The Pulse: Thanksgiving watch guide, Germany’s protest and a turkey defense

[Buddy]

The Pulse: Thanksgiving watch guide, Germany’s protest and a turkey defense

View the full article

[HipKat]

Happy Thanksgiving! Turkey is good, weirdos.

---

Find a Couch

Power-ranking your football watching

You’ll have obligations today. Chat with some relatives. Maybe a political argument or two. Untimely FaceTimes? Likely. Prepare for those, sure, but most importantly, I want you to strategize when and how you’re getting in front of a TV today. It’s just good coaching.

Let’s assume you can’t watch football all day. Prioritization is key:

1. Can’t Miss: Bills (-9.5) at Lions 
That’s right! This game matters. The Lions 4-6 are the hottest team in the league (🤯) and the Bills are playing at Ford Field for the second straight week. Is Detroit legit? We’ll find out. Wait … Detroit is getting 9.5? Hm.

Time: 12:30 p.m. ET on CBS

2. Shouldn’t Miss: Giants at Cowboys (-10)
Matching records. Check. That’s about it. The fraud aroma was lingering in the Meadowlands air last week. The 7-3 Cowboys, fresh off one of the best performances of any team this season – a 40-3 road demolition of the Vikings – has a chance to baste the 7-3 Giants into submission.

Time: 4:30 p.m. on FOX

3. Best Entertainment Value: Mississippi State at Ole Miss (-2.5)
No matter the quality of play, this is the most underrated game of the college football schedule every season. Remember when Elijah Moore mimicked peeing in the end zone? (Read this immediately.) Normal Egg Bowl. This year, we might see Lane Kiffin leave in a helicopter headed for Auburn right after the final whistle.

Time: 7 p.m. on ESPN

4. Best Skip: Patriots at Vikings (-2.5)
Can Minnesota bounce back from the Cowboys’ beatdown last week? The rub: The Patriots can’t score, so this is either a major letdown for a previously good Vikings offense, or it’s a rock fight that leaves us all dissatisfied.

Pulse take: Flip to the Egg Bowl or tipsy Scattergories.

Time: 8:20 p.m. on NBC

See our full guide to the NFL games here, including odds and picks.

---

World Cupdate

Ronaldo and Brazil are on today

Today: Perpetual sleeper Uruguay kick off in an hour (8 a.m. ET), and after that you have Portugal and never-in-the-news Ronaldo facing Ghana (11 a.m.) and then Brazil-Serbia (2 p.m.).

Tomorrow: 🇺🇲vs 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (2 p.m.).  More on this later. Full schedule and times here.

Worth following: Germany’s players went after FIFA with a protest.

---

Briefs

Michigan State players face charges
Seven Michigan State football players were charged by the prosecutor’s office over an Oct. 29 postgame tunnel incident involving Michigan football players. The incident saw Wolverines players Gemon Green and Ja’Den McBurrows assaulted by a number of Spartan players, leaving Green and McBurrows with injuries.

Benched … with apologies
Weird vibes around the Jets: The team is 6-4, and yet the mood is somber. Zach Wilson was benched yesterday for this weekend’s game — the right move, per our local correspondent – after Wilson seemed unbothered by a nightmare performance against the Patriots on Sunday. Mike White will start against the Bears, though Wilson apologized to his teammates yesterday.

---

Food Fight

Support the turkey this holiday season

A troublesome narrative has been brewing for the past few years in popular media: Turkey is bad, and you should find cooler and more hip alternatives for your Thanksgiving spread. Cowards.

I would bet a lot of fake money that most of you turkey snobs haven’t had a good turkey before. I said it. Say I’m in the pocket of Big Turkey all you want, but put a little effort into your holiday turkey and you’ll find it’s arguably our most underrated meat. Smoke it, brine it, deep fry it, whatever. It’s a versatile bird.

I’m off to eat some good turkey, but first, lend your voice to the most important poll we’ve done: Is turkey good?

---

Pulse Picks

・We have all the best NFL prospects from rivalry week lined up, via Dane Brugler. Yes, the projected top 10 of the 2023 NFL Draft is gonna be a thing.

・Aaron Rodgers’ pain tolerance is a little higher than ours. He’s been playing with a broken thumb. Unless you type with your thumb.

・The Angels keep adding help to mount a Get Mike Trout to the Playoffs run. Maybe it’ll work this time.

・The Indiana Pacers looked like The Tank Express. Nobody is complaining today.

・Alex Ovechkin keeps stacking up goals, and he’s made a mark on others he can’t probably understand.

・The Sacramento Kings have their longest winning streak since a Bush was president. The West is weird.

・Here’s more on what German players did to take on FIFA and World Cup host country Qatar.

・Why is Manchester United for sale? The Tifo folks have a great video breakdown. Oh, and more on who might buy the club.

・You’ll want an inside look at this perspective of fans during a World Cup upset for the ages.