Thanksgiving is a holiday made for sporting moments. Football is obviously a big part of this. College contests have been played on Turkey Day since the 1870s while the pros kicked things off in the 1920s. Basketball even has a small role in the festivities, although most will have forgotten about this.
With that in mind, here are the best Thanksgiving sporting moments. The moments that made the annoying family chit-chat, terrible side dishes and premature talk of Christmas shopping all worth it.
Also Interesting: The ol’ college try: NFL teams playing in college stadiums
11 best Thanksgiving sporting moments
11) Barry being Barry (1997)
It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without the Detroit Lions. In the 1990s, that meant a hearty helping of Barry Sanders. His 1997 performance against the Chicago Bears was arguably Sanders’ most dynamic effort. He was at his juking, whirling best. A 40-yard touchdown run before halftime showcased his brilliant abilities.
The first half of this contest was actually really odd. Sanders only had eight carries in the first half and the Lions trailed after the opening 30 minutes. That changed with their star running back gashing the Bears regularly throughout the second half in what would be a 55-20 victory for Detroit.
10) Texas vs Texas A&M for one final time (2011)
All hell broke loose when Texas A&M announced it was leaving for the SEC along with Mizzou. Texas, in particular, was pissed and the two schools went into this 2011 Thanksgiving matchup hellbent on never playing each other again if possible. For all we knew, this was their last game.
If that were the case, this final showdown was for all the marbles. And it did not disappoint. The Aggies and Longhorns played with intensity at Kyle Field on this night. Texas A&M went ahead 25-24 with less than two minutes remaining. That turned out to be too much time for the Longhorns who navigated down the field. Justin Tucker nailed a field goal as time expired to clinch the win.
9) Randy Moss in a high-impact, low-volume performance (1998)
Three catches, three touchdowns, 163 receiving yards and a two-point conversion reception. It’s very possible some folks missed everything Randy Moss accomplished on Thanksgiving 1998 if they mistimed bathroom breaks and kitchen checks. Hell, his name isn’t even on the stat sheet in the second and fourth quarters. The wide receiver may not have done a lot but a hat trick of 50+ yard touchdowns was pretty spectacular.
8) The coin toss heard around the world (1998)
Let’s stay with Thanksgiving in 1998. Spare a thought for Phil Luckett, a capable referee who had a lousy two-week stretch in 1998. It started with the overtime coinflip during a Turkey Day matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions.
Steelers running back Jerome Bettis appeared to say tails when calling the toss in the air. When the coin landed on tails, Luckett turned to the Lions and asked what they wished to do. Detroit obviously chose to receive and promptly won the game. Everyone was confused about what happened and unfairly made fun of the NFL official’s apparent bonehead mistake.
We now know Luckett didn’t make an error as Bettis called, “hea-tails.” That, of course, meant the Bus had called heads and the referee was correct. He even clearly explains what happened to then-Pittsburgh Head Coach Bill Cowher. Even now, the official is still mocked for this with the NFL happy to exploit this misfortune.
Things went from bad to worse for Luckett a week later when his crew allowed a touchdown to stand despite Vinny Testaverde not coming anywhere near the goal line with the football. That decision is impossible to defend.
7) Adam Morrison feasts (2005)
Okay, so this didn’t technically happen on Thanksgiving Day. But Feast Week is a big part of Turkey Day festivities, even if college basketball doesn’t really have history on the holiday itself. That brings us to a 2005 Maui Invitational clash between Gonzaga and Michigan State that took place on a Tuesday. Playing in the small gym in Lawanna at random times during the day just feels like Thanksgiving season to me.
This wild game required three overtime periods to settle, with the Zags eventually winning 109-106. Adam Morrison was at the height of his powers on this occasion, scoring 43 points in a myriad of ways. Say what you want about his pro career, but Morrison was a college basketball legend.
More Zags: Gonzaga players who went to the NBA under Mark Few
6) Earl Campbell obliterates the Cowboys (1979)
Every time I watch highlights of Earl Campbell, I can’t help but think he looks like a video game create-a-player. The running back is so much bigger, thicker and quicker than everyone else on the field. It doesn’t make any sense.
