Make Black Friday a holiday you cowards

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for being here and reading this.

To be completely honest with you all, I have no idea how I’m writing this right now.

I probably ate my weight in turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese and collard greens on Thursday. I woke up this morning with absolutely no idea what day it was or any concept of what I should be doing in the moment. The food-induced coma that I was in still hasn’t quite worn off.

SPEAKING OF FOOD COMAS: Matt Eberflus sure did seem to be asleep at the end of that Bears game

That’s the good and the bad of Thanksgiving, right?

The pros of the holiday are obvious. You eat your fill surrounded by the folks you love. Or, well, I should say mostly the folks you love. Just forget about that uncle that you can’t stand for a second. Then you get to watch football until you fall asleep for the first time and wake up around 7 p.m. to make your third plate. It’s great.

But then, there’s the obvious con to the holiday, too. It’s a Thursday holiday!

Some people have the day off today, sure. But lots of others had to find the strength to get up and resume their adult lives. How? No idea.

This is why I’m proposing a solution: Let’s make Black Friday a holiday. We might as well, right?

I know, I know. Black Friday kind of sucks. There are so many sales and so much chaos and noise. Every company out there is sending you emails and notifications to poke and prod you to buy everything for the upcoming holiday season.

So, yes, I propose this at the risk of creating yet another ultra-capitalistic holiday in our extremely ultra-capitalistic society. But I think this one is necessary! You can’t ask people to eat a whole turkey and expect them to be functional the next day. It takes time to recover from that bird!

Let’s give people that time. It doesn’t have to be Black Friday anymore. It can be called “Turkey Nap Day” or “You should take a seat after drinking all that egg nog” day. Maybe even, “I love my parents, but I’m really glad to be back home” day.

Call it whatever you want. All we need is that day. Somebody make it happen.

YOU KNOW WHO ELSE NEEDS A DAY? Bluey. She deserves one.

All the sports are back

This is yet another reason folks need the day off. Check the sports calendar. Everyone is playing today! Like, right now.

The NFL: 

• The Chiefs and Raiders kick off on Amazon Prime’s Black Friday game at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The NBA: The NBA Cup is running it up today. We’ve got two afternoon games today.

• Hornets vs. Knicks tips off at noon ET.
• Hawks vs. Cavaliers also tips off at 2:30 p.m. ET

College football: There’s a big slate on tap today in the CFB world, too, starting this afternoon.

•  Boise State vs. Oregon State kicks off at noon ET
• Oklahoma State vs. Colorado kicks of at noon ET
• The Egg Bowl! Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET
• Georgia vs. Georgia Tech kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET

I haven’t even mentioned college basketball. There’s are big slates on both the men’s and women’s sides with in-season tournaments in full swing. You’re going to need to make an appointment with the couch today.

Tom Brady stinks, part 752

Look, guys. Tom Brady isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Surely, you know this by now.

But the more the guy talks, the more I feel vindicated. He doesn’t seem like a very fun time! He ripped Daniel Jones for asking the Giants for a release, even though the Giants very clearly didn’t want him. It was so confusing. Here’s Charles Curtis with more on that.

“I don’t know how that whole situation went down, but to think that you’d ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than I would’ve handled that,” he said.

“I always felt I wanted to get the trust and respect of my teammates regardless of the situation, knowing that I was trying to be the best I could for the team, cause that was the most important thing,” he added.

OK. Now, after reading that, I want you to imagine Tom Brady’s reaction to not only being benched, but being named a practice squad safety. Keep in mind that this is the same Tom Brady who was reportedly so salty about the Patriots’ decision to draft Jimmy Garoppolo in 2014 that it influenced his decision to leave the team in 2020 for the Buccaneers.

And you think that guy would’ve stuck around for the long haul after being named a practice squad safety? Please. Give me a break, Tom.

Photo Friday: Say hi, Minnie!

Somehow, 2024 was Minnie Mouse’s debut at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Here she is saying hello to a few spectators on a balcony.

Quick hits: How to watch Chiefs-Raiders today … Josh Jacobs was hungry … and more

— Here’s Charles Curtis with a guide on getting a Prime subscription to watch Chiefs-Raiders today.

— Here’s Meg Hall on Josh Jacobs chowing down mid-interview after whooping the Dolphins.

— Terry Bradshaw is getting cooked for this Tua Tagovailoa take. Watch the Dolphins, Terry.

— Here’s Tyler Nettuno on Matt Eberflus defending is poor clock management strategy.

— As bad as Eberflus was, Caleb Williams was pretty awesome for the Bears on Thursday. Robert Zeglinski has more.

— Can we get Penei Sewell more touches, please? Thanks.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We’ll see you again next week. Happy Holidays.

Peace.

-Sykes