thankful thursday #6

It's bowl season.

As if the regular football season isn't long enough, empire builders of the sports world like ESPN and the BCS have made it their goal to fill our holidays with enough bowl games to make a person go crazy.

And it's a shame that in so doing, student athletes, coaches and athletic staffs -- who, by the way, are sons, daughters, dads, and siblings -- are asked to travel away from their homes, and celebrate Christmas in a hotel, eating a catered meal, at best.

But this is Thankful Thursday.  Not the time for bitter soapboxes.

I'm so thankful that I have friends and coworkers who invite me into bowl pools!

For our work contest, we pick outright winners; in another one, we pick against the line.  They're fun little competitions.

At our family's house, if there is a football game being played somewhere in the world -- even if it's in Shreveport, Louisiana, for pity's sake -- it's on our television.  That includes games that are being sponsored by the likes of Meineke Car Care and Godaddy.com.

Oh, bowl games, why must you sell your souls to corporate naming rights?

(That is rhetorical, thanks very much.)

So were it not for the bowl pools, I'd have no vested interest in Sisters of the Poor University, and bowl season would be simply unbearable.

Are you in a pool?  If so, I'm sure you're grateful for them, too.

If not, what else is making you thankful today?  Go on, be grateful!

P.S. I'd be extra thankful if Navy could make a comeback here ...