, 3-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 31-6 loss to Buffalo Bills in 2021
New York Giants, 7-6-3 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 28-20 loss to Dallas Cowboys in 2022
New York Jets, 4-4 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 49-19 loss to New England Patriots in 2012
Las Vegas Raiders, 4-4 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 36-33 OT win over Dallas Cowboys in 2021
Philadelphia Eagles, 6-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 45-14 loss to Detroit Lions in 2015
Pittsburgh Steelers, 2-6 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 28-7 win over Indianapolis Colts in 2016
San Francisco 49ers, 3-2-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 31-13 win over Seahawks in 2023
Seattle Seahawks, 2-3 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 31-13 loss to 49ers in 2023
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 0-1 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 38-10 loss to Dallas Cowboys in 2006
Tennessee Titans, 5-2 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 47-10 win over Detroit Lions in 2008
Washington Commanders, 4-9 all-time | Last Thanksgiving game: 45-10 loss to Commanders in 2023
NBA
The NBA knows that all the attention is going to the NFL during this Thursday, so they turned to black Friday for their share.
Thanksgiving in the NBA has been on and off, with the tradition starting in 1982, then beginning again in 1994-2006. 2010 was the last NBA Thanksgiving year (if I’m not mistaken), and the lockout from 2011-2012 really ended the whole thing.
Now here’s another problem. The NFL is coming into Black Friday as well, with the first-ever black Friday game being the Raiders vs Chiefs. The real strategy behind this is the fact that the NBA has struck a deal with Amazon, and since most people will be on Amazon shopping for Black Friday deals at home, why not put on an NBA game while you’re at it?
The NBA needs to find a solution for this fast, or else things will get bad. We do have some very dependent NBA Cup games this Friday, so be sure to watch them all.
CFB:
For all the people sick of watching football with the Lions or Cowboys playing, remember that you also have college football.
Obviously, many of you know that I'm not a huge CFB fan, so I don't know how popular these games exactly are, but I do know that if you want a full day of TV, you have your options.
And that's it for me. Happy Thanksgiving and be thankful for us all.
There was a Black Friday Game last year, in which the Dolphins beat the Jets, 34-13.