Before I forget as we prepare to travel to Mom and Dad's house then to Oxford for the Egg Bowl, just wanted to wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope each of you can find something to be thankful for this holiday season. I'm thankful for Mud and this community y'all have allowed me to "invade" where we can joke, prod, laugh and cry together. Thanks to each of you for helping me smile on a daily basis! I will never be able to repay you for the "therapy."

I am going to get a little religious here, so if that's not your cup of tea just stop here and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And, thank you!

In case you haven't noticed :-), it is Rivalry Week in college football. I am amazed each year at the energy, passion and emotion both sides put into their game, be it Ole Miss-Miss. State, Bama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, etc., etc.

Mason hated to lose to Mississippi State! The first Egg Bowl I took all three sons to was the 2005 game in Starkville. We had been at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving. Neither team had set the world on fire so I thought there probably wouldn't be a lot of people there. It was Peyton's first-ever Ole Miss football game to attend, as he was 5. We had a flat on Highway 82 when we got to State's campus. I called the tire shop, and they told me they would be closing at noon for the football game. No big deal, I thought. I'll put the spare on and get a new tire when we get back to Madison. Called a State buddy (whose son played soccer with Mason) who we were supposed to eat lunch with and told him what had happened and to bring me a can of "Fix-a-Flat" just in case the spare tire needed air. When he did, I asked him if he thought it would be okay just leaving the car there and he told me it would. We walked to the stadium. Jerious Norwood ran all over us for like 204 yards and four touchdowns as Miss. State proceeded to whip us, 35-14. I remember the stadium getting loud with those dang cowbells and Peyton looking at me with tears in his eyes, his hands over his ears, saying, "I WANNA GO HOME!" That was also the first time ever Mason asked, "CAN WE PLEASE LEAVE?!" I remember not being too pleased myself and telling him, "IF YOU'RE GONNA BE AN OLE MISS FAN SIT THERE AND GET USED TO DAYS LIKE TODAY!" I took the boys to the Rebel locker room to see the players after the game, then we walked back to the car -- WHICH HAD BEEN TOWED! A Highway patrolman told me where they had taken the car and told me it would be $100 cash to get it. He gave us a ride to the ATM so I could get the $100. I remember looking back into the back seat of the patrol car and telling Mason, Jamison and Peyton, "Never let me see y'all in the back of one of these again." The highway patrol guy laughed and said, "That was good." Anyway, we get to where the car is and there is about 10 other Ole Miss fans standing there to get their cars. One guy showed me a photo of where they had towed the Ole Miss cars and left the State cars...

I vowed that day NEVER to return to a game in Starkville. But I can't help myself.

I did not go in '07 as the late Ken Netherland, the winningest high school football coach in Tennessee, invited me to go to Middle Tennessee State University to watch his St. George's football team win a state championship. I had covered his Germantown Red Devils football program when I first got out of Ole Miss and had seen him lose in the state title game, so he wanted me to see him actually win one. "I'm like Don Shula" he once told jokingly told me. We listened on the bus ride up -- Netherland played baseball at Ole Miss -- as the Rebels failed on the fourth-and-one play and then gave up the punt return later in the game that sealed the fate of Coach O...

We went back as a family in '09 after visiting my parents for Thanksgiving, as my State neighbor had invited us to their tent after the game. We lost again, and Mason said, "I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THE JUNKYARD!" I told him we had told Mr. Scott and Mrs. Kim we would visit them after the game and that we were going to do so...

I went back in '11, knowing with the accident and how badly we had played we were certainly going to win that one. Boy was I wrong. Watched last year with Jamison as Wallace fumbled into the end zone as the Dogs celebrated yet again...

Sorry to ramble, but I say all that to say this -- I will be saluting our graduating seniors Saturday -- including Mason, Sam Clayton and Walker's old classmates Carlton Martin and Bryon Bennett -- along with the rest of a packed VHS, plus Mason, Sam Clayton and Walker! And I hope each of you who have the opportunity to do so will as well at whatever stadium you attend.               

As we approach Thanksgiving and this holiday season, I am reminded of how great it would be if we put the same energy, emotion and passion into nurturing our relationships, helping out a friend or someone else in need, tending to our neighbor and saving lost souls. So, go ahead and have a little fun with your neighbor this week. But, when it is over, please remember what truly is important and what final score really counts. Let's try and keep the same level of energy, passion and emotion in other areas of our lives. And, remember to thank Coach Will Muschamp, Coach Jimbo Fisher, Coach Gus Malzahn, Coach Nick Saban, Coach Dan Mullen, Coach Hugh Freeze or whomever your head coach is for investing in the young men they are blessed to coach. It is through their efforts, and ours, that these young men will develop character and integrity and, after the game is over, contribute to a better world. 

May we all set a good example for them to follow.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love you guys (and gals)!!!