The Thankful Edition

 Thanksgiving 2021 was truly a thankful holiday at the Yard. The staff and management have been working remote for over 18 months and we are missing the social aspects of our pursuit of societal ignorance. There is talk of getting back to the Yard HQ in early 2022 and Jo at the Yard is trying to get me out of the house. We got out of LV and went to a turkey dinner for ten on San Juan Island. Jo and I were thankful for all our friends in SJ that we have cultivated through first cousins at the Yard, Dom. They are her friends but gave us lots of seasonal love. Personally, I was thankful that Jo and Dom are such kitchen geniuses. My responsibilities for the pre-meal festivities were limited to firewood and opening wine. Between those minor inconveniences, I warmed myself by the fire, watched football and sampled wine while giving praise to the demanding work going on in the kitchen.

Watching Jared Goff slog to another loss in a Lions uniform makes one wonder what he was thankful for Thanksgiving. He was the number one pick in the draft, and guided the LA Rams to their first Super Bowl since Super Bowl XIV.  Those 1979 Rams are still the Yard’s favorite. The plucky roster of aging vets and youngsters finished the season 9-7. Pat Haden started that season at QB, broke his finger and gave way to Vinnie Ferragamo who led the team all the way to a Super Bowl Sunday loss to the vaunted Steelers. It was the best season of 25-year-old Vinnie’s career. Who knew at the time? The precocious Wendell Tyler dazzled and frustrated with fumbles and 100-yard games. Jack Youngblood played the entire playoffs with a cracked fibula. And Hacksaw Reynolds, enough said. Those Steelers had a HOF player at every position. Bradshaw, Swan, Stallworth, Lambert, Greene, and the list goes on; first names not needed. Neither Vincent nor the Rams knew that this was going to be the last high note for that Rams’ chapter. Their slow downhill arc started in the fourth quarter of that painful game. Within two years, they were the Los Angeles Rams in Anaheim. By 1995, they were the St. Louis Rams. For poor Jared, he witnessed all those emotions during his scant time with the Rams. We are certain that he is very thankful for his girlfriend SI swimsuit model, Christen Harper. Yard staff are very fond of her and her Instagram account as well. Christen will help Jared get past the pain of it all. Goff finally led the Lions to their first victory in 2021. His biggest victory prior to that, was getting Ms. Harper to move from the bright lights of LA to the grind of the Motor City. Christen helps Goff’s Lion roar even in defeat.

There were several bright Yard moments that we shared gratitude for our chosen teams in those moments. In the 139-year history of the MLB Giants, no team had ever won 107 games in a season. When SF won a few titles a decade ago, they won 92, 84, and 88 games in those seasons. In 2021, the Giants caught fire completely unexpectedly and raced to the finish line. The Blue Crew never gave up pursuit finishing with 106 wins and one game out of first in the NL West. The second-best record in MLB got the Dodgers a one game elimination with the frigging STL Cardinals. The Cardinals have been the Dodgers nemesis in the playoffs. The heartburn of playing one game to get into the real playoffs after winning 106 was an ignominious finish to a great season. The Dodgers slayed the Birds and headed to the Bay for the first real playoff game between these two bitter rivals in their shared history. The Dodgers won the real-World Series with their crushing defeat of the favored Pumpkins. The Giants led throughout the season and the playoff series until they did not. Their fans had to take their orange foam fingers and put them back in the attic. Unfortunately, the Dodgers had nothing left in the tank or in the starting rotation when they rolled into Atlanta after all those elimination games. The 90-win Braves got home field because they won the NL Least. We are thankful the Dodgers beat the Giants. San Francisco had home field advantage for all the playoffs. We are quite certain the Giants would have rolled the Braves and had another title in their sights. The Dodgers saved us from that calamity. The Giants are never going to win 107 again in our lifetimes. Neither team has a title to boast from their brilliant seasons. Except the Dodgers beat the Giants when it mattered most and thankfully put the shiv into their faithful. It was exciting for Dodger nation and a crushing defeat for the Giants who were predicted to finish out of the playoffs. It was the last gasp for their aging roster. Buster Posey saw the last chance season as his last and pulled the ripcord into retirement.

Thanks, and praise to the UCLA Bruins who shellacked the USC Trojans 62-33 in their crib. The score looked like a basketball game from the 70’s. UCLA QB Dorian Thompson Robinson was intercepted twice in the first quarter and the Coliseum demons of UCLA football past started to creep from the shadows. But this Trojan team is a shadow of their legacy. Troy was suffering through their worst season since Larry Smith was misguiding the team. The Bruins tried hard to give the Trojans every reason to have hope that a victory over the Bruins would salvage their season. The USC season was a salvage project as soon as Clay Helton got another chance to disprove his detractors. Two games into this pivotal season, Clay was left on the tarmac. The best part of the Bruins record breaking victory is that I am having dinner this week with my Trojan friends from the former Pasadena Athletic Club. The club no longer exists but our steadfast friendships and historical truths are the best. It is always best when the only Bruin alumni in the room can walk in tall, shaken not stirred.

 Overtime: There will be banter about Chip Kelly and his future at UCLA with the messiah Lincoln Riley coming to LA to save the university. Riley is being heralded as the second coming of Peter the Great. At UCLA, we are simply happy to still be in the discussion at this time of the football season.  Truth be told, the best athletic program in southern California for both basketball and football are San Diego State’s. The Aztecs may have the best program in CA. They play a lighter schedule in the Mountain West, but they have averaged ten wins a season since 2012. The Trojans and Bruins are far behind in total victories, bowl games and seasonal rankings. Aztec basketball has been superior to USC and UCLA for the past decade as well. Hail the Aztecs!