Don’t get me wrong, Thanksgiving was good last night. It was good for the Harbaugh family on the field, and it was good for my family in Petaluma, where my sister and her husband hosted the first family dinner at their new house.
There was delicious food made by my brother-in-law (a chef) and everyone else, limitless great wine (both my brother-in-law and both of my sisters work in the wine industry) and of course, quality time with the family. But when it comes to the football side of things, it’s fair to say that the highest of highs were met with some cavern-like lows yesterday evening.
Everything was lovely throughout the afternoon, even though the Dallas Cowboys won a game they probably didn’t deserve. Oysters, cheeses, deviled eggs and other assorted hor dourves were available for binging purposes, along with magnums of wine. Then for dessert (before the pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and blackberry pie), Ray Lewis was shown on the television — in street clothes.
Up to that point I had no idea Lewis was inactive; my family doesn’t appreciate it when I’m constantly on my phone refreshing my Twitter timeline, looking for injury updates. They’re old fashioned that way.
Lewis is out? Great sign. The Bengals were able to move the ball freely against Baltimore four days earlier when Lewis sat with a lingering foot injury, so the 49ers’ chances of running the ball successfully and controlling the game increased exponentially. Not only that, but everyone in my family was totally into the game. So much so that I thought I might be able to get away with eating my Thanksgiving dinner on the couch. Yep, I was ready to start shoveling turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes into my boca while watching the much-anticipated HarBowl.
Then, after an early field goal for both teams, the 49ers scored on a long touchdown pass to Ted Ginn!
Flag.
Minutes later, Tarell Brown intercepts a long pass thrown by Joe Flacco!
Flag.
And almost exactly at that moment, I turned around and saw my sister on her way to set the dining room table. Their dining room — as dining rooms often are — is conveniently set around the corner from the TV room, with absolutely no view of the TV. It was at that moment when I realized it might not be the 49ers’ night. Or mine, at least when it came to watching all 60 minutes (note: no DVR at my sister’s house).
So I ended up missing a portion of the third and fourth quarters, even though I ate as fast as I could and left the table earlier than anyone else at a time that would best be described as “borderline rude.” Hopefully no one noticed, because the action during the last 10 minutes of that game was hardly worth leaving the table for.