On Thanksgiving 1979, the Houston Oilers visited the Dallas Cowboys in a rare matchup between the in-state rivals. This was not a festive occasion for the Cowboys as they were demolished single-handily by Campbell, who rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries. At one point, he lands on his neck and somehow gets up as if it’s nothing. Look, the performance wasn’t pretty, but it was certainly memorable.
More Oilers: The story of George Blanda and football’s single-season interception record
5) Elijah Moore pisses away the Egg Bowl (2019)
The ending of the 2019 Egg Bowl remains one of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen in sports. It was such a hectic couple of minutes that felt as if it lasted an eternity. It started with Elijah Moore scoring a touchdown for Ole Miss with four seconds left to cut the deficit to one. He then proceeded to crawl along the ground and mimic a dog pissing because of…Bulldogs…get it.
The wide receiver was unsurprisingly flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct which pushed the extra point attempt back by 15 yards. Things are going completely bonkers at this moment. Moore is walking down the sidelines rocking an NWO World Heavyweight Championship belt, getting props from teammates as fans are making a cacophony of noise before a crucial extra point.
On the field, kicker Luke Logan looks like a college kid in a horror movie who sees the serial killer for the first time. He unconvincingly tells a teammate, “I got this.” He did not have this. The 35-yard extra point sailed wide right, and Mississippi State went on to win the game by one point, although fans had already stormed the field with time still remaining. This was absolute scenes.
4) NBA’s record-breaking game (1949)
The NBA has held games on Thanksgiving Day as recently as 2005 but punted on to this tradition understanding they were no match for football. During the league’s very first seasons in 1949, one of its greatest games was played on the holiday.
The five-overtime thriller between the Anderson Packers and Syracuse Nationals set all kinds of basketball records, one of which stands to this day: most personal fouls committed in a single game. There isn’t a consensus on how many fouls were called. Some reports say 122. Others put the number in the 110s. It was a ridiculous total, regardless.
Like most good Thanksgivings, this matchup had a bit of controversy as well. Anderson protested the result claiming Syracuse had committed an illegal substitution. Like most NBA protests, this was eventually dismissed and a Nationals victory was confirmed.
More NBA: Basketball’s biggest winner took on the NBA’s most hapless franchise…and lost
3) The Game of the Century (1971)
Number one in the country versus number two on Thanksgiving Day, what more could you ask for? Nothing really. Top-ranked Nebraska traveled to second-ranked Oklahoma in what was sort of a de facto National Championship decider. The game holds up reasonably well today and was beyond massive in 1971. In fact, it brought in the largest television audience ever for a college football game ever at the time.
It was a back-and-forth contest played physically and with a sense of urgency. Nebraska rushed out to a 14-3 lead, but Oklahoma would go into halftime with a 17-14 advantage. The second half was more of the same. The Cornhuskers scored 14-straight points with the Sooners matching that to inch ahead 31-28.
Nebraska drove the field and punched in a touchdown with 98 seconds left, taking the lead once again. Oklahoma did nothing on the final drive and that was the ballgame. Was it the Game of the Century? I don’t know about that. But this was certainly a Thanksgiving classic.
2) Leon Lett & the other kind of snow (1993)
Everyone focuses on Leon Lett here. But what makes this moment so sweet is the TV broadcast cutting away from the play to see Jerry Jones celebrating what he and the rest of the Dallas Cowboys believe is a victory. Ops.
What no one realizes is that Lett’s inexplicable touching of a blocked kick gifted the Miami Dolphins a second chance to win the game after they recovered the ball. The play itself seemed to puzzle Ed Hochuli and the referees, who took their sweet time going over things before one of the longer official announcements you’ll ever witness.
1) Butt Fumble (2012)
I contend that had the Butt Fumble happened during a typical NFL Sunday, it doesn’t become part of football’s lore. It is very much a product of time and place. This was a game where everyone in America was seemingly watching, and they all happened to see Mark Sanchez do this.
